Roth's Top 5 biggest career blunders.

[WARF]

5) Wrong choices for singles: I think this may have really hurt his album sales in the 90's. Everything after the title track for ALAE has been misfired. Also, the lack of video supporting the DLR Band cd. As I mentioned Dave turned down a video and song for the Armeggeddon soundtrack with Slam Dunk as well.

4) Production on skyscraper:
The loss of Billy Sheehan and many other factors started the commericial downhill slide for DLR.

3)Roth Radio:
According to DLR he was just a replacement until they could get OPIE AND ANTHONY I believe. I don't remember. I don't recall really listening to this show very much other than it completely flopping.

2)No Holds BBQ - I might get flamed for this... but I don't understand why Roth dished out over a million dollars of his own money on this piece of crap. The techno covers were horrible... I don't know what the hell Dave was thinking when he did this.

1)Roth Departing from Van Halen - Whether he quit or was fired... it doesn't matter... the world went to shit after 1985.

[DONNIEP]

3)Roth Radio:
According to DLR he was just a replacement until they could get OPIE AND ANTHONY I believe. I don't remember. I don't recall really listening to this show very much other than it completely flopping.

I gotta agree with this one. I listened nearly every day and, well, I wasn't crazy about it. I think it could have been much better than it was if it had had some sort of format.

[TJMKID]

I gotta agree with this one. I listened nearly every day and, well, I wasn't crazy about it. I think it could have been much better than it was if it had had some sort of format.

Dave could still have a great DJ show if he wanted --- Alice Cooper and Dee Snider both have successful late-night radio shows and Dave is way funnier than both of them

[DONNIEP]

Dave could still have a great DJ show if he wanted --- Alice Cooper and Dee Snider both have successful late-night radio shows and Dave is way funnier than both of them

Absolutely! He should have let the station try to format the show. But, it was Dave and I would have listened to it even if he just spoke slowly and in a monotone voice...which he did one day and I sat through the whole show, cause it's Dave

[Seshmeister]

5) Wrong choices for singles: I think this may have really hurt his album sales in the 90's. Everything after the title track for ALAE has been misfired. Also, the lack of video supporting the DLR Band cd. As I mentioned Dave turned down a video and song for the Armeggeddon soundtrack with Slam Dunk as well.

4) Production on skyscraper:
The loss of Billy Sheehan and many other factors started the commericial downhill slide for DLR.

3)Roth Radio:
According to DLR he was just a replacement until they could get OPIE AND ANTHONY I believe. I don't remember. I don't recall really listening to this show very much other than it completely flopping.

2)No Holds BBQ - I might get flamed for this... but I don't understand why Roth dished out over a million dollars of his own money on this piece of crap. The techno covers were horrible... I don't know what the hell Dave was thinking when he did this.

1)Roth Departing from Van Halen - Whether he quit or was fired... it doesn't matter... the world went to shit after 1985.

I don't agree with you on some of this. (2) and (3) were non events and not high enough on the radar to count as terrible blunders.

I suspect the Backyard BBQ may have been a massive tax thing but even if it wasn't then it's just a rock star pissing money away and in a more productive way than snorting it up his nose.

I think the real mistakes he made were

1) Naming the band Van Halen meaning he had to lose his brand when he left

2) An even split of writing royalties in Van Halen giving Antony as much as he was getting even though he was writing the vocal melodies and lyrics

3) Taking the fun and showbiz out of things notably on the YFLM tour and the one with Hagar.

4) The Brett Tuggle keyboards high in the mix on Van Halen songs live and the cheesy shit on Skyscraper.

5) The YFLM tour - doing a wedding band set with a wedding band

6) Just Like Paradise not becoming the theme tune to Beverly Hills 90211

There are many more, Dave makes lots of mistakes but hey...

[clarathecarrot]

I like, The Dave Show.

...and you do too.



We should post up a board that sais, IN or OUT.. like they have in offices a board that has those little red magnets to stick on the board across from your name under the IN or OUT verticle box ...you know to indicate wether or not someone is here at the moment...then way across the board there should be another member status indicator it should read, Dave is a Cunt.

Seems most members are here or not, or,.. Dave is a Cunt...

Classic.

[mh5150]

2 hour video of love train

[Momshell]

Am I the only one that really liked Dave's radio show?! I was a huge Stern fan and got Sirius installed in my car when he switched to satellite. But once I heard Dave on the radio, I couldn't tear myself away to listen to Howard anymore. I thought Dave was all of the things that make me love Dave - funny, smart, interesting, different- and that sexy voice, holy crap I love Dave's voice! I could listen to him all day.

[Seshmeister]

I quite liked it too but it was a ridiculous format, so fucking stupid that I kind of believe the conspiracy theories now that it was meant to fail.

I don't know much about American radio but I listen to plenty in the UK and I can't see how it's possible in any way for anyone to do a 4 hour radio show with no guests or music for 5 days a week - that is completely impossible, ludicrous.

[DONNIEP]

I quite liked it too but it was a ridiculous format, so fucking stupid that I kind of believe the conspiracy theories now that it was meant to fail.

I don't know much about American radio but I listen to plenty in the UK and I can't see how it's possible in any way for anyone to do a 4 hour radio show with no guests or music for 5 days a week - that is completely impossible, ludicrous.

I liked the show too. But the format sucked. And Dave, for better or worse, said himself on the air that he was gonna do it his way. And I listened nearly every day. I just think he should have had some sort of format or structure to the show. I don't think that it would have succeeded in that spot on that station - no matter what. But Dave could definitely pull a late night gig on satellite with no problem if there was some structure to it. And bring back Brian Young!!

