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Two years before Sammy Hagar became the lead singer and second guitarist in Van Halen, his former bandleader had some remarkably harsh words for his guitar playing.
“I just don’t think he is a good guitarist,” Ronnie Montrose told Guitar Player in 1983. “He’s adequate for what he does and just ends up using every cliché in the book. Although he does that well.”
Montrose was not some random critic. He had formed the hard-rock band that bore his name in 1973, with Hagar as its lead singer, and had fired him after the band’s first two albums. Hagar had since gone on to a successful solo career and would soon become one of the most famous singers in hard rock.
But Montrose still believed his former bandmate was a limited musician.
“I set that band up to be an experimental, integral, working rock and roll ensemble,” he explained in the October 1983 issue of Guitar Player. “I wanted it to become the American version of Led Zeppelin, because they were able to do acoustic things as well as metal. They were able to bring their audience with them. I wanted to get to the point where our audience would allow us to experiment.
“Unfortunately, it was not a creative situation, because the members of the ensemble were not of a creative nature. Sammy was the only one who had enough ambition to attempt creativity, but he was musically uneducated. A guitar to him was an accompaniment to vocals and a rock and roll performance.
“On the way home from a European tour, I told Sammy he had to go his own way and do what he was going to do, because I wanted to move in a different direction toward something that was more musically exciting and of a broader scope. I’m not saying this with any malice, but he has stayed on the same musical level, working in the same narrow rock vein.”
Montrose had formed his namesake band in 1973 with Hagar, bassist Bill Church and drummer Denny Carmassi. Their self-titled debut arrived the following year and became a landmark of American hard rock, with Hagar’s powerful vocals helping establish the band’s sound.
There’s never been any question of allowing Sammy to pick up a guitar. He’s adequate for what he does and just ends up using every cliché in the book.”
— Ronnie Montrose
But the partnership did not last. Montrose and Hagar parted ways in 1975, and the singer went on to build a successful solo career. By the time Montrose gave his 1983 interview, Hagar had released several albums under his own name and was an established rock star.
Montrose, however, remained unimpressed by Hagar’s abilities as a guitarist.
When asked why he had never played in a band with another guitarist, he admitted that he enjoyed jamming with other six-stringers. But he had never considered Hagar a suitable musical partner.
“There’s never been any question of allowing Sammy to pick up a guitar,” Montrose said. “There was no way you could ever interplay in a jam with him.”
By 1983, Montrose was pursuing a musical path that was far removed from the heavy rock of his namesake band. After leaving Montrose, he had moved into increasingly experimental territory and released Open Fire, a 1978 all-instrumental album featuring acoustic guitar, mandolin, synthesizer and a 30-piece orchestra.
Ihe guy said, ‘Boy, I bought a copy of that thing, took it home and put it on, and it f* made my stereo gag.’”
— Ronnie Montrose
The record was not a commercial success. In fact, Hagar apparently enjoyed telling a story about the reaction of one particularly unhappy Montrose fan.
“The best line I’ve heard about that album from a Montrose fan was told to me by Sammy Hagar,” Montrose recalled. “Sammy was playing somewhere in the South, and the guy came up and asked if he had heard my latest album. When Sammy said he had, the guy said, ‘Boy, I bought a copy of that thing, took it home and put it on, and it f* made my stereo gag.’”
Montrose was amused by the story, but he did not regret making the album.
“Warner Brothers was shell-shocked by that album, but I opened up an audience with it that I will never regret,” he said. “That album enabled me to do a soundtrack for a Canadian film about skiing called Powderheads. It also enabled me to go to Japan with Tony Williams.”
Warner Brothers was shell-shocked by that album, but I opened up an audience with it that I will never regret.”
— Ronnie Montrose
But Montrose’s career would never reach the commercial heights enjoyed by Hagar, who blamed the guitarist’s self-destructive tendencies for his lack of success. Just two years after the guitarist offered his assessment of his former singer, Hagar joined Van Halen, replacing David Lee Roth and embarking on a new chapter that would make him one of the biggest stars in rock.
Montrose, meanwhile, remained committed to the idea that he had been more than the heavy-metal electric guitar player who first made his name with Hagar.
“People who wondered who the real Ronnie Montrose was had to see he was both,” he said.
Four years after Montrose gave his assessment of Hagar, no less than Eddie Van Halen weighed in on Sammy’s guitar talents. Speaking to Guitar Player alongside the singer for an interview in the October 1987 issue, Van Halen noted Hagar’s passion and ability to inspire.
He’s a soulful player. He’s inspired the hell out of me, writing-wise.”
— Eddie Van Halen
“He gets the point across very well,” Eddie said. “He’s a soulful player. He’s inspired the hell out of me, writing-wise. I ripped one of his licks off — which he ripped from Neal Schon,” he added with a laugh.
But it was Sammy who got the last laugh — at the expense of his former guitarist.
“Actually, it’s an old Ronnie Montrose lick that was invented by Jimmy Page or Jeff Beck,” he said.
Offered Van Halen, “You do it best.”
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