Edward Van Halen: A Definitive Biography (28 page)

The Twisted Breaking Point

Although the entire band was inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame on October 6, Ed and Sammy were at the breaking point as the tour came to a close. After finishing the stateside part of the tour in California, they flew separately to Japan for two weeks of shows starting in late October. They even stayed in separate hotels. Before heading to Hawaii for the last two shows of the entire tour, Sammy says that Ed called him at his hotel drunk and aggressive. Hagar said:

“What are you going to do when we get back?” he said… .

“I don’t know,” I said. “Take some time off. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet,” He said. “When I figure it out, I’ll let you know. I’ve got some plans, but I’ll let you know if it involves you or not.”

“Okay,” I said. “Fuck you.” I hung up the phone.

On the family front, Edward, Valerie, and Wolfgang spent Christmas alone in 1995. Sammy’s now wife Kari was pregnant and Sam had plans to stay at their new house in Hawaii for an extended period of time. They had a solid birth plan—the baby would be born in April in Hawaii, Sammy would spend the first two months bonding with the child, and the band agreed to start work on the next album in June. The showdown was on. Sammy’s personal life versus the demands of the band via Edward with Alex at his back. With a shark like Ray Danniels in the water—the pieces were in place. Just a few more songs, and off everyone ventured into bizarro world.

Ray came to the brothers with a proposal to cut two songs for the soundtrack of an upcoming film starring top-list actors Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton called
Twister
(ultimately, the movie would completely bomb with imbecilic lines like “Look at all that data!”). The idea was to use modern digital special effects to capitalize on the growing trend of storm chasing which had become its own cottage industry. The film was slated for a May release, so anything Van Halen was going to contribute had to be completed post-haste. “I thought it was the worst timing in the world,” said Sammy.

Ed wrote a killer tune that became “Humans Being” for the film. Coaxing Sammy out of Hawaii to work on that song, and the second, titled “Between Us Two,” was difficult. Sam had several objections. First, they had already agreed not to work until June at the earliest. Second, his wife was pregnant and he did not want to leave her. Third, the songs were destined for a soundtrack album, which Sammy viewed as ripping off the fans by making them buy a record with a lot of other acts that they may not even like.

Sam was sure that Ray was simply cooking up ways to make a lot of money fast for little effort—two songs on a soundtrack and a greatest hits collection. “Ray Danniels was always looking to make his cut,” said Hagar. “The guys wanted to do it for some stupid reason.” Sammy was most likely correct in his assertion that Ray’s tacks here were pre-meditated. Ray was not an idiot. Ray is a consummate rock band manager. However, Sammy’s contention was that Ray had a rather devious plan ready to go all along, but chances are that what ultimately transpired was not Ray’s direct intention, but not that he had a problem with it either.

The recording of the songs proved to be the dissolution of Van Halen Mach II. Edward later admitted, “It got so bad I actually started drinking again.” The first debacle was that Ed and Al insisted that the songs be completely free of tornado or storm imagery of any kind. Not communicating well, Sammy spoke with director Jan de Bont and picked his brain for tornadic references and came up with “Drop Down.” Sammy claims he cut a quick demo for it and de Bont loved it. Eddie and Al were flabbergasted. They told Sammy they had specifically said not to write lyrics about storms and tornadoes, despite Sammy’s claims that de Bont was satisfied with it (Edward said that de Bont actually called him to ask why Sammy was asking such questions). They didn’t care (or believe him) and demanded he return to re-cut the song immediately. According to Sammy, Ray took it to the point of telling him on the phone point-blank, “If you’re not back tomorrow, we’re assuming that you’ve quit the band.” Sammy balked.

“Yeah, I may have pulled a prick move by not showing up when Eddie told me to, but I had very good reasons,” said Sammy. After some rather heavy encouragement by Ray, Sam returned for a band meeting on May 1. Sammy said, “I almost got into a fist fight with Alex when he jumped up and said, ‘You fucking insulted my brother! He told you to come down here and you didn’t come!’” Eddie said, “We had several band meetings with Sammy where we told him that if he wanted to continue with Van Halen, he had to stop running around doing all his solo shit and become more of a team player—and that might involve collaborating on a lyrical level.” At first Sammy resisted. “The conversation went something like, ‘Fuck you, I hope the guy can sing!” said Hagar. “The second time, however, I told Eddie I might be open-minded to the idea.”

