*I apologize if this is a dupe. This article gives nothing new as far as info, but I don't think it's been posted here.*
David Lee Roth: Reunion Is Only 'Real' Van Halen Option
by Mike Baron
Feb 16, 2006
'Diamond' David Lee Roth said a singer hired from a TV search would only turn Van Halen into 'a novelty act.' If the revered rock band Van Halen really is in the market for a new lead singer through CBS-TV's "Rock Star" reality show, their first lead singer wants them to know he thinks it's a monumentally dumb idea.
Roth said he doesn't think the story is true because he has a "little bit of hope and faith that there's a little bit of something left of Eddie Van Halen's pre-frontal brain lobe."
Roth, lead singer of Van Halen (1978-1985) and now the morning host on WFNY (92.3 FM), also said yesterday on "Roth Radio" that he has a better option: Get the original band together for a reunion tour.
"People want the reunion," said Roth. "No one will pay respect to what any of us do [musically] until we get the reunion out of the way ... Once Eddie [Van Halen] does that, everything else he does can be seen with a fresh eye."
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Roth has made no secret of his own enthusiasm for a reunion tour, indicating on several occasions that it would be a 'no brainer,' he's already gotten the okay from CBS Radio executives to take a leave of absence if such a tour happened.
"Van Halen would go out for three months," he said. "That's all Eddie could handle. And then the next morning, I'd be back at this mic at 6 a.m."
A tour would also make all of the members of the band quite a bit of change. Roth said the band already has offers on the table for $1 million a show, reports the NY Daily News.
However as much as Roth may want the band to reunite, he sure wasn't using sweet talk yesterday to warm his ex mates to the idea.
He compared Eddie Van Halen to Sly Stone, whose brief and ragged appearance on last week's Grammy telecast rekindled reports of substance abuse.
What's happened with Van Halen "may be on a par with what's happened with Sly Stone," said Roth.
"I wonder if that same thing is going on with Eddie Van Halen because he's socially retarded," Roth said, according to Page Six. "He's dooming his own project."
Roth also dismissed recent Van Halen shows as "lite rock" and said touring with a singer hired from a TV search would make the band "a novelty act."
He said the situation was different with INXS, the first band on "Rock Star," "because their original lead singer was dead."
He suggested the main reason anyone would watch Van Halen on "Rock Star" would be "the Gong Show factor ... seeing who screws up the most."
CBS has yet to announce its new "Rock Star" band but auditions will begin March 1 in Austin and come to New York March 8.
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-- Compiled from wire reports