The Red Rocker Sammy Hagar talking to Dan Rather about taking over where Diamond Dave left off. Tonight (Tuesday) you will see the newsman chat with the Red Rocker on The Big Interview on AXS TV. Hagar takes Rather on a joy ride in his new $1.2-million dollar Ferrari; he plays him a new song that he has yet to record called "Inner Child," based on family therapy sessions he attended with his wife and daughters; and they talk about Van Halen, specifically whether or not Hagar felt pressure when he succeeded David Lee Roth in 1986.
Sammy Hagar on taking over for David Lee Roth in Van Halen in 1986. "I didn't feel pressure. I didn't. At the time, as a solo artist, I was really as big as Van Halen. At that time I was selling out double nights everywhere in the country - they were doing about the same. They had just hit that real big one with the song 'Jump.' [It] really kind of broke them into a different league of record sales. But everything else to us was kind of on the same level for the few years before that. They were more flamboyant going out and, you know, being rock stars, so I felt so comfortable with the music that we were playing. I was fine. Sammy Hagar chats with Dan Rather and performs a new song called Inner Child.