Sammy Hagar Wanted to Break David Lee Roth’s ‘F—in’ Neck’

Sammy Hagar admits he wanted to break David Lee Roth’s neck while the two were touring together in 2002.

Promoted as “Song for Song, the Heavyweight Champs of Rock and Roll,” the tour infamously brought Van Halen’s two leading men on the same bill. The idea was Hagar and Roth would trade who went on first from show to show, but in a recent conversation with Rolling Stone, the Red Rocker claimed Roth didn’t uphold his end of the deal.

“He tried to pull stuff on the Sam and Dave tour,” Hagar claimed. “The nights when he was opening, when we flip-flopped…which I would never do again. I would never bother. But look, I’m not an opening act for anybody.”

“On those nights, he would call in and say, the bus broke down, 10 minutes before he was supposed to go on,” Hagar continued. “And because I care about my fans, I would go on. And I did that about four times. I wanted to break the guy’s fuckin’ neck.”

Hagar believes Roth’s insistence to headline actually hurt Diamond Dave’s performances.

“The stupidest thing is, he did the worst when he headlined. He couldn’t follow me with a band of kids playing Eddie [Van Halen’s] guitar solo note for note and playing ‘Eruption’ and shit,” Hagar explained. “He did his whole Van Halen show from 1983, and I’m going, ‘What an idiot!’ He should have represented himself a little more like who he was as a solo artist.”

‘Dave Always Wants Too Much’

Hagar will launch his Best of All Worlds Las Vegas residency on April 30. The Sin City stay – which builds on the successful 2024 tour of the same name – will feature set lists largely comprised of Van Halen material.

Though there’s no love lost between Hagar and Roth, the Red Rocker wouldn’t totally close the door on performing with Van Halen’s original singer again.

“The circumstances would have to be right,” he noted. “Dave always wants too much. He always tries to upstage.”