Inside Van Halen's Messy Band Breakups

In a 1999 interview with the El Paso Times, Sammy Hagar said he didn't "wish any ill" on Gary Cherone but called the band's output with the Extreme vocalist "karaoke night." Five years later, Hagar was back with Van Halen after being dormant following Cherone's departure. Doctors diagnosed Eddie Van Halen with tongue cancer in 2000, which went into remission in 2002, per People.

In 2002, Michael Anthony joined Hagar and David Lee Roth on several legs of the two singers' tour. In 2004, Hagar rejoined the band to record three songs for the greatest-hits record "The Best of Both Worlds." The Van Halen brothers didn't want Anthony to be involved, but Hagar refused to join without the bass player, according to "Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen." "I think the rift between Michael and the brothers came when Michael joined Sammy," Cherone told Rolling Stone. "The brothers are pretty territorial. 'You're either with us, or against us'." The tour did well, but Eddie's alcohol dependence and Hagar's promotion of his Cabo Wabo tequila brand on tour again ripped the band apart. Hagar was out, and so was Anthony. The band replaced the bass player with Eddie's son Wolfgang in 2006. The final Van Halen concert was in October 2015. Five years later, in October 2020, Eddie died from complications from throat cancer.

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