Sammy Hagar says Nirvana freaked him out when he was on Van Halen

Sammy Hagar Kurt Cobain

In an interview on The Foward Podcast, the legendary Montrose and Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar said that Nirvana freaked him out with Grunge in the 90s when he was in Van Halen.

He said that Nirvana made rock darker:

“What’s so crazy is that it wasn’t that different, but it didn’t have the party. It took the hard-edge music – Van Halen, Poison, all those were hard-edge. There was a party in there, it was pretentious and it had a little sense of humor to it.

“Nirvana took all of that out and it just became dark – a little bit darker rock ‘n’ roll. These guys mean all this shit, you know? I mean, there is something deeper than just sitting and talking about girls and stuff.

“It affected me the same way too and it freaked me out… It freaked all of us out. Like, [Heart guitarist] Nancy Wilson. I interviewed her and Jerry Cantrell at the same time on my first season of ‘Rock N’ Roll Road Trip.’

“She was from my generation but she grew up in the same town as them, that grunge came out of. So Heart probably was really gone because they were really fucking hair band-y. Those girls, man, they took it to the next level. I wondered how she felt about it so I interviewed them together and Jerry’s a dear friend.”

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Rafael Polcaro: I'm a Brazilian journalist who always loved Classic Rock and Heavy Metal music. That passion inspired me to create Rock and Roll Garage over 6 years ago. Music has always been a part of my life, helping me through tough times and being a support to celebrate the good ones. When I became a journalist, I knew I wanted to write about my passions. After graduating in journalism from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, I pursued a postgraduate degree in digital communication at the same institution. The studies and experience in the field helped me improve the website and always bring the best of classic rock to the world! MTB: 0021377/MG