Eventually, Sammy came up with “Humans Being” (with help from Alex), and a ballad, “Between Us Two.” The latter was a collaboration between Edward and Sammy. Hagar considered his work done and was ready to return to Hawaii to be with Kari. But Sammy said Eddie stopped him at the last minute and said they were not going to use the ballad for the movie and instead needed just another minute and a half to lengthen “Humans Being.” Sammy resisted greatly, but relented. Working with Bruce, Sammy said, “We wrote the lyrics, I sang the song in three parts in about an hour and a half and split.” In the end, it turned out one additional song was added to the movie, but was credited to and performed by only Edward and Alex. It rolled over the film’s end credits and featured Alex on piano and keyboard with Edward on guitar. It was an instrumental, but for all the bickering about not having storm-related lyrics, the title “Respect the Wind” is ironic, at least. The song is an epic-sounding, dark quasi-classical piano piece with underlying snyth strings overlaid with soaring lead guitar, feedback, and harmonic squeals. It was a huge first for the brothers, and ended up being the only song ever that Alex is credited on outside of the band.

In early June, Edward told Sammy that Glen Ballard had come up with some lyrical ideas for “Between Us Two.” Sammy claims those that had heard the original version of the song thought that it would be “Van Halen’s ‘Stairway to Heaven.’” Eddie asked Sam to return to the studio to re-sing the song. The real problem may have been that Bruce Fairbairn was claiming that he, Sammy, and Edward had co-written the song together, and came telling Ray he wanted one-third. Ed and Sam called bullshit on Bruce and fired him. So Edward brought in Glen to rewrite the lyrics to the song. Sammy was incensed and called Glen. Sammy claimed Glen said, “Eddie and Alex asked me to write new lyrics. They’re the ones that said they didn’t like the lyrics you’d written to that song, and that you weren’t happy with them either, so they asked me to take a shot at it.”

But when Sammy learned that the revamped song would be featured on a greatest hits album, he went through the roof. “We’re not a greatest-hits kind of band,” Hagar said. “We do not need to rely on the past… . We spent eleven years trying to bury the past and make the music different and expand and grow.” Sammy said, “I told them I wasn’t doing any songs for a greatest hits record and split.”

The earlier ultimatum was laid down a second time. Edward told Sammy that if he wasn’t at the studio by six o’clock the following day, then that was it. Sam did not show. He changed his name at the hotel and didn’t answer the phone. Ed called all night long until security came to Sammy’s room informing him they had Edward on the phone and that he demanded to speak with him. Sammy’s reply was, “Tell him to go fuck himself.”

On June 16, 1996, Edward called Sammy. As per Sammy’s
Red
:

The phone rang. It was Eddie Van Halen. He had been up all night.

“You’ve never been a team player,” he said. “You never want to do anything when we want to do them. You always wanted to be a solo artist. You can go back to being a solo artist. We’ve been working with Roth on the greatest-hits record and it’s going great.” . . . “Fuck you, you fucking motherfuckers,” I said, and hung up.

Eddie said that Valerie stood next to him for the entire conversation. “[She] counted eleven times that I said, ‘Sam, all I ask is that you’re a team player.’” Sammy spoke to Ray next who tried to calm Sammy, but he wasn’t having any of it or any more of Ray. As Ray tried to talk him down, Sam retorted, “Fuck you. It’s over.” Ed later claimed that Sammy “was only into being in Van Halen for the prestige of it.”

And as insane of a ride it had been so far, no one had yet to see the level of insanity that would follow. A screaming ride on the out-of-control
DLR
Express
.

