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Post by Monsters of Rock on Nov 27, 2022 11:46:21 GMT 10
EDDIE VAN HALEN STRUGGLED WITH ALCOHOL FOR YEARS
While original Van Halen lead singer David Lee Roth preferred to occupy his free time with cocaine, guitarist and band namesake Eddie Van Halen was way more interested in booze (and also cocaine). "I didn't drink to party," he told Billboard. "Alcohol and cocaine were private things to me. I would use them for work. The blow keeps you awake and the alcohol lowers your inhibitions." Van Halen's battle with the bottle started early: He began drinking regularly at age 12 and would show up drunk in high school. According to Rolling Stone, the death of his alcoholic father led him to briefly kick booze in the late '80s, but that was a relatively short period.
By 2004, Van Halen told Billboard, he'd become "an angry drunk," and that side of his personality manifested during a Tucson, Arizona, stop on a Van Halen reunion tour featuring singer Sammy Hagar. In Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock (via Rolling Stone), Hagar called it "the worst show we'd ever done in our lives." The reason: "Eddie played so bad. He smashed his favorite guitar to pieces. Sprayed shrapnel into the crowd." Then he grabbed a microphone and tearfully told the audience, "You don't understand. You people pay my rent. I love you people." That was the last time Hagar saw Van Halen, attributing the guitarist's problems to an addiction to alcohol, which he sought treatment for in 2008.
Grunge
While original Van Halen lead singer David Lee Roth preferred to occupy his free time with cocaine, guitarist and band namesake Eddie Van Halen was way more interested in booze (and also cocaine). "I didn't drink to party," he told Billboard. "Alcohol and cocaine were private things to me. I would use them for work. The blow keeps you awake and the alcohol lowers your inhibitions." Van Halen's battle with the bottle started early: He began drinking regularly at age 12 and would show up drunk in high school. According to Rolling Stone, the death of his alcoholic father led him to briefly kick booze in the late '80s, but that was a relatively short period.
By 2004, Van Halen told Billboard, he'd become "an angry drunk," and that side of his personality manifested during a Tucson, Arizona, stop on a Van Halen reunion tour featuring singer Sammy Hagar. In Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock (via Rolling Stone), Hagar called it "the worst show we'd ever done in our lives." The reason: "Eddie played so bad. He smashed his favorite guitar to pieces. Sprayed shrapnel into the crowd." Then he grabbed a microphone and tearfully told the audience, "You don't understand. You people pay my rent. I love you people." That was the last time Hagar saw Van Halen, attributing the guitarist's problems to an addiction to alcohol, which he sought treatment for in 2008.
Grunge
