Lee Roth split with Van Halen in 1985 prompting fears for the future of the rock heavyweights. Hagar was drafted in on the mic within months as the band continued their momentum without breaking stride.

Now reflecting on his 11-year stint with the band in a revealing interview with Rolling Stone, Hagar reveals he had reservations about joining Van Halen initially.

He tells Rolling Stone: "I never liked the band that much because I didn't like the lyrics, personally, and I didn't like Dave's persona. I had no intentions of joining the band, but then I heard this music. I thought I was going to grab Eddie and go, 'Hey, come do my next record.' But when I played with the three of them there was such chemistry and it was so exciting. We played until midnight, about 12 hours without stopping. We jammed a blues song and a bunch of others.

"I went to sleep, woke up the next morning and went, 'Wow, I'm joining that band.' That's all it was. It was all about the music. I had nothing to do with fame and fortune, none of that. It was so inspiring."

He continues: "I was never a fan of Dave. He wasn't the kind of artist I was looking at and going, "I want to be like that." Never in a million years. My favorite artists were Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Peter Gabriel. I know it sounds crazy, but those kind of artists were who I looked up to and who I wanted to be like.