Joe Elliott: Van Halen Became Sammy Hagar’s Band After Roth’s Departure

Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott sat down with the Fly On The Wall podcast where he talked about other bands and their vocalists.

During the chat, the rocker discussed Journey and Van Halen. He shared his thoughts about Sammy Hagar and said:

“Arnel’s got almost exactly the same voice works. You think about, say, Van Halen, they totally reset themselves after they parted company with David Lee Roth. They got Sammy Hagar in.”

Elliott explained his view of Hagar’s voice and detailed why VH later became his band:

“It was almost like a different band or it was almost like Eddie Van Halen joined the Sammy Hagar band because the flagship thing is always the voice. Sammy didn’t sound anything like David Lee Roth whereas Arnel [Pineda] sounds exactly like Steve Perry because he used to be in an Indonesian Journey cover band. That’s how they found him on YouTube.”

Elliott Thinks Hagar Is Still As Good As Day One

Elliott’s take on Van Halen might be different from what some think. However, he thinks Hagar is still as good as day one.

In another interview, the rocker named some of the singers he liked and also shared their downsides. Though when it came to Hagar, he couldn’t name a downside and said he was one of the best out there:

“Bowie’s come down very low in recent years, and Robert Plant doesn’t really go for the high notes that much anymore. There are only two singers I’m aware of that still have the pipes they had when they first came out: Sammy Hagar and Steven Tyler.”

You can listen to the interview below.

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