Credit: Far Out / Sammy Hagar
Mon 11 May 2026 19:25, UK
Lucky for Sammy Hagar, his first real taste of success came at a young age. Back then, he didn’t really have a plan; he simply wanted to be famous and to “sing like Mick Jagger” and “play guitar like Keith Richards”.
By the time Hagar actually found his footing, he didn’t experience success the same way everybody else did. There were challenges, of course, but Hagar had already experienced his share growing up, so when it came to the music industry, most things were fairly smooth sailing.
As he once put it himself, getting “thrown out” of Montrose because of tensions with Ronnie Montrose wasn’t exactly “tough” in the real sense, mainly because, by that point, Hagar already knew what it felt like to endure real hardships. And, if anything, it served as the ultimate fodder for motivation, giving him that familiar “I’ll show you” mindset that led to bigger and better things.
That said, Hagar has most certainly been privy to the odd industry advantage from time to time. Although humble with regard to his roots, he also enjoys the materialistic side of success as much as anybody else. After all, he once told Louder that being rich feels a little something like this: “You wake up, you get out of bed, you lie on the floor, and you roll around laughing for a couple of minutes.”
When it comes to influences, Hagar has already met most of his heroes, though, perhaps unsurprisingly, he doesn’t feel especially thrilled by them. In the same interview, he basically says that feeling starstruck isn’t a thing in his world, not unless they’re names as big as George Harrison or Rod Stewart. However, most of these attitudes stem from Hagar’s core values and work ethic, which are undeniably stronger than most and have not been centred around the simple joy of rock ‘n’ roll.
In terms of influences, ‘The Red Rocker’ has never been too biased when it comes to specific types of rock or rock ‘n’ roll he enjoys or channels in his own music, and has previously praised everyone from Donovan to James Brown. Although an “odd guy” who fired him from his band, Montrose was also a major influence, and someone whose guitar-playing informed his style in ways most of us will never know.
As he once explained, he learned the specifics of playing Montrose’s “style of guitar”, adding that, while he has enjoyed playing with and learning from the greats, including Eddie Van Halen, Neal Schon, and Joe Satriani, he never sought to play like them. He only wanted to play like Montrose, and still continues to do so to this day. “He had that profound influence on me,” he said.
Further reading: From The Vault
That said, rock ‘n’ roll might run through Hagar’s bones as naturally as rainfall, but one lesser-known fact about the rocker is that he’s a secret prog-rock fan, and like most of his influences, you can hear bits and pieces of it running through his own music, like his love for Pink Floyd, and the ways he channelled them to implement various “changes” throughout records like 1977’s The Red Album.
And by his own admission, this was entirely intentional. “It’s got all of these changes,” he told Ultimate Classic Rock, also admitting that he’s a self-proclaimed “prog rock guy”, though he has a hard time “simplifying things”. Nonetheless, bands like Pink Floyd take pride of place in the swirl of Hagar’s musical offering, proving once again that not only does Hagar prove that authentic rock ‘n’ roll remains fluid, it’s also ever-evolving, shaped around the legendary masterpieces of others.
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