Van Halen is arguably one of the greatest rock bands in the history of music. Credited for restoring hard rock in the late 1900s, the group became famous for their live shows. The four musical gems: Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth, and Michael Anthony gave music lovers several memorable moments during their time together. But things fell apart between the gang and Roth parted ways in 1985, embracing a solo career. Then a decade after this spilt came the 1996 MTV Awards, which filled their fans with hope of reunion.

Or at least what it seemed until this exciting moment turned into an infamous incident for the rock band. Do you know how this idea of reunion ended up in a meltdown when the four actually shared the stage?

Looking back at the notorious Van Halen reunion at the 1996 MTV Awards

In 1996, all the members of Van Halen took the stage at the MTV Awards, putting their differences aside. Eddie Van Halen took the mic first, stating that they came together to present the award for Best Male Video. But David Lee Roth interrupted his speech, stealing all the attention, mentioning that this moment has come for the first time in the past decade.

He took away the big moment of the winner and made his bandmates feel embarrassed with awkward gestures. “Have you noticed how things have changed a lot since the last time we were up here?” said David. Not just that, he also commented on how MTV Awards have changed while the audiences cheered for him.

Eddie pushed him from the podium and proceeded with the announcement. But this thing did not stop him from springing around Beck, who won the award for ‘Where It’s At’. After this, all the bandmates went off the stage and fans did not hear anything about the reunion tour. However, Eddie made comments about the incidents and what happened behind the stage.

Eddie Van Halen was furious at David Lee Roth

Months after the infamous incident, Eddie Van Halen sat down with MTV to talk about their reunion possibility. In this interview, he pointed out how the now 68-year-old was improper on stage and did not let Beck celebrate his victory. He also dwelled on the moment when the press came asking questions, but Roth did not answer. So he went up to him and said they could do two videos together, but there would be no tour.

“If we ever do a tour with Roth in the future, we’ll have to write and record a new album,” said the American star. Hearing this, the singer instantly changed and started yelling that tonight was about him and not about his injury or something. Things went so badly between them that their manager had to hold Eddie back. Thus, this is how the first attempt of the Van Halen Reunion went down in flames.

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