Diamond Dave: Van Halen reunion 'inevitable'

By Trent McMartin Jan 5, 2006, 3:06 GMT

According to an article from Billboard.com, former Van Halen singer and current morning radio host David Lee Roth thinks it's a matter of time before the original line up of Van Halen reunites.

"I talked to the drummer [Alex Van Halen] about a week ago," Roth told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. "And I think, eventually, the inevitable will happen."

"It definitely won't be rockers with walkers," he continued. "Getting onstage and singing 'Dance the Night Away' -- let me tell you how difficult that isn't going to be."

Over the past decade Van Halen's popularity has diminished significantly mainly due to the groups off stage soap opera involving an ever revolving line up of lead singers. In 1996 vocalist Sammy Hagar, who replaced Roth in 1985, left the group due to growing tensions within the band.

That same year the three remaining group members recorded two new songs with Roth for a Greatest hits album but the short lived reunion ended after an infamous appearance at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards during which Roth and Eddie Van Halen reportedly threatened each other. This eventually would lead to Roth being past over for ex-Extreme lead singer Gary Cherone who ultimatley left Van Halen after the disasterous 1998 album Van Halen 3.

In 2004, Hagar reunited with the group too much fanfare for a sell out tour and hits package but after the tour ended the group's members went their separate ways once again.