Michael Anthony Regrets That Van Halen Went Out ‘With a Whimper’

Michael Anthony says he has just one career regret.

“The only regret that I have is how things, unfortunately, turned out for Van Halen,” he recently said on an episode of Get on the Bus. “It should have gone out with a fricking bang that shook the world, and it was more like a whimper, the way everything ended.”

Anthony did admit that when Van Halen was at its best, it was like “living the dream, a “fairy tale.” Despite this, discrepancies between band members made for a tense environment, particularly as the years went on.

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“Unfortunately Eddie [Van Halen] and I never [made amends],” Anthony explained, “we had some issues, and I’m sure that if he had not passed when he did that we would’ve reconciled or we would’ve really calmed all that stuff down, because I did hear, and I’ve talked to Wolfgang [Van Halen, Eddie’s son and Anthony’s replacement in the band] about it, that they were planning on coming to all of us and putting together a big reunion tour with all of us.”

Michael Anthony Didn’t Get to Speak With Eddie Van Halen Before His Death

Anthony, Van Halen’s longest-tenured bassist, left the band in 2006. He noted that he did not get a chance to speak with Eddie Van Halen before his passing in 2020.

“And at that point in Ed’s life, I think he was a little bit more, like, ‘Hey, the past is the past. Let’s all…’Fricking water under the bridge,’ that whole bit,” he said. “But, unfortunately, it was not to be.”