In an interview with Marci Wiser Van Halen vocalist Sammy Hagar was asked if he participated in discussions about keeping or changing the band's name after he was recruited to front the band following David Lee Roth in the 1980s.
He replied, “Yes, we were all in one room. And I think [Warner Bros. head] Mo Austin said, ‘Why don’t we be careful here…?’”
He states that all the businessmen and lawyers, in addition to the record label president, were gathered when the band requested Sammy's inclusion in the band. They all decided to hold this meeting while they were in the studio, playing "Why Can't This Be Love" from the album 5150.
"Then he said, 'Have you guys ever thought about changing the name to, like, Van Hagar or something?' And I know what they were thinking, because they thought, 'If this doesn't work, at least you can go back to Van Halen again. But if you're Van Halen and it doesn't work, you've ruined Van Halen,'" he added.
Until then, Eddie Van Halen said, "It's Van Halen with a new vocalist," and there were no further discussions about it.
Asked if he agreed with the decision to keep the name, Sammy said: “I was one hundred percent on board. It was Van Halen with a new vocalist. I would have been ashamed to be Van Hagar. I would have said, 'Let's just change it back to [original band name] Mammoth' or something like that, go back to the beginning.”.
Hagar recorded four studio albums with Van Halen: 5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge , and Balance . All of them topped the US charts.
In a 2020 interview with Ultimate Classic Rock , the group's longtime producer, Ted Templeman , admitted that he initially had reservations about Hagar joining the band.
“I wanted them to change the name,” he said. “When I first sat down with Sammy and his manager, I said, ‘Call it something else if you’re going to be in the band. It’s just not Van Halen without Dave, to me.’”.
Hagar, Eddie, Alex Van Halen , and Michael Anthony last reunited in 2004 for a summer tour in the United States. In exchange for participating in the tour, Anthony reportedly had to agree to a pay cut and relinquish his rights to the band's name and logo.
In early 2019, there were rumors that the band's classic-era lineup would reunite for the first time since 1984. Since then, it has been revealed that a mishap involving Eddie was the reason the tour did not materialize.
Eddie died last October at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California.
