As Michael Anthony looks forward to celebrating the legacy of Van Halen this summer on the Best Of All Worlds tour with Sammy Hagar, he can’t help but feel like this could have already happened not once, but twice.
During a recent appearance on the Hook Rocks! podcast, Anthony commented on the failed Edward Van Halen tribute project in 2021 while also lamenting Van Halen’s 2007 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame where only he and Hagar showed up.
In 2022, news of a Van Halen tribute project included Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth, and Joe Satriani. Metallica bassist Jason Newsted first stated he had been approached to be part of the tribute. Afterward, Anthony said he too was asked. Ultimately, nothing ever came of the tribute.
“Now I, myself, I got a call from Alex and Dave a few years, right around that same time [they contacted Newsted],” said Anthony. “And they wanted to put something together, and Joe was in the mix. I remember talking to Joe a couple of times after that, too. And Joe was telling me, ‘Yeah, well, they gave me some of that album and told me to listen to it or whatever.’
“All I can say is – I’m not gonna point fingers – but through all of this, one of the ingredients was not, let’s say, playing ball with everybody else. And that’s all I’m gonna say. I’ll let you all figure it out. And that’s why none of it worked. And you’ve read [the same] probably with Wolfgang’s interviews, too, that he’s been doing this past year.”
Anthony then mentioned the disappointing 2007 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. Of the members who were being inducted, only Anthony and Hagar attended the ceremony. Edward was reportedly in rehab at the time, while Alex and Roth opted not to show up for the event. Van Halen had recently re-formed, with Edward and Alex welcoming Roth back into the group for the first time since 1985. Anthony, meanwhile, had been replaced by Edward’s then-teenage son, Wolfgang.
“It’s pretty sad, because even when the band was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame — this was in 2007 — Sammy and I were the only two from the band that showed up, and we weren’t even in the band at the time,” said Anthony. “And it was pretty sad, because I turned to Sammy during the show — I forget who was on stage playing — and we were sitting at our table and I go, I go, ‘Sammy, could you imagine if all of us, if we were all here and everybody got along and we got up there, we would kick the ass out of this thing. It’d be an induction ceremony that nobody would ever forget.’ And sadly enough, it wasn’t to be.”