CHAPTER 30 

The Reunion from Hell

In 1996, Dave had taken up temporary residence in Florida. On a stroll one day, as he told Kurt Loder, “I saw somebody take a face plant—went right over the handlebars of his mountain bike. And he landed on his head without a helmet, and I thought, boy, that’ll sure knock 1982 out of the old memory banks! And I started to get a little nostalgic and I started to think, ‘Hey, I think back through those years, let me make a little peace. You know, the battles that were between us, the feuding and fussing, it rings like off of your ear after a while. I made a call and said let’s be at peace.” In his autobiography, Dave said that as he was finishing up his manuscript, he called Ed. According to Dave, he said, “Ed, I want to be at peace. That’s all. I have no agenda other than that. I’m not trying to get back in. You guys are solvent, no more of this quarreling.” Dave said Ed responded with, “Yeah, I feel the same way.”

Word of the greatest hits package made its way to Dave via Rudy Leiren. Ed said, “I’m playing golf with Rudy Lieren who’s sometimes my guitar tech and also works for Roth. And I’m playing golf with him and he goes, and he goes, ‘Oh, by the way, Roth wants you to call him.’ I went, ‘Oh! OK…
sorry
!’ Like, you know? ‘He’s got my damn number, tell him to call me!’” After a few weeks, Ed checked his answering machine and found two messages from Dave. “I’m standing there with my wife saying, ‘Should I call him back or not?’” said Edward. “She says, ‘Go ahead. Call him back. What the hell?’ It was a Sunday and we had just come in from the beach and Valerie talked me into it.”

Dave had questions to ask about the construction of the greatest hits album. Of the first time they spoke, Ed said, “We both we basically apologized for the two-year-old mentality of mudslinging at each over the years. And we went on to discuss the, uh, packaging whether it’s two discs, one disc, la-la-la-la-la-la. I told him I don’t much of anything right now, ’cause Sammy just quit the band, and I don’t know
where
it stands. And, uh, I’ll let you know mid-week, you know, when I speak to Ray, what’s going with it. If it’s happening at all.” Their follow-up phone call lasted a solid 45 minutes and was a very cathartic experience. Valerie said, “[That] call went so well, Ed said, that they had apologized for some crap they had said to each other when they were younger.” Eddie said they apologized for things going all the way back to junior high school.

Shortly thereafter, Ed said, “I decided to drive over to his house.” The two sat around and “BS’d” for a couple of hours. “He seemed like a different guy than the old Dave,” Eddie said. They had a great time just catching up as friends. Ed said, “We hung out for about three hours and smoked some cigars.” Edward said it was about two weeks later when he realized that they only had “Humans Being” to add to the greatest hits album, when he said he “came up with the crazy idea of having Dave sing on some new songs.” Edward said that one thing led to another and he said, “I had this hare-brained idea, which I don’t know if I should have ever brought up…” Ed called Dave back and asked if he’d do a few songs for the greatest hits record. Dave humorously answered, “Sure, I’m not doing anything.”

It was a reunion that millions had fantasized about for years and years—Dave and Ed burying the hatchet and coming back together. Just the thought of the two of them sitting around at Dave’s old Pasadena mansion shooting the breeze in the summer time of 1996 is just amazing to contemplate. “During the process,” Edward said, “Dave and I were really becoming good friends.” Any bliss, though, was short-lived. Tension ratcheted up immediately, on the first day in the studio.

Back in the Studio with DLR

Dave said that Ed approached him with the line, “No matter what happens, we’re going to be friends, right?” Dave was uncomfortable from the get-go. He’d been out of practice vocally for six months and needed some time to break his voice back in. He suggested the band run through some of the classics so that they could no-brain it and fall back into place to get that old machine oiled again. As per Dave, Ed said, “No fucking goddamn fucking way. We’re not going to retrace any fucking old steps. We’re not going to do any old songs or anything that even remotely sounds like any old songs. We’re going to write a fucking set of songs where it doesn’t matter who the fucking singer is or how he fucking sings it, it’s just going to be a good fucking song that anybody can sing.”

Besides noting that not a single photograph was ever taken at all during the sessions, Dave said that when rehearsals actually began, he was placed in an isolated vocal booth, as in a soundproof room with no windows—a box. All Dave had was headphones and a microphone. Dave figured if he was going to be shut out in a closet, he was going to make it Club Dave. So he brought it potted palm plants, some lights, and an ashtray. Alex went ballistic on him. “We’re motherfucking forty-year-olds!” said Alex. What is this fucking palm tree horseshit?!” Still, Dave didn’t buckle.

