Sammy Hagar Gets Michael Anthony To Open Up About His Departure from Van Halen
The last time Michael Anthony was on 'That Metal Show,' his former Van Halen (and current Chickenfoot) bandmate Sammy Hagar didn't feel his friend went into quite enough detail about his departure from one of rock's most famous and successful bands.
So to make sure things went more to his liking on this weekend's episode, Hagar served as co-host alongside Jim Florentine and company, and got Anthony to reveal a bit more of his true feelings on the subject.
After gamely playing along as the co-hosts tried to choose the five best David Lee Roth-era Van Halen songs -- making a strong case for 'Jump' and fighting hard against 'Tattoo' -- the Red Rocker served his buddy Anthony some rum and asked some slightly tougher questions: "How did you feel about getting replaced by Wolfie?" (referring to current Van Halen bassist, and Eddie Van Halen's son, Wolfgang Van Halen).
The ever-genial Anthony stayed polite and positive, but did reveal that another action from around the same time got under his skin. "I found out like everybody else did... I mean, it's cool, the guy wants him to play, it's a father-son thing. But the thing that really got me a bit, right after they announced it, they came out with a brand new look on their website. And on a couple of the early Roth albums that I was on, they actually took my image off the album. I think it lasted for maybe a day, because (of the reaction of) the fans and everybody out there. You know, it was like they were trying to erase some of the history, to make way for the new thing, and that kind of hurt a bit."
Then we moved into the more rapid-fire portion of the interview. When asked if he would ever consider a reunion with Van Halen, Anthony declares, "At this point in my life, no, there's just no reason to." Did he consider going after the band for songwriting money for tracks created during his era that wound up on their 2012 'A Different Kind of Truth' album? "I'm not one of those kinda guys. Its like, they do their thing. I'm so happy doing what I'm doing now, I just let them go."