Soon after returning from the tour and making the video for “Hot For Teacher,” Roth wasted no time finishing his EP and making a video for “California Girls.” At his side again was Pete Angelus, who many say was the leading visionary for Roth’s video, stage shows, merchandise, etc. He even came up with the name of the duo’s production company, Picasso Brothers, years before he met Roth.

Four years later, Angelus left Roth due to Roth’s increasingly erratic behavior and dubious decisions. Roth would repay Angelus by taking all the credit for their creative endeavors and leaving Angelus out of his semi-autobiographical book Crazy from the Heat.

Angelus said: “It was my decision to stop working with Dave in 1989 for a number of reasons. He didn’t care for my decision, and taking credit for my work in his book was his idea of payback, I guess. Either that, or he’s delusional and has convinced himself of his little fairytale.”

But for now, the Roth and Angelus video duo could seemingly do no wrong. At midnight on January 1, 1985, central time, MTV premiered Roth and Angelus’ new video “California Girls.” And just like “Jump” precisely twelve months earlier, it would become a smash hit, reaching #3 on Billboard and his EP selling over a million copies. With an EP going platinum being an anomaly, it was easy for some to think the lead singer was now outshining his band. David Lee Roth had quickly positioned himself as a bona fide superstar solo act. While everyone else started to question if Roth was leaving Van Halen, he repeatedly insisted that his heart still belonged to the band from Pasadena. He was merely flexing his creative muscles, and the solo album was just a fun side project.

Roth told the LA Times in January 1985: “Van Halen is not breaking up, and you can quote me on that,” he laughed. “The band has always had conflict. But how can you have the big resolve without the conflict in the middle? True, a rock band is a very fragile thing, and you never know when it’s going to explode, but we manage to keep it together by going our separate ways when we’re not working. We have very different personalities and interests, and that makes the arguments much more vital and refreshing…”

Dave even told one reporter, Arlett Vereecke, that Van Halen was still his main focus: “Oh yeah, it’s still my No. 1 project — I love being a rockstar. Where does that lead to from here? A solo tour? No, we’re going into the studio with Van Halen, we’re gonna start arguing again in the middle of January… I’ve heard half the music, and it’s great. Different from the last one? Yeah… This will surprise you. I always think I know what Van Halen is going to do, and I’m always a day late, and I’m one of the architects.”

Was Roth putting on a show for the press or was he, at the start of 1985, still wanting to be in Van Halen?

Eddie was also denying that anything was wrong inside the Van Halen camp. When asked on February 18th, 1985 if the band was breaking up, Edward said, “No, the band went into the studio in January. We’re waiting for David’s record to run its course, and then we’ll get serious about the next Van Halen album.”

The build-up to the break-up:
From January through May 1985, many things were said between the two camps. After reading multiple books, magazines, and news articles, and via my interviews with Van Halen insiders, I believe I can give you the gist of the drama leading up to the breakup. But if you think I get something wrong, let me know in the comments. Here are the sparks leading up to the blaze.

• Ed was working on the next Van Halen album. Told Templeman his services were not needed. Ed told Steve Rosen, “We go in the studio and start dickin’ around or whatever. Then all of a sudden, I basically got rid of Ted. Which was no major thing because what we’ve always done basically anyway is we write the music, goddammit, and then he fucked it up.” 
• Roth did some work on the next album but stated he did not like the music. Ed believed he was too busy promoting his album.  
• Over a period of a month, Roth’s total work on the album added up to about a week of time. 
• They fired their longtime manager Noel Monk (or, according to Ed, Monk quit since he did not want the deal they offered him). 
• Roth dropped another surprise hit and a classic video with “Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody.” Roth was a very hot commodity, to say the least.  
• Roth was working on a script for his own movie with Pete Angelus. He asked Ed to write the music for it. Ed said no thanks.  
• In March Ed met Roth at Roth’s mansion to discuss Van Halen’s future. But unlike reported elsewhere this was not the last time they spoke in person before the break up. 
• Roth suggested Alex’s drinking was a big concern for moving forward.
• Alex suggested doing a stadium tour so they could do fewer gigs. Roth said no thanks.  
• Roth wanted the band to take a break so he could work on his movie. 
• Ed told Roth he could expect that it would take a year to complete all aspects of making a new album. That was too long for Roth. 
• Roth told Ed that with no producer and no manager, he would not be singing on a new album.
• According to Pete Angelus, at some point during this time, there was a group call he was on where they all agreed to a one-year hiatus. 

