Michael Anthony: The Lost Interview with Steve Rosen (Part 2)

Part 2 of the interview.
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[@vanshipman]

If Mikey hates you...you must really suck😂 I had the pleasure of meeting Michael back in the 90’s and was staying at the same hotel. I went to the outside hotel bar and HE came over to me and my buddy and asked if we minded. I nearly got whiplash telling him please join us. We chatted for like an hour and I can safely say I’ve never met a more chill and cool fellow than him. Zero ego trip...everything you’d hope he’d be. He’s an amazing bass player and singer, as well as great human being. Thanks for all of the great music dude and R.I.P. Edward the all time GOAT. 🙏🎸

[@rikjones5924]

He's a very cool guy,I once visited his home when he lived in glendora..no rock star attitude!

[@donperea9275]

I was a neighbor of Mike and Sue and their families growing up, and I can honestly say he was then and still is now a truly nice, honest, caring individual. Whatever he said in this interview you can take as absolutely true and accurate! Even back in high school he was the bass player that I always compared all others to--Never lets the bottom drop out. The mark of a musician that plays for the music.

[@JohnDoe-jc3cl]

Micheal Anthony: Integrity.

[@handwiredbyme]

Did you go to any of the backyard parties?

[@taco2947]

Wow!!!! That's awesome.

[@walterevans2118]

Ah nice

[@johnnalty5150]

Still hard to believe the VH bros. And DLR made Mike sign away his rights to VH and made him an employee. He was there from the start. Mikes a great guy

[@MikeSmedleyOLDSCHOOLSTRIPERS]

WOW! An interviewer that lets the guest SPEAK!! Crazy!!! Well done sir.

[@jeffmcpeek2526]

Mike had the last laugh.He won.That guy was drug through hell and did it with a smile.He was ripped off and marginalized.He was loyal to a fault.Thank God for Sammy ! Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar are still going strong !

[@johnnalty5150]

Perfectly stated! They really screwed him over and he never lost his smile

[@briandietrich1373]

Amen!

[@e.l.norton]

Actually, nobody had a last laugh. Nobody "won". It's sad all around. But, that's bands. That's the music business.

[@MGT_KS]

Mike is so cool. We all know how stellar Eddie's playing was of course, but I've always had a massive appreciation for Mike's playing and vocal harmonies! Recently finished Noel Monk's "Runnin' with the Devil" VH memoir. He has nothing but good to say about Mike. Sounds legit. Mike is a class act. Would love to meet him someday.

[@cherylb2008]

Michael Anthony had such a strong voice. Just really understated and as his father told him, bass players kind of blend into the background. He was such an important part of VH. He sounded great singing with Eddie. He’s a very quiet, calm and gracious man.

[@crsantin]

Mike is the nicest guy I ever met anywhere, period. He treated me very kindly, like we had known each other our whole lives. He’s a great guy.

[@michaelbujanda4657]

I like the guitar solo to "Dancing in the Streets" and the intro!!!🙂☺😊🙂

[@mattbarnes8783]

Lot's of insight into the VH glory days behind the scenes. Mike is great and was an essential part of their sound. Van Halen 1 thru 1984...greatness🤘

[@MikeSmedleyOLDSCHOOLSTRIPERS]

Just when you think you can’t love Mikey any MORE he lays down the most BALLSEY and honest interview ever. That’s stuff at the end really took guts to say.

[@musicaldrops]

What a great interview! I learned a lot about how Mike really felt. I always wondered how he really felt about Dave , now I know!

[@joselgutierrez6553]

Powerful interview. My respect for Mike Anthony has quadrupled. Holy hell cow. I bet dealing with Roth shaved years off Eddies life. Too bad. Van Halen during the 5150 years seems to have been at their happiest and apex of creativity. Thank you, Steve, for posting these gems about the greatest band EVER.

[@STEVEHEROLD]

nonsense. Ed was smoking cigarettes since he was in his early teens. Ya wanna blame something for shaving years off his life blame them. Not the damn singer.

[@E.C.2]

They never say why they all hated Dave so much,it's very bizarre.

