It's no mystery that '90s grunge was a great contributing factor to the demise of '80s hair metal. Just as the meteor was about to strike, Van Halen used Alice in Chains' quickly growing fame to their advantage. Sammy Hagar recently told Jenny McCarthy in a new interview that Alice in Chains made him so insecure, he invited them to open for Van Halen in 1991 so that fans would still think they were cool.

"When you're in Van Halen in the '90s when grunge came along, that was freaky, man! Because I'm looking at these guys, and we were sort of the glam rock, we're all dressed up and dressing like girls and stuff," Hagar laughs, also citing bands like Motley Crue and Poison. "But when grunge came, and they were like down and dirty and funky, they made me nervous. I thought, 'These guys are gonna disrespect us.'"

Hagar recalls that when Van Halen were getting ready to go out on tour in support of For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge in 1991, Alice in Chains had already released their debut album Facelift, and "Man in the Box" was their current single. Hagar insisted on having the fledgling Seattle group open for his band out of intimidation. "That's how insecure I was. I said, 'Let's get 'em on the damn show, that way their fans will know that we're cool!'"

"It came out of fear a little bit. Not bad fear, but nervousness," he assures. The tour apparently went well for both bands, and Hagar has been good friends with Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell ever since. Watch the full interview below.

Hagar is preparing for the May 10 release of The Circle's debut album Space Between, which can be pre-ordered here. Tour dates in support of the album can be found here.

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