The last time Ed and Roth are seen together:

On April 3rd, Ed and Roth were seen the last time publicly together as members of Van Halen when they showed up for The Third Annual American Video Awards.

Stewart said that about Roth because it was a retort to what Roth said about in him in a recent L.A. Times quote. “Video has made personality a much more important facility in popular music. Our biggest stars are technically ugly people. Cyndi Lauper, Rod Stewart, Bette Midler — this is not Cosmopolitan cover material, and yet these are our most beloved stars, and it’s because of their personalities.”

It’s very clear the water was muddied with the classic ending to many relationships: he said she said. So a lot of this is just guesswork on my part after months of research and interviews. No one truly knows how Van Halen broke up. Even the people that were there tell different stories. Roth himself admittedly will fabricate a story to suit his needs, and Ed was so deep into blow that who knows how paranoia affected his views of what really happened.

Sometime by September 1985, Roth’s movie got greenlit with a $10 million deal with CBS Theatrical Films. CBS had seen how the artist Prince took a $7 million budget with his movie Purple Rain and turned it into a $70 million box office windfall, so why not take a gamble on Roth. With Ed saying no thanks to making music for the film, Roth had to start putting a band together for the movie’s soundtrack. But at this point, that did not mean he had quit the band, just that he was moving forward with his movie project. In his mind it was a temporary separation more than a breakup. Dave didn’t want the party to end, but he did want to make another party all of his own.

But we do have strong evidence showing that by early June 1985, Van Halen had not parted ways, or at the very least, that both sides may have still believed in reconciliation.

In early June 1985, Billy Sheehan was in town to kick off his tour with his band Talas, opening for Yngwie Malmsteen on June 7th. He arrived a couple of days early because he was also to meet with Roth. Angelus had called Sheehan’s office to set up this meeting and had alluded that it was something about Roth’s movie.
Sheehan called Eddie to invite him to see his gig at the Palladium and mentioned to Ed that he was seeing Roth the next day. Ed freaked out and told Sheehan that he was afraid Roth was pulling an Ozzy. (Referring to how Ozzy left Sabbath.) At this point, Sheehan knew almost nothing about the current rift; he only knew Roth had asked him to help with a movie. Smartly Sheehan played a bit dumb because, on the one hand, he was friends with Ed; on the other hand, he may be getting a gig of a lifetime with Roth.

Back in 1982, Eddie was asked if he had any desire to make a solo record. His answer foreshadowed his current situation in 1985 with his bandmate. “I write the music for this band,” he retorted, “So it’s more or less a solo project anyway. I’m building a studio at home in Los Angeles, and I’ve also written a lot of material that’s not suitable for Van Halen, so I might do something one day. But not in the foreseeable future. A lot of people tend to do solo LPs, because they think they’re the one in the band who’s hot. Like Ritchie Blackmore. Where Is he now? And it’s his fault! Deep Purple was one of the biggest bands in the world.”

On June 14th, 1985, Ed called author Steve Rosen, and Rosen recorded the call, the transcript of which was recently published in his excellent book Tonechaser. I believe in the accuracy of the transcription, but what is missing is more context. For example, Ed told Rosen that he had said to Roth, “I wanna know before you walk out the door, this sitting, today, I wanna know what the deal is?” and “Do you wanna make a record or do you not?” According to Ed, Roth “ended up saying, ‘Okay, well, give me the weekend to think about it.’ And then I just said, ‘Hey, man. If you have to think about it, take a walk. See ya later,’ and that’s how it ended.” There is no mention of when this conversation took place. Was it the day before, was it back in March?

What was clear on that call is that Ed understood Roth was moving on with his movie and forming a new band. If Ed was uncertain before June, the call from Sheehan sealed it.