He started showing up at 5150 with lyrics that he claimed were briefly scanned and immediately dismissed. What Eddie had started with Sammy was now in full execution on Dave. Edward brought in super-producer Desmond Childs, and Dave even gave it a go. Ultimately, Roth declined to sing what he called “sanguine, sissified, grew-up-way-too-close-to-mommy lyrics.” Edward said, “Eventually we narrowed it down to a pop song, ‘Me Wise Magic,’ and a shuffle, ‘Can’t Get This Stuff No More’ with a ‘Panama’ sort of groove. ‘Me Wise Magic’ has a line in it, ‘I know what you’re thinking,’ which Dave felt uncomfortable with. He said, ‘That sounds a bit angry; it’s just not me. People want to hear Dave sing.’” Dave acquiesced and sang the line.

“Me Wise Magic” was one of the most progressive-rock sounding tunes Van Halen ever attempted. It was full of intense off-time changes and at least a dozen different sections. It made Rush look like a blues band. It’s Dave with Van Halen again—which is amazing in and of itself. But Dave’s voice doesn’t really sound like Dave’s voice—it’s heavily effected. Upon my first listen, I thought that it sounded like Dave was trying to match Sammy’s range and style and was slightly bewildered. But after about a hundred repeated listenings, it grew on me and I was in hog heaven.

“Can’t Get This Stuff No More” was the real deal. The music was leftover from
Balance
, a song originally called “The Backdoor Shuffle” that Sammy had apparently written lyrics and a melody for. Dave wrote 100% new vocals for the tune, but when Sammy spoke up, Ray immediately wrote him a $35,000 settlement check over the tune.

Lyrically, Dave was back in the saddle for this classic song. Right off the bat: “Got me a date with a super model / I know, I know… I’m thinkin’ fuck it / Dinner at the hotel—champagne bottle!” But the refrain, “Keep that in mind, when we say goodbye, that you can’t get this stuff no more”—it was an honest open reading of the current situation. Dave snuck in a warning, as it were: it’s this or else. “Can’t Get This Stuff No More” is a song that with some imagination could have been on follow-up to
1984
if Dave had stayed. It was supreme and majestic. Their producer for this effort was Glen Ballard—who had recently sent Alanis Morissette to the top with other-worldly production.

But there were small, daily battles during the recording process. Edward said, “Every other day, I had to reiterate, ‘Dave! We don’t even have a
song
yet and you’re pulling a hamstring gettin’ ready to go on tour that is, that is
not
gonna happen.’ You know?” Eddie added, “I mean, he, he just—I don’t know. ‘What don’t you understand? The N or the O?’ . . . I just kept telling him, ‘Quit puttin’ the horse in front a damn cart that doesn’t even exist yet. Otherwise, we ain’t doin’ anything!’”

On June 26, 1996, the band put out the following press statement:

SRO Management has announced that Van Halen is in the studio working with original lead singer David Lee Roth. Their collaboration will be included on the band’s upcoming Warner Bros. Records
Greatest
Hits
collection, scheduled for release this fall. It has also been announced that Sammy Hagar, Van Halen’s vocalist since 1986, is no longer with the group. The band is currently considering a replacement.

It was the strangest damn press release almost anyone had ever seen. In one sentence it says they’re back in the studio with David Lee Roth, and in another it says they are currently considering a replacement. Dave said he had approached Eddie to be sure that they weren’t just going to do two songs, that that would be a rip-off for the fans. Dave claims Edward assured him they were just taking “baby steps.” When Dave saw the SRO press release, he said, “Ed, what is this?” Ed said Ray was out of line with that and that he would talk to him. Dave said there were a dozen such incidents.

The 1996 MTV Awards Ceremony

There are bits of Van Halen lore that have been debunked so far. Most were from the early days—so they didn’t actually parachute to the stage in Oakland. But the activities of one single day in Van Halen history—September 4, 1996—are well documented and everyone had a hell of a lot of opportunities to tell their side afterward.

