Van Halen's 5150 Anniversary Celebrated By Sammy Hagar

(hennemusic) Former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar reflects on the release of his debut album with the blockbuster band, "5150", in a new video marking the project's 33rd anniversary.

After Scandal singer Patty Smyth turned down the band's offer to take over lead vocals following the departure of David Lee Roth during their commercial peak, the group brought in Hagar for their seventh studio set, which was issued on March 24, 1986.

"The Van Hagar era, for me, was really unique," explains Hagar (as transcribed by hennemusic), "because on the 5150 tour we didn't play anyone else's songs - except one of mine, we played 'One Way To Rock', and we played 'You Really Got Me', and then for an encore we played 'Jump.' The rest of the whole set was all brand new songs from 5150 that they had never heard and it was like every song was a hit."

He continued, "Playing the Van Hagar era now with another band like The Circle, it seems like no matter what song we play, it's a hit as soon as you kick it off. You know, 'Best Of Both Worlds' was never a single, (but) the audience is singing like it was a number one hit; they don't sing any more with the number one hit, 'Why Can't This Be Love'...it's like they're all hits; it's awesome, and they really, really work live."

Sammy Added, "When I'm standing on stage with The Circle, or anyone, singing those songs, I really feel the magic of the moment when we wrote those songs. It's really, really good stuff and, like I've said, someone's gotta play it and I'm happy to. It seems like I've inherited the Van Hagar era, Mikey and I, so we'll serve it." Read more and watch the full video here.

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