Did Roth Quit Van Halen?
So did David Lee Roth quit Van Halen? Yes and no. He never said “I quit,” but when he was given an ultimatum by Ed, he was non-committal to the band.
Many times in the press and in his own book, Roth declared he quit the band. “When I left Van Halen, it was not something that I was delighted to do. I was not celebrating. I was not relieved. It was one of the scariest moments in my life.”
And when he was asked by Cream magazine in June 1986:
Cream Reporter: “Did you officially leave?”
Roth: “Oh yeah, I bailed. Pure and simple — I walked. It was a question of: I want to do all these things, there’s plenty of hours in the day, we can start anytime you want… Do you want to start at one in the morning? Fine. Do you want to start at one in the afternoon? That’s fine too. But we start — and we’re gonna do everything.” “I brought this movie to the Van Halens, I said, ‘C’mon guys, let’s do this — we’ll make the music, I can work on the editing, we’ll make a stage show?’ No, no, no, no. ‘We’re just a band, man — we just want to make a record and stay in the studio.’ Really? How long? ‘Well, better give it a year.’ A year? All right, my last record was only four songs long — it took me five days. A year?

As we learned earlier, Roth is not afraid to fabricate facts to fit his narrative. And maybe, in this case, he felt he would be better perceived if history showed that he left Van Halen instead of being replaced.

But someone who has never been known to fabricate stories is Billy Sheehan. When Sheehan met Roth in person in early June of 1985, the day after he spoke to Eddie, Roth said to him: “I’ve left Van Halen, and I want to start a band with you.”

Just to cloud the waters even more, the July 4th issue of Rolling Stone came out with a blurb that stated: “Van Halen is on permanent hold. Eddie, who’s rumored to be scouting around for a new lead singer, is writing songs with Patty Smyth and planning to collaborate with Pete Townshend. As for David Lee Roth, he intends to pursue an acting career full time and is developing his own movie.”

Pete Angelus remembers being on the phone with Roth and saying, “Will you look at this shit?! We just had an agreement and an understanding, and everybody was on board.” He then remembers talking with Alex and saying to him, “What exactly is going on here? Because I thought everybody just agreed to take a year off.” Angelus recalls Alex being kind of aggressive in his response: “Oh no, that’s bullshit, man. We’re not going to sit around and wait while Dave makes a movie. You’ve got to pick sides of where you want to be.”

According to Angelus: “I was like, ‘Well, wait a minute. No one is sitting around and waiting while Dave makes a movie. A few weeks ago, we were talking about maybe it was time for Van Halen to take a year off the road, after so much consecutive touring.’ And it was like, ‘No, that’s bullshit, man. We’re not going to be in a holding pattern for Dave’s whims.’” So did Roth tell Sheehan that he had left Van Halen but not Angelus?

Another breadcrumb that makes me believe they cut ties with Roth in early June after the call between Sheehan and Ed is when Ted Templeman got the news that Van Halen and Roth were no more.

In Templeman’s book, he says: “At that point, the press hadn’t gotten wind of the breakup, so I know someone in Van Halen’s orbit called and told me.” And he went on to say: “Sometime shortly after I heard the Van Halen news, maybe around mid-June, I called Sammy [Hagar] to discuss the follow-up to VOA. In more than a few interviews, Sammy has said that apparently, I told him during that conversation that Dave had recently left Van Halen. I don’t remember saying it to Sammy. But if I did, I only mentioned it in passing, because it had nothing to do with why I called him. I can say that with certainty, because here’s the absolute, unvarnished truth: I never, ever would have wanted Sammy, or any other singer, to join Van Halen in 1985. I wanted Dave in that band, period. And I wanted Sammy on his own, because he had built some solid momentum on his last record and I was looking forward to helping him take the next big step forward in his career.”

Ed was getting pressure from his record label to consider not using the Van Halen name regardless of the singer he found. Lenny Waronker, president of the group’s record company, Warner Bros., was seriously concerned that without Roth center stage, the band wouldn’t even be justified in using its name. Waronker said, “I went up and had a meeting with Eddie about this, and I was pretty adamant… Usually, when a band of this magnitude breaks up, it’s very difficult to continue, and I felt it wouldn’t be the same band.”

