defend the indefensible: VAN HAGAR

The original lineup of this band hit me during my formative years--I was 12 going on 13 when the first album came out. They were also the first concert I saw. While the bloom was definitely off the rose by Diver Down (although Fair Warning holds up remarkably well), I never reconciled myself to the Van Hagar version. Everything that made the band special seemed to have been drained away.

Sammy was 30+ years early on the celebrity tequila trend.

You should seriously look up how otm that really is and how well Sammy played it. I'll try to copy the pertinent part from his book tomorrow.

The (more or less) end of the visionary tequila saga, from "Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock":

He sat down with me and told me that he and his investors wanted to buy the company from me and they would pay $22 million. I already turned down Gary Shansby’s offer of $38 million. What was this guy thinking? I fired my accountant.

He did have a piece of the company. When he sued to get back my shares in his San Francisco restaurant, I made a deal for his end of Cabo Wabo and he went away. I brought in a liquor business old-timer named Steve Kauffman to run the company. He was somebody I knew, who came from Seagram and had done some work for me as a consultant. He was going through his fourth divorce, the poor bastard. He needed a job. Once he took over, the business exploded overnight.

A little more than a year after Kauffman came to work for me, Skyy Vodka approached him to buy the company. He took a lunch with an old friend from Skyy and showed him the numbers. The guy called me up from the lunch and offered me $70 million for the company. I almost fainted.

In the liquor business, we were quiet underachievers. We had four employees. I didn’t spend any money marketing because we were doing fine, growing at a nice, beautiful, slow pace. The three-year average net profit was almost $7 million a year. I was happy making that much money. I didn’t need any more money. I liked keeping it guerrilla, maintaining control.

I went to the Skyy offices in San Francisco, very hip company, staffed by lots of young people. I felt at home and wanted to be involved with these guys. I told them maybe I would sell them 50 percent of the company. I went back and forth for about ten days, waking up in the middle of the night thinking, “Oh, no, I can’t sell this company.” I finally told them I couldn’t sell. By the time I paid the lawyers, taxes, bought off my partners, I told them, all I’d have left is a chunk of money that doesn’t really change my life. “What amount would change your life?” they asked.

“At least $100 million,” I said.

They called back the next day and said okay.

I guess if you are already a rich rock star, I guess $100 million is true FU money.

“Yeah, you can feel”