They were trashed up, and the studio was trashed up too. I went down there, walked in the studio and those guys had been up all night.

I thought about it and said, вЂњIвЂ™ll call you tomorrow.вЂќ I woke up and decided to come down. I wasnвЂ™t thinking about filling anyoneвЂ™s shoes. IвЂ™m thinking about taking a year off.вЂќ He goes, вЂњLetвЂ™s get together and see what happens.вЂќ I say, вЂњOkay, IвЂ™ll call you next week.вЂќ He goes, вЂњHow about tomorrow?вЂќ IвЂ™d love to play with you, but IвЂ™m just burned out. You should call him and put him in the band.вЂќ He calls me right from there. Whose is that?вЂќ Claudio goes, вЂњThatвЂ™s Sammy HagarвЂ™s. Eddie Van Halen walked in there and saw my car and tells Claudio, вЂњThatвЂ™s a nice car. It was at Claudio ZampolliвЂ™s shop for a complete tune up. to pick my Ferrari BB 512i from the вЂњI CanвЂ™t Drive 55вЂќ video. We were the only solo artist vocalists that could jump into a band that high profile. DonвЂ™t tell anybody.вЂќ I said, вЂњReally? Wow? What a trip.вЂќ I turned to my wife and I said, вЂњTheyвЂ™re probably going to call me.вЂќ Who else wereВ they gonna call? At the time there was Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie James Dio and Sammy Hagar. I was having dinner with my wife and I got on the phone with Ted and he went, вЂњWow, man, Dave just quit Van Halen. Ted Templeman was trying to talk to me about writing more songs since we had such a big success with VOA. I cut all my hair off the day I got home. It was really long since I had such a big hit with вЂњI CanвЂ™t Drive 55.вЂќ It opened up so many markets for me and I tried to hit them all. I was selling out every city besides New York. I had just come off the VOA tour, my most successful tour. Some people in your shoes would have been like, вЂњThanks, but no thanks. You were doing very well as a solo artist. To me, it was all about the first and last albums. Bands like Black Sabbath were minor, deep, dark. They had attitude and were reckless and everything that is cool for rock and roll, but they were really poppy. I was like, вЂњWow, who are these guys?вЂќ The thing that always impressed me about Van Halen is that they were like a pop band that was heavy. I gotta say that the first time I heard вЂњEruptionвЂќ into вЂњYou Really Got MeвЂќ I thought it was badass. Were you a fan of Van Halen back in the 1970s?

Sammie album meaning