Cleveland's The Plain Dealer has issued the following report from John Soeder:
Got it bad, got it bad, got it bad -- you're hot for VAN HALEN, Cleveland!
The volatile hard-rock band scored a landslide victory in The Plain Dealer's seventh annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame poll. We asked newspaper readers and visitors to www.cleveland.com to tell us which nominees on the latest official Rock Hall ballot are most worthy of induction.
"Quite honestly, I'm not surprised," singer SAMMY HAGAR said when he was informed of the mandate.
This was no time for false modesty, dude.
"Me? Modest?" Hagar quipped, reached by phone recently at home in Mill Valley, Calif.
He joined Van Halen in 1985, replacing original vocalist DAVID LEE ROTH. Rounding out the group in its 1970s and '80s heyday were the Van Halen brothers - guitar virtuoso Eddie and drummer Alex - and bass player Michael Anthony.
The band has more than a dozen Top 40 hits, including 'When It's Love', 'Why Can't This Be Love' and the chart-topping 'Jump'.
Van Halen's music "is holding up really well," said Hagar, 59. "I'm not taking all the credit. I mean, the earlier stuff with Roth set the tone for the whole thing. Thank God when I joined the band, it didn't go down. We kept going. It was awesome."
In order of popularity, the alt-rock band R.E.M., the British Invasion's DAVE CLARK FIVE, THE RONETTES of 'Be My Baby' fame and the proto-punk STOOGES were the other top vote-getters in our poll, which was just for kicks. More than 250 ballots were cast.
Besides our finalists, the other hopefuls who are up for Rock Hall honors are PATTI SMITH, GRANDMASTER FLASH AND THE FURIOUS FIVE, CHIC and JOE TEX.
Our call for write-in candidates generated outpourings of support for NEIL DIAMOND, ALICE COOPER, KISS, THE MOODY BLUES and YES, among others.
The induction ceremony is set for Monday, March 12th, at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. An international pool of music-industry insiders and previous inductees voted for the five incoming honorees, who will be announced Monday, January 8th.
"Management told me the other day we got in," Hagar said. "I'm curious to see if we actually do get inducted. I can't believe we wouldn't, looking at who else is up for it. Certainly R.E.M. deserves to be there. Certainly Patti Smith deserves to be there. The rest is probably just a matter of opinion."
If Van Halen is enshrined, it remains to be seen if the honor will extend to ex-EXTREME vocalist Gary Cherone. He sang only on the 1998 album Van Halen III.
Hagar had no idea if Cherone would share in any Rock Hall glory.
"It would be a little strange," Hagar said. "But at the same time, he did his part."
Earlier this year, it was announced that Eddie Van Halen's 15-year-old son Wolfgang had replaced Anthony on bass.
"I really have no idea - ppphhhttt! - what's going on," Hagar said. "Michael and I are friends, which is why he isn't in the band anymore."
Van Halen and Hagar went their separate ways in 1996. Eight years later, Hagar was back in the fold for a reunion tour. In the interim, he co-headlined a tour with Roth.
There has been buzz lately about Van Halen hitting the road again with Roth. Hagar, for one, doesn't buy it.
"I'm not saying I don't want a Dave reunion," Hagar said. "I think their best bet after this would be to go out with Dave. But I don't see it working.
"Ed, Wolfie, Alex and some new kid would be what I put my money on. That could happen.
"But Dave and Ed working together? I don't see it in a million years. I know 'em both."
In fact, Hagar doubts Van Halen's members can put aside their differences even long enough to get through the Rock Hall ceremony.
"I think it could be ugly," he said. "This might be the best one ever! It's what everybody wants. They want to see blows thrown and yelling and screaming and people making fools of themselves and trying to outshine each other.
"This could be a real comedy, man. This could be a reality series right here.
"I don't think it's gonna be a real friendly, beautiful scene... I could go there and jam with them. Ed, Mike, Al and I probably could pull it off, 'cause we just did it [in 2004]. We were professional when we went onstage.
"But you throw Dave in that mix, and I just don't see it working. Dave's gonna want it to be all about him. Ed's gonna want it to be all about him. And that's a tough one right there. I'll probably just be sitting over in the corner, cracking up."
Hagar would like to see his first band, MONTROSE, get in the Rock Hall someday, too.
"Montrose, man - we were Van Halen's heroes," he said.
With a laugh, he added: "Maybe Van Halen could induct us!"
Source The Plain Dealer |
