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DARK SECRETS: 2 - The Real Truth

“We bounced around the idea of having everyone from Joe Cocker to Phil Collins to Mike Rutherford sing”: Out went David Lee Roth and Frankenstein, in came Sammy Hagar and Kramer –the story of Van Halen’s rebirth

It was the end of an era. Roth’s exit, Frankenstein's last hurrah. But it was the start of a new one as Eddie Van Halen got experimental on 1986's blockbuster, 5150

Guitar World

“I discovered that it would be harder to try to replicate his tone than anybody else”: Steve Vai has followed in the footsteps of many guitar greats – this was the hardest one to nail

He’s filled the shoes of Eddie Van Halen and Robert Fripp, but Vai says this particular gig was even harder

Guitar World

“I kept saying, ‘I’m not the guy. Call Nuno’”: Joe Satriani put Nuno Bettencourt’s name forward for failed EVH tribute tour with Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth

Before embarking on the Best of All Worlds tour with Sammy Hagar, Satch was close to hitting the road for a Van Halen tribute tour with Roth and Alex Van Halen

Guitar World

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“I said, ‘Sam, I’m gonna tell you what I told Alex, which is, I don’t really play like Eddie’”: Joe Satriani says he told David Lee Roth and Alex Van Halen to call Nuno Bettencourt when they called about EVH tribute tour

Satch says the tribute tour got close to a show, but after it all fell through, Sammy Hagar came in with an offer he couldn’t refuse, and he needed a new amp to nail Eddie Van Halen's tone

MusicRadar

"I said, 'This is our last show.' He said OK. We never, ever talked about why it was so easy to break up the band." The curious story of the thinking man's hair metal band, and where it all went wrong

Two million sales. A dizzying rise. And a cataclysmic fall

Louder

“It was the most coveted guitar chair in rock. I adored Edward’s playing, so I understood that people would be skeptical”: How Steve Vai lived his ultimate guitar rockstar fantasy on David Lee Roth’s Eat ’Em and Smile

Working with David Lee Roth was like "being strapped to a rocket made of charisma and fueled by tequila” – and the music was pretty fun, too

Guitar World

"They got signed on their talent, on their original material, but also on their looks. They looked like Robert Plant and Jimmy Page." The story of the album that rescued rock'n'roll from the darkness and built a brighter future

Rock was stale, and dinosaurs were lumbering. Then an album arrived that was an effervescent shot in the arm for an entire genre

Louder

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“Eddie was always experimenting. Keyboards entered the mix, but it didn’t sound like a keyboard because Eddie played this cheap little Wurlitzer blazing through Marshalls”: Van Halen's Michael Anthony on the band’s cult classic Women And Children First

Less surprisingly, he said “it was party time in the studio”

MusicRadar

“He was across the hall and I mentioned my tone troubles to him…” How Steve Stevens saved Steve Vai on his David Lee Roth debut

Vai was a novice at “big rock guitar tones” at the time – but Stevens came to his rescue

Guitar World

David Lee Roth announces extensive North American tour

Diamond Dave will cross the continent from April onwards

Louder

“Eddie told me, ‘Roth is driving me nuts. I can't take it. I gotta leave. I know you're looking for a lead guitar player. Do you want me in the band?’”: When Eddie Van Halen asked to join Kiss – and they turned him down!

MusicRadar

“We parked up outside Steve Vai’s caravan. His guitar tech saw me. Next thing you know, Steve’s there, and I’m trying my best to play Tobacco Road”: He was a guitar god at 8, then he disappeared – the unlikely story of Thomas McRocklin

Vai handed him the Passion and Warfare guitar and produced his debut album, only for his protégé to give it all up. Decades later, McRocklin came back stronger – and pursued his own guitar path

Guitar World

“I thought it was the worst film I’d seen in my life! I was super-embarrassed. But that solo became part of the franchise’”: Stevie Salas on Bill & Ted, playing arenas with Rod Stewart then opening for Joe Satriani, and turning down both Van Halen singers

The ahead-of-his-time guitar great recalls starting a trend followed by Steve Vai and Tosin Abasi, why he had to quit a Joe Satriani tour, and why he sometimes aimed to be the worst player in the room

Guitar World

“I wanted to write a Montrose album, and he wanted to write an album more like the Eagles – and I hate the Eagles”: Stevie Salas on being asked to join David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar’s bands – and why he turned them down

For a “Van Halen nut” like Salas, it was all too weird

Guitar World

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MusicRadar

“Eddie definitely wasn’t functioning very well during the Van Halen reunion tour in 2004. It was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had in my life”: Sammy Hagar’s regrets about his final tour with the band – and his true feelings about David Lee Roth

“Not keeping Van Halen together – that was a failure to me"

The Guardian - US

Halloween costume ideas from the pros who dress Heidi Klum, Chappell Roan and more

A drag queen, costume designer, makeup artist, and more pros weigh in on how to pull off a costume that turns heads

Guitar World

“It’s totally his fault. I just couldn’t take my eyes off his guitar”: John 5 on the unlikely player who started his life-long love affair with the Telecaster

John 5 has played with David Lee Roth, Rob Zombie, and Mötley Crüe, but the player that inspired his guitar choice is from a whole other world

MusicRadar

“They had Coldplay and U2 and all the big rock groups there. So we came on and did our thing and David Lee Roth saw it and said, ‘I want Kool & the Gang to be my support act’”: How Van Halen ended up choosing an unlikely opening band for their 2012 tour

"We have the song Jump and you came up with Celebration - let’s go out and have a party," Roth told bassist Robert 'Kool' Bell

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Guitar World

“I was falling out of love with music. Playing with Elton John woke me from my slumber. I got blisters every night because it was fun again!” Matt Bissonette’s “dumb-guy” approach to bass has taken him round the world with pop and rock royalty

Still buzzed about his excessive ’80s rigs and five-string instruments, the session bass hero explains how to work with David Lee Roth, Joe Satriani, Jason Becker and others, his big-fun, big-paying Friends TV gig, and the discovery that’s making him a better player

Guitar World

“Dave's a good storyteller, but there's some truth in between the showmanship”: Sammy Hagar believes David Lee Roth’s story about being visited by the ghost of Eddie Van Halen

Roth seemingly tried to troll Hagar with his comments, but Hagar isn't letting it get to him

Louder

"This is not negative whatsoever": Sammy Hagar insists David Lee Roth's recent comments about him were an "olive branch moment"

David Lee Roth had appeared to mock Sammy Hagar during a recent solo show

Guitar World

“I don't know what the odds are, but last night the ghost of Eddie Van Halen visited me at my hotel room”: David Lee Roth trolls Sammy Hagar over his ‘ghost of Eddie Van Halen’ claims

The Red Rocker claims his former bandmate’s ghost showed him a lick in a dream, and he used it to write his latest single. Now Roth says he’s been paid a visit, too

Louder

David Lee Roth mocks "esteemed colleague" Sammy Hagar's claim to have been visited by Eddie Van Halen's ghost

We await the Red Rocker's response

Guitar World

“As soon as I heard the news, I turned to my roommate and said, ‘That's my gig.’ The next day, Dave rings”: Steve Vai on how he joined David Lee Roth’s band – and Roth’s desire to “beat Van Halen”

In 1985, Vai was recruited to join Roth's post-Van Halen band – and the singer had lofty ambitions for his new project

Guitar World

Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarists through the years: the players who served the Prince of Darkness for his classic albums and tours, in pictures

The Black Sabbath frontman shared stage and studio with a pantheon of guitar greats, and made household names out of many of his six-string sideman

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