More than twenty years ago, suburban pop-punk rockers Nerf Herder earned a hit with their song “Van Halen.”
The “pop-punk, pro-Dave, anti-Sammy” ode to their favorite band piled lavish praise on that group’s early work, while lamenting its Sammy Hagar-era material. The song enjoyed widespread radio circulation and garnered the group a record deal with Arista and a top-40 hit in January, 1997.
The catchy novelty song praised Eddie’s two-handed tapping technique, and also heavily referenced Van Halen albums, lyrics, and song titles from the Roth era of the band. The tribute song described both the band’s initial enthusiasm for Van Halen, then their disillusionment after Sammy Hagar was chosen to replace vocalist David Lee Roth.
It’s success seemed to surprise even Nerf Herder themselves (whose name comes from a quote from Princess Leia mocking Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back). “It’s interesting because when we first did the Van Halen song, the idea that those guys would actually hear the song seemed impossible,” lead singer Parry Gripp said.
When working on the video for MTV, Nerf Herder got word that the Van Halen brothers and Michael Anthony liked their song, and all three of them granted permission for their images to be used in the video for MTV. However, David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar both refused permission. The young band even claimed that Hagar called them “faggots” while refusing to sign off on the insulting tribute.
The band had asked Hagar to appear in the “Van Halen” music video. Hagar replied, “After your 13th platinum album, sure, I’ll be glad to.”
MTV added their video for “Van Halen” to regular rotation. It can be viewed below.
As the song proliferated, Nerf Herder was thrust into the limelight a bit. In an Entertainment Weekly article published in November of ’96, lead singer Gripp was given the floor, an opportunity to voice his thoughts and the thoughts of his band mates. Not much surprise then, the article opened with the quote: “Everyone hates Sammy Hagar — who doesn’t?”
Three years later, the song still would get Hagar worked up. He became incensed when a San Francisco newspaper dared to bring up Nerf Herder’s song during a 1999 interview: “What dumb-ass fuckers would come up from nowhere and make fun of one of the biggest bands in the world? And to sit there and fuckin’ make fun of them, or make fun of Sammy Hagar, ‘I Can’t Drive 55,’ Number 1 records and stuff — uh uh. That ain’t the way to make a livin’. Especially, here you are, tryin’ to be in the same business. These fuckers! What’d they expect me to do? How in the fuck do they expect to make it by makin’ fun of somebody that everyone loves? It’s silly to me.”
Years later, Gripp backed off the Sammy hate a bit, telling San Fransisco Weekly, “He actually referred to us as ‘fuckers.’ That’s a pretty cool thing. But I remember feeling really bad about it. I don’t think Sammy Hagar sucks. It was some sort of lame-ass thing that I said. Flippant.”
Nerf Herder’s “Van Halen” lyrics:
I bought Van Halen I
It was the best damn record I ever owned
TG&Y 1978
Two hand tapping guitar technique really got me off
Eruption yeah, ain’t talkin’ ’bout love, I’m on fire
Tomorrow may come
Tomorrow may never come again
Can’t you hear Jamie cryin?
She’s runnin’ with the devil
I bought Women and Children First
Fair Warning and Van Halen II
Dance the night away
1984 my favorite record yeah I wore it down
Might as well jump
Tomorrow may come
Tomorrow may never come again
Can’t you hear Jamie cryin?
She’s runnin’ with the devil
Is this what you wanted, Sammy Hagar?
Sammy Hagar, is this what you wanted, man?
Dave lost his hairline but you lost your cool buddy
Can’t drive 55
I’ll never buy your lousy records again
Again, again, again, never again…
Tomorrow may come
Tomorrow may never come again
Can’t you hear Jamie cryin?
She’s runnin’ with the devil
Jump jump jump jump jump jump jump, might as well jump