Van Hasbeens

The last time I saw Van Halen they were a mess, and Sammy Hagar debuted one of the worst songs I've ever heard, a piece of poop called "Where Eagles Soar," or some such lame recruiting anthem. Anyway, a new Van Halen tour is looming, but the big news is that while original singer David Lee Roth is back, bassist and (vital) backing vocalist Michael Anthony is out. It's bad enough that they tried literallly airbrushing his image off of early album covers. But now comes the news that his backing vocals may be piped in on tape! How depressing is that. More importantly, I wonder if he gets some sort of mechanical royalty reward for that?