[@walterevans2118]

@@STEVEHEROLDDid it ever occur to you that people smoke a lot to sooth their nerves ? DLR put Ed’s nerves so on edge that according to Jas Obrecht and Steven Rosen Ed was crying on the phone because he was afraid of the backlash that DLR was going to give him over certain things. Ed even contemplated leaving the band in 1981 because of Roth but thankfully Alex talked him out of it.

[@caseywilson7768]

Mikey has always been pure class.

[@mwagliardo]

Great interview! Thanks for sharing. Good to hear the story from Michael's perspective

[@bumzigan]

I really enjoyed this interview as I felt it gave Michael a voice to give insight into what really went on in the Van Halen world. Those that think that MA is having a whinge at the guy who put van Halen on the map, need to know a bit more of the Van Halen story and what it was really like to be in a band with DLR. Noel Monk who had the greatest admiration for DLR and EVH to the point that he did not even recognize the contribution Alex and Michael made to Van Halen, was still very clear in his book that Dave was intolerable to be around and work with as a band member. Listen to Eddie's interviews when Sammy joined, it is clear he is relieved and exited to work with someone other than Roth. Sammy was and is, a great singer with a great work ethic and has been a great and loyal friend to Michael and somehow people have a short memory of how great and successful VH was with Sammy. I love the Van Halen brothers as musicians, but they were really messed up in so many ways especially when drugs and alcohol came into play. It is also sad to hear how much Michael valued Eddie and Al as friends when they were not so great to him in return. Apart from this interview, (and I think Michael was far from disrespectful to Roth here), I have not heard Michael say anything bad about his former VH band mates when they have given him good reason to set the record straight as to how badly they treated a loyal and valuable band member.

[@jazzbassoonpaul]

Exactly.

[@dawnepps7599]

Yes!

[@t.sewell1513]

Yup. Michael is being real.

[@millopguy]

Thanks for posting these Steve. They're Gold to us fans. Mike isn't kidding when he says they blew Journey away when opening for them on the first tour. I witnessed it July 16, 1978, at the Mississippi River Jam in Davenport, Iowa. Which was held on Credit Island. I had heard the album just weeks prior due to finding an 8 track of it on the ground and giving it a listen. Being blown away listening to it the first time was exceeded by seeing them live for the first time and seeing them literally steal the show. Google it for cool pictures. I reference the experience in Van Halen Rising as well. They opened that day for Journey, Atlanta Rhythm Section and the Doobie Brothers. This original lineup will always be the greatest band of our lifetime. RIP Ed.

[@loscrimefighter1899]

I cant tell if they hate DLR or are head over heels in love with him. They damn sure love to talk about him.

[@SilentKnight43]

It's part of their PTSD therapy.

[@E.C.2]

What did he do that was so bad? They never say.

[@E.C.2]

@@dukeford8893 Michael Anthony should've told DLR to take a hike the night of the bass solo disaster. That's his fault for not standing up.

[@JohnDoe-jc3cl]

Steve Rosen -- Subscribed. Thank you for making public this interview with Michael Anthony. The straight dope. Very interesting

[@luvbasses5487]

Great interview Steve. Mike is an affable person to interview it seems. Perhaps the nicest guy in the biz he is, still to this day.

[@jmgmarcus808]

Definitely in the top 10 of hard rock bassists of all time, and his vocals were one of the signature sounds of Van Halen. Not to mention a great live performer, and better than all of that. A great human being.

[@tone-talk]

Thank you!

[@spencerwarren9219]

This was awesome Steve. Thanks for it . Best way to describe Michael is like sammy said it. He never did anything bad to the guys and always carried the VH flag proud. They did jim wrong but I understand evh wanting to play with his son. Long live VH

[@NicholasNorway]

Who's jim?

