Van Halen's Label Wanted Band To Change Name

William Lee | 11-07-2019

Van Halen enjoyed massive success during their Sammy Hagar era, but the frontman says that their label initially wanted the band to change their name.

Hagar recently shared the story of how the band made Warner Bros Records president Mo Ostin a believer in the music that he made with the band when he took over as leader singer from David Lee Roth.

Sammy was asked by Classic Rock if he ever had any doubts that things would work out when he joined the band. Hagar responded, "I was too confident for that. We all were. "The record company weren't.

"They were saying we should name the band Van Hagar, just in case it goes wrong - they could always go back to Van Halen and not take the whole band down.

"We didn't let the label in the studio. We made that whole 5150 record, and then we invited Mo Ostin, one of the greatest record company presidents in history, down. They walk in, it's me on guitar and Eddie on keyboard, and they're, like: 'What the f*** are you guys doing?"'

"But we played 'Why Can't This Be Love?' live, right there for them. And after we'd done, Mo Ostin raises his finger in the air and says, '"I smell money!'

"When the album came out it went straight to number one. We took that rock'n'roll highway and did it all. And until it turned bad, it was the greatest thing on the planet."