Sammy Hagar says any unreleased Van Halen material in the 5150 vaults was unreleased for a reason and it may not be worth revisiting.
In a recent interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune, Hagar was asked if there are any unreleased recordings during his time with the band that could eventually come out.
“Van Halen didn’t have many songs that were completed that didn’t come out,” he responded. “Maybe there’s some stuff we could add background vocals to or that I could write new lyrics for. But I’m leery about doing that. Because the legacy of Van Halen is so great, and — prior to me joining the band — the legacy is pure greatness: Eddie’s guitar work, the band’s playing, the songs. Anything left over wasn’t good enough to be on those records. I don’t care what anyone says; putting out (unreleased music) wouldn’t do anything, other than make someone a little money. But I know Eddie had a ton of (unreleased) jamming stuff he made on cassette tapes, because that’s how we wrote songs… So, maybe. Who knows what they could put together?”
In a 2008 interview with Rolling Stone‘s Brian Hiatt, Eddie Van Halen said he recorded “tons” of unreleased music, resulting in “close to a million CDs, cassettes, boxes and boxes and boxes.”
“The stuff is gonna come out,” Eddie said. “Hopefully people will enjoy the many sides of me. I trip on it myself.”
In late 2020, Wolfgang made it clear that he hadn’t intended to search through the 5150 vaults anytime soon. In November of 2021 he told radio personality Eddie Trunk that he is concentrating fully on his band Mammoth WVH and any Van Halen-related decisions will come from Alex Van Halen.