If I would go up on a high note, Eddie would want a low one. That's how petty the situation had become.

That song ["Don't Tell Me"] didn't take us anywhere, and I know why now. It wasn't what Van Halen fans wanted. It showed the darkness of Van Halen, and basically the end of the band.

Overall, we had about 50 meetings where the brothers would say that I couldn't do any solo records, I couldn't write for other people, I couldn't do this and I couldn't do that. These guys were trying to nail my feet to the ground.

If I would have ever dreamed that I wouldn't be in Van Halen anymore and was going to have resume my solo career again, I would have never contributed anything towards my own greatest hits package.

After I had my dream, I got into numerology. Like my buddy's name is Bill, and I would say, "B is a two, and each I is a nine, and the L's are fours. And that's eight." I would figure out everybody's numerological single-digit number.

If I would go up on a high note, Eddie would want a low one. That's how petty the situation had become.

I'm John Lee Hooker in the sense that he was a blues man and he played blues his whole life. I'm a rock guy and I'm going to play rock music my whole life.