Sammy Hagar denied the accusation that he was responsible for the phase in which Van Halen used keyboards in their music, during the time he was with the band – Hagar was with the group during the albums 5150 (1986), OU812 (1988), For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991) and Balance (1995).
In an interview with Trunk Nation Eddie Trunk 's radio program , the former Van Halen vocalist commented on the period when the group had its most "pop" sound. "Everyone blamed me for the damn keyboards in the Van Hagar era," he said, "Starting with 5150. On OU812 there was a lot of emphasis on keyboards."
“I didn’t do any of that. It was Eddie [ Van Halen , guitarist] who did it. Eddie wanted to do it. He liked playing keyboards and he was very good. He made these beautiful songs, like 'When It's Love' and 'Why Can't This Be Love', with that really cool lick.”
Bassist Michael Anthony , also in the interview, commented on that time, revealing that Eddie "hardly touched the guitar" after he started using the keyboard: "When Ed got into keyboards, he didn't touch the guitar for a long time. He played keyboards all the time."
Listen to the interview below.