It’s clear that by mid-June 1985, Ed was looking for a new singer. His first impulse after Roth’s departure was to make an all-star record, replacing Roth with a collection of various singers, using a different voice on every song. Eddie drew up a list of his favorite vocalists and even contacted Pete Townshend about joining the project.

When talking to writer Steve Rosen in June 1985, Ed asked Rosen to find him a singer like AC/DC’s original belter Bon Scott. So it made sense that now in 1985, Ed offered his new vocal vacancy to Scottish-born Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes. Barnes was mates with Scott and had replaced him in the band Fraternity when Scott left for AC/DC. But Barnes turned it down.

In mid-2023, former Deep Purple belter Glenn Hughes let the world know that Eddie may have offered him the gig if Glenn had been sober. According to Patty Smyth, she was offered the job but turned it down. Journey’s vocalist Steve Perry got a call from Ed with an offer to get together and play, which went nowhere. Ironically, Eric Martin was up for the job as the vocalist for Journey when Perry stepped out. The future Mr. Big singer Martin was supposed to jam with Ed for the gig with Van Halen but was hesitant and missed his window.

In comes Claudio Zampolli. Sammy Hagar tells this story: “My car mechanic, Claudio Zampolli, was also Eddie’s mechanic. One day, when Eddie was picking up his car, he was telling Claudio that Dave quit — nobody knew, it wasn’t public knowledge. And that’s when Eddie saw my black Ferrari 512, the car I used in the video for “I Can’t Drive 55.” He said, ‘Wow, nice car, whose is it?’ Claudio said, ‘It’s Sammy Hagar’s car — you should call him and get him in the band.'” Ed called Hagar from the garage and set up a meeting and jam session for the same week.

It should be noted that this is the second time Sammy Hagar was thought of for the role of the singer of Van Halen. Back in 1977, when Ted Tempelman was first getting acquainted with the band, it was evident that Roth wasn’t a good singer, and it was none other than Sammy Hagar that popped into his mind as a possible replacement. Templeman had produced Hagar’s first Warner Brother band, Montrose, just a few years earlier. He even mentioned it to engineer Donn Landee. But after getting to know Roth better, he started to understand why Roth was perfect for Van Halen at the time.

On July 15th, Hagar went to 5150 with his manager Ed Leffler and couldn’t believe the stench and dirtiness of the studio. Beer cans everywhere; ashtrays full of cigarettes. Al was drunk, obnoxious, and made fun of Hagar’s new short haircut, saying, “You look like somebody put a doughnut on your head and cut it off.”

At first, in Hagar’s mind, he was not going to join Van Halen. His main reason for going there was to see if he could snag Ed for his own band or maybe have him write some tunes for his next album. After jamming on some songs, Al and Ed were ready to bring in Hagar as the new singer for Van Halen. However, Hagar was still unsure. But later that night, he played back the songs they jammed on, and he loved it. Hagar said, “I got the goose bumps all over my body. I heard it. I realized it was Cream all over again — my favorite rock band ever. ” (Which was also Ed’s favorite band.) Hagar called his manager and told him he’s joining Van Halen.

In late July of 1985, Eddie delivered the bad news in the pages of the August 15th issue of Rolling Stone. Surprisingly, this major music news was relegated to the magazine’s “Random Notes” section. And buried beneath Ed, commenting on how well he and Valerie were doing. Why would the news of the biggest rock band in the world breaking up be such a small blurb? And why only quotes from Eddie? And the bigger question how is Rupal connected?

Eddie and Valerie told Random Notes journalist Merle Ginsberg the exclusive news while in town for their David Letterman appearance. Ginsberg met Ed when he was in town for his first Letterman performance a couple of months earlier. Ed told Ginsberg many secrets that night but urged her to keep them quiet. Ginsberg did, so Ed gave her a lifetime scoop. Rolling Stone’s publisher, Jann Wenner, believed the story deserved more attention but honored Ginsberg’s exclusivity by publishing it in Random Notes. It was at Ed and Valerie’s request to make it more about their love for each other than Roth.