[@TheOnlyHollywood1]

@@NicholasNorway He means him

[@heyjarrod]

Great interview! He’s got some really cool stories. Different from all the other interviews I’ve heard from the other guys over the years. Too bad he was kind of downplaying the sound of his bass on that first album. Or just wasn’t really happy with it. But that gnarly thump of the bass is the first note heard on that iconic album. The best beginning to any album I know of. 🎸👍🏻🇺🇸😎

[@garygrinkevich6971]

its nice to hear an informal long form interview with mike you never got to hear from him when the press interviewed the band.

[@mickbrown815]

I know I would’ve gone through it. It’s part of the struggle and accomplishment that a musician has to go through with band mates. VH would never be the same band without Michael.

[@mikebozik]

Thank you for this incredible insight on Michael Anthony. I see that he has similar feelings as Alex, about Roth. Can't blame him. Don't see the point in going through life making a lot of enemies...😮 I have to note the irony, that a bass player would be known more for his hi-tenor backup vocals, than his bass playing. He was caged for all those years, but managed to keep the long view.😊 Of the four original members, he seems to be the happiest. And I wish him many more years of that.

[@allencameron1050]

It's hard to listen to David Lee Roth interviews but Eddie or Sammy or Michael it's easy

[@danv8717]

Since nobody can get a word in it's like Dave is interviewing himself

[@VanHalensGuitarPick]

A class act? Yeah, right. Calling Dave a “homo” when he first met him, and ripping him constantly in this interview. Pure class!

[@rikjones5924]

Seems like Dave was just a coworker you only hung out with at work,never outside of work..from day one

[@fafsa89]

Mike said he didn’t like his bass sound on the first Van Halen album. I always thought he sounded amazing. Listen to him playing on the whole album. Don’t tell me he doesn’t.

[@ericmdk]

Eddie has said the same about his sound on the first album and a lot of ppl look at it as the holy grail of tone. Same for Slash on Appetite. Although I think Slash feels the same as the fans.

[@HectorRodriguez-ey4wu]

Roth was the guy that put that band on the map . If didt join and push that band whos to say that Eddie and the rest of the band didnt end like Billy Sheehan or Malsteen great players but moderate success theres no doubt in my mind.

[@patricknunez8884]

I had a friend who worked in a Hotel here in Texas. He was told to go to DLR room and take em Towels or something? When he got there the door was open and heard someone on phone and he thought he had the wrong room because the voice he heard was totally different ( normal) when Dave finally Acknowledged him, he said that the Dave Character turn right on like a switch. So I guess I know where Michael Anthony is coming from?

[@robert-lz9qf]

Dave even said that ed and al could play anything but as far as business and the band they couldnt get arrested, so thank god for dave

[@justinbartarm5143]

Good on ya Mikey, your the grouse. So glad your with Sammy in Chicken foot and the Circle, and you guys Rock.

[@jeffabbott403]

Man these guys hated Roth 😂😂😂😂

[@stevedorefromtyneside9993]

I can understand him not liking Dave personally, but to try to downplay DLR's contributions is bullshit. I mean he acts like Dave was just an annoying guy that jumped around in spandex, when in reality Dave co-wrote every fucking song!

[@robert-lz9qf]

Not Co wrote, he wrote all the songs and hooks and melodies

[@stevedorefromtyneside9993]

Yes but EVH wrote the music.@@robert-lz9qf

[@knightfall9394]

@@robert-lz9qfim sure templeman had a lot to do with how their songs turned out in regards to hooks and melodies, dave had his talents and was a crafty wordsman but im sure ted did a lot to get those songs to sound the way they did and i dont just mean that from sound standpoint saying dave wrote all the songs would imply he had riff ideas, rhythmic stuff, arrangements and i doubt very much thats the case

[@keithm9337]

@@knightfall9394 I agree with you 100%. It is just like Ritchie Valens. He brought unfinished pieces of songs to Bob Keane and Keane would put the rest of the song together while Valens got the credit for being a great songwriter. Dave was a wordsmith but I doubt he put everything but the music together, without Ted Templeman's help.

[@Babakati]

thank you for posting this

[@AkiataSkirata]

Damn, this is an epic interview because Mike is notorious for keeping his own opinions out of the press, and he deservedly unloads on Roth with both barrels. Makes me sad for how Ed would end up treating Mike in the future cuz there isn't anyone more genuine or loyal in rock n roll than Mike. I've always said, If you have a problem with Michael Anthony, you are the problem. Thanks for sharing this.