The band was asked—or set up—to make an appearance on the annual MTV Music Video Awards show which they had appeared on many times before. Dave had reservations, but went along with the band to New York. At 6am on the day of the awards show, Ed called Dave at his hotel room. As per David:

Let’s just address this six o’clock in the morning… . He thinks he’s going to wake me and ruin my day. Trouble is, I’m excited, I’m in great shape, I’ve been up since 5:30am, I’m drinking a cup of coffee and I’m about to go rock climbing in Central Park. I got James Brown on the stereo. I’m on fire. I’m ready. The phone rings, I casually reach for it. Ed, screaming, at me over the line. Screaming “Goddamn it, I’m sick of this fucking bullshit. I told them when they did that special tribute to you on MTV where they showed bits and pieces of your videos, I said to them, ‘Fuck that. Fuck you. I ain’t a fucking backup guitar player.’” . . . As if anybody in the fucking solar system thinks of Eddie V. as a backup guitar player… . He’s screaming beyond real.

Dave said that when the limo came to pick him up to take him to the show that Ray, Alex, Eddie, Michael, and their security were all in the limo. Dave said Edward told him, “Look all we’re going to fucking do is we’re going to just fucking walk out there and fucking give away the award and when we talk to the press all we’re going to fucking talk about is the two new songs and that’s fucking it.” Dave replied, “They’re going to ask you about everything
but
those two songs.” Ed said, “Fuck them. We’re talking about the two songs and that’s it.” And then the limo arrived at Radio City Music Hall.

Although there was no official word that they would be coming out on stage, the rumors were flying loose and freely and we all knew to program the VCR and stay glued to the set. It was a ways into the show, when finally, Dennis Miller introduced Van Halen as the presenters of the next award. Dave said that Alex told him just before they took the stage, “Milk it, Dave. Milk it for all it’s worth.” Dave was a bit unnerved by the statement, but bounced on out.

“Runnin’ with the Devil” came blaring over the PA. Edward came out first, followed by Al and Mike who both stopped to high-five a few audience members… finally followed by Dave, who the mere sight of brought the house down. Ed ignored Dave’s moment by immediately approaching the microphone and saying “Hi, Wolfie! Hi, Hon.” Then Mike, Al, and Ed moved off to the left of the podium and Dave stood there by himself on the right still basking in the response. Chris Rock was shown on screen clapping and yelling and the rest of the crowd went absolutely wild. Nearly a full sixty seconds of unadulterated applause went by before they took the microphone.

Eddie was so visibly uncomfortable, and appeared to stick to his plan to just present the award and bail. “I think we’re here, uh, to present the Best Male Video of the Year award.” Ed then stumbled and Michael pointed to the teleprompter with the pre-written dialog ready and waiting to go. Ed said, “Oh…”

Dave immediately jumped directly in front of Ed as he was attempting to read the teleprompter and boldly interrupted him saying, “No, no, no. Instead of the best of award thing, we have to make an announcement. We have to address this subject here.” Ed leapt out from behind Dave and moved to the left as far away from him as possible and fumbled for his sunglasses that were tucked into the collar of his white overalls. Dave continued, “This is actually the first time that we’ve stood on stage together in over a decade.” At one point, Ed had his back completely to Dave, but after Dave’s statement, the house burst into thunderous applause and Ed spun back around to face the crowd. Dave sincerely shook Al’s hand, and turned around to face Eddie and moved in to give him a hug. Dave used both of his arms; Ed only used one.

Eddie then cut the shit and leaned over in front of the mic and said, “I’ll do it for Al. We’re here to present the award for Best Male Video. Michael?” Ed gestured for Mike to read his lines. Dave jumped right in between them. “You noticed how things have changed a lot since the last time we were up here, really. No, really. It used to be ‘I want my MTV’, now it’s like ‘Give me my fucking MTV or I’ll blow your head off, man!’” At that point, Ed grabbed Dave by both of his shoulders and physically moved him out of the way to the left of the podium as Michael scrambled to regain order. Before Michael could get a word out, Dave was off on his own on stage left shucking and jiving for the crowd. Michael finally said, “I got a line here. This year’s nominees come from all over the musical map from Beck to R. Kelly and everything in between.” Eddie said, “Let’s take a look at them,” and they went into a montage of the nominated videos.