Dumped Van Halen Bassist Michael Anthony Takes the High Road

Former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony has spoken out about his absence from the Van Halen reunion tour (he and onetime VH frontman Sammy Hagar will instead tour with their band, the Other Half). "It's not that I'm not touring with Van Halen because I'm going out with Sammy," Anthony wrote on his blog. I'm going out with Sammy because I was not invited to do the VH tour. Sammy told me that if I was asked to be part of the VH tour and decided to do it, it would be totally cool, and it would not tarnish our friendship in the least!! Well it's not to be, and life goes on. I'll still be out there with Sam, and I can't wait to do some partying with all of you." Anthony went on to say that he bears no ill will toward Wolfgang Van Halen, who will be taking his place on bass, and encouraged fans to be nice to him. "Wolfgang is a great kid, so don't judge him too harshly. I'm sure he'll do just fine!!"

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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