[@ericmdk]

Haha Ed did use those recordings of destroying the piano that Mike described on an album!!! Thanks again Steve.

[@DeathMetalGuitar]

Mike sounds like he's suffered - and was hurtin' from being round DLR...(i love both Classic and Hagar) esp. when he speaks of the 1980 WACF tour... :(

[@CiscoDuck]

As a musician who has played in so many bands with a non-musician singer for a front man, I get how Michael Anthony felt when he gave this interview. DLR was a real rub to everyone in the band by the time he left and Mikey is still raw from Diamond Dave's constant jabs and condescending attitude and critical mouthing off. LOTS of singers who don't play a instrument are like that and they need to stay in their lane instead of mouthing off at the bass man - plus he wasn't going to mouth off at Ed or Al. So ha really got under Mike's skin. Mike knew that he was the odd man out: Ed & Al wanted Sheehan in the band and DLR was a dick to him. And of course so were Ed & Al.

[@sampokantele]

@@CiscoDuck pm

[@CiscoDuck]

@@sampokantele PM? Private message? I wish they still had them.

[@sampokantele]

@@CiscoDuck Sorry Christian - this comment was posted by mistake, I probably had phone in my pocket while walking the dogs listening to audio. Sorry!

[@CiscoDuck]

@@sampokantele No worries! Have a good one! ;)

[@RMInt-qp8mq]

I can see both sides. Mike and Al never had the pressure of having to write music or lyrics, yet still got equal cut of the money. That had to grate on Ed and Dave after awhile. Of course Al had a free pass being Ed's brother. So that left Mike as the odd man out.

[@Motherloadrocks]

after hearing this I guess its a good thing Roth and anthony never worked together again.i never knew anthony has such animosity towards Roth.im going to guess Roth's personality becomes grading after a few years.

[@toddclancy4442]

I’ve never heard one person say anything bad about Michael…I know guys who opened for VH who said Edward and Michael were super cool

[@JesusRapesMe]

Hard to listen to this they way Eddie did Michael wrong in the end.

[@metallion0738]

I agree.

[@rhaastaa]

In an odd way it makes me glad they did that to him. He comes across as such a fucking worm. Roth made him a MILLIONAIRE many times over..

[@stratcat9432]

​@rhaastaa Roth personally did it all huh? 😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@MALoadedDiaper]

So Mike thinks Rhoads stole everything off Ed, huh? I could never understand how those guys continuously kicked Mike in the ass & yet he backed them up at every turn. They forced him to sign away any rights to 1984 not to mention a pay cut. And they did it AGAIN for OU812. I'm sorry, those guys were not good to him.

[@Drfrostybrew]

I didn’t know they made him take another cut on OU812, that’s pretty crazy.

[@MrDuds1984]

I think they forced him sign all his rights away to be apart of the 2004 tour.

[@Drfrostybrew]

@@MrDuds1984 yea I heard that, he was treated like shit and always loyal to the brothers.

[@minkahed6724]

@@Drfrostybrew He slams Roth in these interviews For being this and that, but all that was what we loved about Van Halen And to take away any of their accomplishments and speak not so kindly about past albums is just a disservice. And after 1988, after the brothers were still treating him like shit he still shows tremendous respect towards them.

[@minkahed6724]

@robert proctor You don't even make sense and your lame reply to whoever shows this .

[@clutch2827]

Kills me him speaking so highly of Eddie.

[@kittortuga2720]

I'm beginning to think Mike wasn't a fan of Diamond Dave...our hero. No?

[@brian-ld4vd]

Mike is the one guy that you never heard anything bad about until Eddie turned on him. I can't believe that he was not allowed to talk to Ed before his death. Mike didn't do anything wrong. He was there going through all that hard work and got the success by always working. The Van Halen brothers didn't get mad until he started playing with Sammy Hagar and he was going to do whatever he wanted to. They punished him for wanting to work. The whole situation is really rediculous if you think about it. Dave is an egomaniac and it's good that they got rid of him, he needed to go solo. Sammy saved the band, that's a fact.

