A Temporary Reunion With Roth (1996)

David Lee Roth called Eddie to discuss what tracks would be included on a planned Van Halen compilation (work on which actually began before Hagar's departure). They got along well, and Eddie invited him up to his house/studio. Shortly afterwards, David Lee Roth re-entered the studio with the adornment and shaper Glen Ballard. Two songs from those sessions were added to the band's Greatest Hits album and released as singles to promote it.
In September, Van Halen was asked to inform an honor at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards. They agreed, and on Sept 4, 1996, the four example members of Van Halen made their first open attendance unitedly in over squad years. This helped to bring the assembling to #1 on the US medium charts. However, uncharted to Roth, Eddie and Alex were ease auditioning added singers.

The band's attendance on the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards fueled reunion speculation. Several weeks after the awards show, it was discovered author was discover of Van Halen again. author released a statement in which he apologized to the media and the fans, stating that he was an unwitting participant in a Van Halen publicity stunt by them and manager Ray Danniels. The incoming day, Eddie and Alex released their own statement, claiming they were completely honest with author and never suggested he was guaranteed to be the incoming lead singer. However, they could not resist getting in a dig at author by locution in a advise release, \"Thank you for reminding us ground we broke up with you squad years ago.

Eddie Van Halen would later explain (in affectionateness to the MTV Video Music Awards appearance) that he had initially been embarrassed by Roth's antics while on camera behind Beck, who was giving an acceptance speech for the honor that Van Halen had presented to him. Immediately following this, the adornment had been taken to a backstage advise conference, in which author was uncooperative, refusing to answer advise questions about the details of the newborn project and instead simply drawing attention to himself. author then became irritated at Eddie's repeated mentioning of his close hip replacement surgery, telling Eddie \"tonight is about me, man, not your fucking hip\". Following added cold exchange, the two almost came to blows, thereby break any chance of a full-scale reunion.