There is something almost poetic about two ageing rock legends taking potshots at each other through Instagram, but here we are.
Alex Van Halen, speaking to Brazilian music journalist Marcelo Vieira for Roadie Crew magazine, was asked to give his verdict on the memoirs written by former Van Halen vocalists David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar. He had kind words for Roth's Crazy From The Heat, calling it "a very interesting perspective on that era." Then came Hagar's turn. Alex admitted he had not read Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock and had no intention of doing so, before delivering his conclusion anyway: "In my opinion, Sammy Hagar is a complete idiot."
Measured stuff. Vieira, for context, had translated Alex's own 2024 memoir Brothers into Portuguese, so this was hardly a hostile interview environment. Alex just chose to say it anyway.
Hagar Bites Back
The comment found its way onto Instagram via the account Rock Celebrities, and Hagar responded in the comments. His reply: "This comment and post is so unnecessary at this time in our lives, but I guess the truth hurts sometimes. Peace already."
That last bit, "Peace already," is doing a lot of heavy lifting. It wants to read as the bigger-man response, but the line before it makes clear Hagar is not exactly brushing this off. "The truth hurts sometimes" is a jab dressed up as diplomacy. We have seen politicians do this. Hagar does it in a comment section.
What is interesting is that the whole thing plays out in public through social media rather than through any kind of direct exchange. Alex gives an interview, it gets posted online, Hagar replies to the post. That is modern rock beef in a nutshell. No phone call, no private conversation, just two men in their seventies performing their grievances for an audience.
The Money Theory
Hagar has previously spoken to Rolling Stone about the strained relationship, and his own theory on why things remain so frosty is worth noting. He mentioned a conversation he had had with former Van Halen manager Irving Azoff, where Azoff and others suggested Alex's resentment might trace back to the Cabo Wabo nightclub business. When the venture was struggling, Hagar said, his bandmates walked away and let him take it on. He bought them out in 1990, turned it around, and made serious money from it. According to Hagar, the suggestion was that Alex was angry about the outcome.
Hagar's response to that theory: "How the fuck could they be angry about that? They gave me the damn thing, they walked out on me, left me with it. And they made me indemnify them in case I got sued and lost everything."
He added he hoped that was not the real reason. But the fact he brought it up at length suggests it has been sitting with him.
Our Take
Alex called a man a complete idiot without reading the book he was supposedly reacting to. Hagar responded by suggesting the truth hurts while calling for peace in the same breath. Neither of them comes across as particularly gracious here, and honestly, that is fine. This kind of ongoing friction between former bandmates is as old as rock itself. But the Cabo Wabo detail is the one that lingers. If Hagar's account is accurate, there is a genuine grievance buried under years of sniping, and no amount of Instagram comments is going to resolve it.