[@ericmdk]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1308">21:48</a> "C'mon Dave, Gimme a Break." :P

[@knightfall9394]

So does mike know this is out because im sure a lot of the stuff being shared he wouldn’t be happy about, also given that ed pretty ended a “friendship” with ya its kind if shitty to release a bunch of audio of him

[@walterevans2118]

Forgive my ignorance knightfall, why did Ed end his friendship with Steven ? I always thought down the years Steven had been very supportful towards Ed particularly during times of crisis ( like say during the Roth splits and abortive 1996 re-union) What went wrong ?

[@unknownfilmmaker777]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1970">32:50</a> "Not putting the man down." That's all he's doing is putting him down. It's ironic that after trashing Roth and acting like he is tight with Ed and the band and Roth is the outsider he gets screwed out of royalties by Ed.

[@edthecatman658]

Awesome

[@craigjohnson9929]

No surprise that Michael Anthony didn't get along with DLR in 1986 - what's hard to believe is how much he HATED DLR. It's like pulling teeth to get him to say anything positive about Dave and even when he's joking around ("if I had a gun I would've shot him"), it's a side of M.A. that most of us never saw. I still love the way he sings though........

[@monkface]

This one sure turned into a bash Dave-fest! I mean Dave's a bully, we get it, but no one pushed back ever? My singer starts telling me I'm screwing up and throwing plates at me? I'm telling him how much HE screws up the show every night and throwing a chair back!!

[@STEVEHEROLD]

well keep in mind the time frame. this is a year after the split. It’s interesting that decades later Dave would be the one donating money to children’s hospital in memory of Mike’s grandson who tragically passed away in infancy. .

[@monkface]

@@STEVEHEROLD oh there was no love lost at this point for sure. I think it's why Michael Anthony was pretty stunned that Dave did that. As Groucho Marx so eloquently stated Time wounds all heels.

[@MrMike-fm8bp]

Dave is the bully that pushed that band into greatness .... as we all seen that Sammy was not like that and the music reflected the softness of Van Hagar

[@johnnyrocker7495]

And yet Van Hagar albums outsold DLR albums by an order of magnitude.

[@johnsoos6907]

@@johnnyrocker7495 Your wrong. Roth outsold him. VH's 2 biggest records were VH 1 & 1984. Roth's sales are $57 million. Sammy's are $27 million. You can't even argue the per album sales, if you divide DLR's 7 vs. Sammy's 4. Dave still outsells. VH had a momentum, when Sammy joined, which is certainly responsible for the success of 5150.

[@johnnyrocker7495]

@@johnsoos6907 I'm refering to Van Hagar's sales vs Roth's solo albums sales - and I'm right! :)

[@johnsoos6907]

@@johnnyrocker7495 In that case, yes, you are correct, sir.

[@johnnyrocker7495]

@@johnsoos6907 Thank you.

[@musicwitchrachaeloneil4601]

How quickly you forget

[@gregdahlen4375]

surprised Mike is as open about some hostility to Dave as he is. I suppose Dave could take it and laugh it off so I think they still coulda worked together

[@MrDuds1984]

At the time of this recording this is still fresh in his head and you can hear the pain from the break up and everything that lead up to it. From that it’s understandable

[@robert-lz9qf]

Over the years the only time you hear mike talk bad about someone it was occasionally about Dave, him and Dave were close at first but towards the end him and Dave definitely had their back and forths

[@stiffrichard2816]

It's sad to hear two hours of the same endless Roth bashing from Micheal when it was Dave and Ted that were mostly responsible for VH's rise to success. I'm sure Roth acting as co-manager/co-producer got on their nerves, but it worked. Those cover songs are what broke them on the radio. Roth may be a motormouth and was probably too "all-business" with them. If he berated Micheal like that over some equipment failure, that wasn't cool. It's just a bit unbelievable that they stuck together for so long when they hated Roth as much as they say they did. Maybe it was because DLR had the industry connections that could get them signed and they were basically just using eachother until they didn't have to anymore, but it's easy to complain once you've gotten to the top. It would have ended in 1985 if Sammy didn't save their asses and look how that friendship ended. I wish these bands like VH, KISS and others didn't air their dirty laundry like this, it ruins the music.

