In his eulogy Brothers, Alex Van Halen talks about the complicated relationship between himself, his brother Eddie, and lead singer David Lee Roth. He explains that Roth left the band after their big success with the song “Jump” and the album 1984. Roth felt overshadowed by Eddie and asked him to play fewer guitar solos, thinking he could become a movie star instead. Alex Van Halen also spotted wearing a cane in recent photos.

This tension caused t“He couldn’t handle the fact that Eddie was getting more attention than he was,” Alex writes. “He kept asking Eddie to play fewer guitar solos. Dave was convinced he was going to be a movie star.”he breakup of what Alex calls “the real Van Halen,” which he describes as the most disappointing moment of his life, especially since it happened when the album reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts.

Despite their past problems, Alex still recognizes Roth’s importance to the band. He notes that during their fights, they didn’t see how valuable their teamwork was. After Eddie passed away, Alex was the first to reach out to Roth, feeling it was important to honor their shared history and the connection between their families.

“At the time we didn’t recognize it because we were constantly battling things out. That’s why I mentioned [in the book] that the first person I called when Ed died was Dave because I felt like I owed him that, to the work we had done together and the fact that our families knew each other and the fact that everybody was sort of on the same level, if you will, when we first started.”

About Roth’s decision to leave the band, Alex says he’s unsure what went wrong but has great respect for Roth and his work ethic. He admits that while some of Roth’s choices confused him, it’s not his job to figure them out.