Sammy Hagar says Van Halen makes "bad decisions"

Former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar recently spoke with Classic Rock Revisited about the rumored fight that ended his last run with the group, his feelings on bassist Michael Anthony being excluded from the latest reunion tour and his own upcoming project featuring Anthony and others. Regarding the alleged fight on an airplane between Hagar and guitarist Eddie Van Halen on the group's 2004 tour, in which Van Halen reportedly tried to break the plane's window, Hagar said, "Yes, it is true. He tried to smash the window out with his hand until he hurt his hand...I refused to fly with the guy ever again. He was completely out of his mind drunk. He was completely wasted. He was so wasted that he was actually stupid enough to take 12 people down. People that act like that shouldn't be allowed to fly on airplanes, and they probably can't, but we were flying privately."

Hagar added that he almost quit the band right there, but there were still 40 shows to go and he "couldn't do that to the fans." But he insisted on flying separately for the rest of the trek.

As for the band's exclusion of founding bassist Michael Anthony from last year's reunion tour with original singer David Lee Roth, Hagar said, "He got f***ed and it was horrible. I am not going to go on about 'why and what,' because I have no idea...(The fans) have been waiting for this reunion and they (Van Halen) did it wrong. It is one more strike against those guys. They are not healthy, mentally, and they make bad decisions. They don't take the fans in mind for one second and it is not good."

Last year's tour with Roth on the mic featured the debut of Eddie Van Halen's teenage son Wolfgang on bass.

Hagar releases a new solo album, called Cosmic Universal Fashion, on Tuesday (November 18th).

The vocalist has also launched a new band, tentatively called Chickenfoot, with Anthony, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani. Hagar hopes to release the group's debut album by next summer, saying, "This band is too good."