[@jbeebs1]

Ya I new there was resentment, however didn’t realize it was to this extent. Have to remember too, this interview was within a year from them breaking up.

[@privatejonesdavid]

Thanks for the warning, now I don’t have to waste time listening to the King of the Hagtards bitch about David Lee Roth.

[@jazzbassoonpaul]

Not sad at all. One of the best guys in the music biz Mike is.

[@miteyoak]

This interview has not aged well at all.

[@yopacific]

What year is this interview from?

[@mikef6785]

Day after he interviewed Ed, May 10, 1986

[@robert-lz9qf]

Thank God for Ted templeman because that shitty demo they made with gene Simmons sounded awful, signing.with bill aucoin would of been a disaster

[@knightfall9394]

Glad im not the only one who thinks that, i listen to their early demos and i think they sound fuckin atrocious. Ed is still finding his voice and doesnt have the style you hear on VH1 and the songs suck

[@robportillo503]

No love for DLR

[@musicwitchrachaeloneil4601]

I know how WB got there. I brought me there duh..

[@rhaastaa]

VH ll was too soft but thinks Van Hagar was great lol... I am losing all respect for him

[@kalen7126]

One thing I dont underatand is why Hagar, and already established Rock Star, would be matched with the unknown Van Halen boys. It always gelt like a dog at Dave and not really based on reality. I could be wrong, but it never felt true.

[@evil6564]

Wtf are you talking about lol

[@thedadyouneverhadchannel3544]

Ted produced them both. EVH loved Montrose. Read Ted’s book.

[@christopherreed2694]

Dave was great before he could aforementioned party 🥳 favors made his mind not as strong so his performance suffered but dave is about the most likeable person 😉 funny acrobatic just wow Mike is the nicest person ed was fascinating his mind like if yellow stone eruption just you can't even hold on and Alex funny seriously funny could have been a comic if he wasn't twice Bonhams ability Alex and Tommy Lee just kick your butt hole in and roll you down the street they don't leave you wanting more there so intense you don't even hear how much they did while playing for the song truly the best rock drummers of all time I would give a kidney just to meet them so awesome Mike was always in the pocket like an indy driver for Ferrari

[@LOFIRULESCOM]

DAVE WAS VAN HALEN...

[@thedadyouneverhadchannel3544]

You spelled Eddie Van Halen wrong!

[@GTUF]

you come off so condescending towards Dave whenever you ask a question about him. You and Mike come off really bad in these clips

[@danv8717]

Dave made himself look bad! He rubbed everybody the wrong way with his attitude and ego.

[@ericmdk]

Chill out, he admitted himself he was just a Gigolo.

[@brianlewis5073]

Michael Anthony Should Thank God Everyday That He Met Three People, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, And Sammy Hagar. He Has A Life He Would've NEVER Had If He Had Not Met Those Guys.

[@blairwos1382]

Those three people are Edward,Al and Dave!!!

[@jeffswank9018]

You don’t know that for sure

[@gregdahlen4375]

michael put himself in a position to meet them he was in the music scene

[@RMInt-qp8mq]

Michael earned it more than Wolf did.

[@quit293]

Irony van halen didn't ask him back for reunion. 😅

[@GTUF]

Just because you don’t like DLR you decided to post this crap interview. Terrible look for all involved

[@adamjones142]

The different chive expectedly pop because neon unknowingly mess up in a protective interviewer. mature, skillful witness

[@Lil.black.dress84]

Dave's EGO is his problem. He was up against a genius. Rest in power. EVH ♥️🎸🤍🎸♥️🤍🎸🤍♥️🎸♥️🤍🎸

[@musicwitchrachaeloneil4601]

I was dating Mike Bronstein from WB. My Dad was running the Whisky.