Alex Van Halen Says David Lee Roth Split Was ‘Most Disappointing Thing’ in His Life
Alex Van Halen was very crushed about David Lee Roth leaving Van Halen in 1985 and touches on the split in his new memoir, Brothers.
According to Billboard, AVH writes in the book that the Roth split ” … was the most disappointing thing I’d experienced in my life, the thing that seemed the most wasteful and unjust. Until I lost my brother.”
Eddie and Alex Van Halen clearly had a unique, but close relationship with Roth, despite the frontman being the alleged reason for a lack of tribute to the late Eddie Van Halen. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Alex talked about that heavily rumored Van Halen tribute tour following the death of his guitarist brother in 2020. He confirms that it was in the works, and that he and David Lee Roth were rehearsing for it. Alex said he was in contact with Queen’s Brian May to get some ideas on how to honor Eddie during the shows, similar to how Queen honors Freddie Mercury during their present-day shows.
According to Alex, this idea made Roth snap. He said, “The thing that broke the camel’s back, and I can be honest about this now was I said, ‘Dave, at some point, we have to have a very overt — not a bowing — but an acknowledgment of Ed in the gig.’ … And the moment I said we gotta acknowledge Ed, Dave f—in’ popped a fuse.… The vitriol that came out was unbelievable.”
Rolling Stone noted that DLR declined to comment on this story. Oddly enough, Alex said he and Roth are still in touch and that his first phone call following Eddie’s death was to Roth.
This isn’t the first time Roth has been blamed for there not being a proper Van Halen tribute following EVH’s death. Former bassist Michael Anthony told The Hook Rocks! podcast in May about the rumored tribute, “All I can say is — I’m not gonna point fingers — but through all of this, one of the ingredients was not, let’s say, playing ball with everybody else … And you’ve read it probably with Wolfgang [Van Halen]’s interviews, too, that he’s been doing this past year.”
Wolfgang Van Halen has said a number of things about the dysfunction around and within Van Halen in recent years. One of the more pointed things he said was to Classic Rock in October 2022. Wolfgang said, “When it comes to Van Halen and entities surrounding the band it’s unfortunate … I don’t know what it is with some bands but certain personalities just can’t get over themselves to work collectively for one purpose – that’s been the curse of Van Halen for its entire career … Hell, it was difficult to make plans even when the band was active.”
