‘Delicate sensibilities’: How Van Halen’s Aussie offence caused a hit and why working with Jackso caused a band bust-up

This iconic group was torn apart by an argument over Michael Jackson, after getting cancelled in Australia resulted in a hit single.

JUSTIN LEES

2 min read

October 28, 2024 - 1:31PM

Entertainment Network

A key member of Van Halen has told how the rock giants got cancelled in Australia – and ended up with a hit single as a result.

Drummer Alex Van Halen also tells how his brother Eddie’s famous collaboration with Michael Jackson caused a massive and lasting bust-up, leavng bandmates feeling “betrayed”.

Writing in new book Brothers, Alex says the video for Van Halen’s 1982 cover of Pretty Woman “offended delicate sensibilities” Down Under and also in Japan.

“We weren’t welcome on the airwaves,” he writes.

“Bad news, right? Not for us. The whole thing generated a ton of press, and suddenly we’re not just the guys who play loud music, have drunken food fights, and hate brown M&M’s, we’re victims of censorship! We’re champions of free speech!

Van Halen looking flash: From left, Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth, Michael Anthony, Eddie Van Halen.

“I love America. Pretty Woman started climbing the charts.”

The book, out on Wednesday, is a tribute to Alex’s late sibling, guitar legend Eddie, who died of cancer in 2020.

Among copious rock revelations is an account of how Eddie’s involvement with Jackson’s hit Beat It – he played the solo and helped with musical arrangements – caused a massive meltdown in the band, because he recorded it in secret after being warned against the collaboration by Alex and flamboyant frontman David Lee Roth.

BEAT IT & BUST-UPS: Exclusive Van Halen extract

“I was furious! We had a huge fight and then smaller versions of the same fight for years afterward because the consequences of the whole thing were so far-reaching,” Alex writes, referring to increasing tensions that contributed to Lee Roth’s eventual departure from the band.

‘I was furious!’: Eddie Van Halen joins Michael Jackson on stage to perform Beat It during The Jacksons’ 1984 Victory Tour at Texas Stadium in Dallas.

“(Dave) felt betrayed. And honestly, the way Ed went about it, so did I. Look, Ed’s my brother, and I’m always going to take his side.

“But this gave Dave a leg to stand on when he wanted to do things without the rest of the band. It amped up the game of tit for tat between my brother and Dave … it was ongoing and intensifying.”

And it wasn’t just the Beat It bust-up rocking their relationship. Lee Roth was “mad at Ed for upstaging him in the press with his romance with TV star Valerie Bertinelli” Alex adds, while “Ed was mad at Dave for blowing off his wedding party.”

‘Upstaging him in the press’: Valerie Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen in 1983.

The drummer continues: “Dave was mad at Ed for being a musical prodigy – for getting attention as an individual, a virtuoso, separate from Van Halen. Ed was mad at Dave for putting up a fight about almost every instrumental track on our records.

“And on and on, about matters large and small, creative and technical, sonic and visual, intellectual and moronic.”

Lee Roth left the band in 1985, forging a solo career, while Sammy Hagar took his place and Van Halen carried on successfully. The brothers reunited with Lee Roth briefly in 1996, but it was reportedly marred by tension between Eddie and the singer, before another more enduring reunion in 2007.