“The band as you know it is over. Dave left to be a movie star, I don’t give a fuck what he says. He even had the balls to ask if I’d write the score for him. Me, I’m lookin’ for a new lead singer, ’cause I’ve got so much material ready to go – stuff Dave probably wouldn’t have wanted to sing, it’s a little too melodic for him. If he can’t scream over it, he has trouble. I just sat around and waited for that guy, from December until now. Now he’s got the nerve to blame it on me. It’s weird that it’s over. Twelve years of my life, putting up with his bullshit.”

The first public sighting of Ed and Sammy together would come on September 13th, 1985, at an MTV-sponsored event where Hagar gave a lecture on driving. Then later that night, all of the guys in the new possible Van Halen lineup turned out in force for MTV Video Music Awards, where their ex-singer was up for eight awards and won none. Roth also presented that night. Van Halen was not up for any awards. And on the same night, Sam wasted no time in firing the first shots at Roth by insinuating Dave might be gay after Eddie pushed an interviewer’s head toward Sam for a kiss.

There had still been no official announcement that Hagar was replacing Roth. Behind the scenes, Warner Brothers were negotiating with Geffen Records, Hagar’s label, to bring him over. Sammy, who was one of Geffen Records’ best-selling artists, owed Geffen Records three more releases.

At the request of Ed’s longtime friend John Mellencamp, he agreed to perform and debut the new incarnation of Van Halen at the inaugural Farm Aid show.

Farm Aid was an all-star charity concert started by musicians Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, and Neil Young after the words of Bob Dylan inspired them. In July of 1985, Dylan said during his performance at the Live Aid benefit concert, “Wouldn’t it be great if we did something for our own farmers right here in America?”

On September 22nd, 1985, Ed joined Hagar to jam on Led Zeppelin’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll” and a cover of The Troggs’ “Wild Thing.” Unfortunately, The Red Rocker let profanity fly during his set on live TV, “Here’s a song for all you tractor-pulling motherfuckers!” So after Hagar and Ed played “Rock ‘n’ Roll,” The Nashville Network cut away, fearing more cursing, and what we all missed was them, for the first time, publicly announcing that Hagar was indeed the new singer for Van Halen. It would be a couple more weeks before the band publicized an official press release and let the world know David Lee Roth was no longer the singer for Van Halen.

When Roth left the Van Halen organization, he ended up taking most of the road/production crew with him. But it must be noted that this wasn’t because the crew chose Roth over Van Halen, as Roth would later describe it. It was because many of the crew had been let go from May to July of 1985 from the Van Halen organization. The idea was to wind everything down with Monk’s exit and build it back up once they found a new manager. Before Sammy officially joined, there just wasn’t any work for the crew, but Roth needed workers for his movie project, so he hired them onto his team. Many of the crew would return to the Van Halen fold within a few years. Hagar’s manager Ed Leffler would become Van Halen’s new manager, replacing Noel Monk.

In the beginning, Roth and Ed’s differences complimented each other. Eddie was the musician, and Dave was the rock star, an introvert balanced by an extrovert, and artistry balanced by entertainment. But by the end, perhaps it was their similarities with different outlooks that killed the band. They both had an incredible work ethic but were working toward different goals. Roth wanted to expand the party, and Ed wanted to make the party they already had different and, in his mind, better. Roth saw himself as the band leader, but Ed quietly knew that there was no band without him, so he felt he was the natural leader. They both wanted to make iconic music, Roth wanted the hit records so he could tour and have adulation from fans, and Ed wanted to please his inner musical voice, which was never satisfied. They both had appetites that could never be satisfied and ego-filled mindsets that would not allow them to figure out it wasn’t the other guy’s fault. I doubt any of us would be any different after being told by countless people you were the shit, the real star, the reason Van Halen rocked.

Over the next few years, both camps would hurl insults back and forth, have successful albums, tours, and make a ton of money. But in my opinion, neither ever impacted music as powerfully as when it was Alex, Eddie, Dave, and Michael. The Van Halen band, between February 10th, 1978 and September 2nd, 1984 rose to the rare level of legendary. In the same league as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, and Cream.

On behalf of all the fans of Van Halen’s music, I’d like to express our sincerest gratitude to the band members for their incredible talent and contributions to the world of music. Your unique sound and energy have been the soundtrack to some of our fondest memories and have left a lasting impression on us. Thank you, Van Halen, for everything. Rest in Peace, Eddie Van Halen.”