[SunisinuS]

)1 It has all been self promotion.*

)2 Where ya been?

[Terry]

Difficult to answer this in some ways, since some of the peculiar left hand turns he took produced things I really enjoyed.

I can't really say with a strong degree of certainty that leaving Van Halen in 1985 was a bad move for him. By ALL accounts after the 1984 album and tour the band was unable to function to the point where they couldn't even agree on what direction the music should head toward, or even strategies for touring a proposed 1984 follow-up. Some of the music on 5150 on an instrumental level...it would have possibly been interesting to hear Roth's take on that music. However, I don't really think I would even WANT to hear Roth attemtping to try and put words or vocals to tracks like Dreams, Love Walks In or Why Can't This Be Love. I mean, doubtless had Roth stuck around the next album after 1984 would have been a huge seller and a massive tour would have followed.

In no particular order:

1) Letting the synth pop creep in with the release of Skyscraper/the loss of Billy Sheenan
Yes, Eat 'Em And Smile does suffer from overkill in the guitar hero wankery department at times, but overall the album totally rocked from start-to-finish, and rocked in a variety of styles of which NONE were reliant on synths as anything other than a bit of additional coloring. Skyscraper had some tunes that rocked among the best Roth solo has to offer, but others that tread the line between novelty and disposable (ex: I'm not exactly wearing out my cd by repeated listenings to Stand Up).

2) The Diamond Dave 2003 release
Roth had such a slamming effort with the 1998 DLR Band cd. Five years on, he follows that up with this tepid release of forgettable covers, a couple of average originals (only within the context of this album does Thug Pop really shine - when stacked up alongside the rest of Roth's output as a whole, Thug Pop is hardly stellar) and some throwaway gibberish. In all honesty, I thought the dude was washed up when I heard this. Between this album and his rather bizarre appearance/waning performances on the Sam and Dave tour, my concerns about Van Halen being able to reconstitute with a semblance of dignity weren't limited to just Eddie's health.

3) Your Filthy Little Mouth
Some good stuff alongside a lot of stylistic experiments that were only notable because it was David Lee Roth doing them, rather than the experiments themselves being good strictly on their own merits. This was the point where, in commercial terms, Roth began sliding into oblivion. Not really unusual, inasmuch as many of Roth's big rock contemporaries saw their careers crater by the time the early 1990s rolled around. I still can't figure out if YFLM was a bold move by Roth to just do whatever the fuck he wanted since he knew he wasn't the flavor of the month any longer, or a calculated move to crossover to a more adult-oriented audience.


At any rate, those are the big three for me. Even so, Roth has had a pretty successful career far as rock musicans go. He's had his top of the heap moments, most of which happened during the 1980s. He's also had an equal amount of years dealing with inevitable decline. Now, he's back with Van Halen, making music he can hold his head high about and headlining arenas. I suspect if he were asked, he'd say he regrets nothing except for the adventures he might have missed. In retrospect, outside of a bust for ten bucks worth of "bunk Jamacian reefer" Roth was never involved in anything scandalous (and was it really a shock to ANYBODY that Dave liked to smoke pot?). He hasn't had any messy public breakups far as private relationships go, no deviant scandals or meltdowns in public. Hasn't gone too overboard with plastic, cosmetic makeovers. All things considered, far as the music biz goes Roth is more than breaking even, which isn't small potatoes considering he's been at it in one form or another since 1974 or so.

[TJMKID]

But Dave could definitely pull a late night gig on satellite with no problem if there was some structure to it. And bring back Brian Young!!

It was hard for Dave to have a radio gig earlier in his career --- mainly because he had so much comedy schtick to project that it made it impossible for anyone else to get a word in edgewise.

But after seeing the Vimeo clips where he interviews Eddie and Alex about the old days --- Dave has mellowed out to the point where one-on-one interviews with fellow rockers would be quite entertaining and interactive.

[TJMKID]

3) Your Filthy Little Mouth
Some good stuff alongside a lot of stylistic experiments that were only notable because it was David Lee Roth doing them, rather than the experiments themselves being good strictly on their own merits. This was the point where, in commercial terms, Roth began sliding into oblivion. Not really unusual, inasmuch as many of Roth's big rock contemporaries saw their careers crater by the time the early 1990s rolled around. I still can't figure out if YFLM was a bold move by Roth to just do whatever the fuck he wanted since he knew he wasn't the flavor of the month any longer, or a calculated move to crossover to a more adult-oriented audience.

I didn't get too worried when I heard about YFLM or the Vegas Mambo Slammers --- like you said it was the early 90's and grunge & hip hop killed off hard rock like a plague but I knew it wouldn't last long.

Dave disappearing from the grid for those few years in the 90's just made people miss him that much more --- as in a standing ovation at the '96 MTV Awards.

[DONNIEP]

Dave's appearance with the rest of VH in '96 was fucking incredible. I don't really care what anyone says about the '96 appearance - I know what it meant to me...I know how much it meant to me when I heard Van Fuckin' Halen on the radio for the first time in over 10 years...thank God Wolfie wasn't the bass player at that time.. And you know what? That was the last fucking recording of Classic Van Halen that there ever will likely be. So piss and moan and tell me how this version of VH is the real version of VH but it ain't...

[mohican]

Strummin' With the Devil was not a good move.

[twonabomber]

Strummin' was not really a DLR project. yes, he was on three songs but there were 12 more without him.

I quite liked it too but it was a ridiculous format, so fucking stupid that I kind of believe the conspiracy theories now that it was meant to fail.

i've mentioned this before...after the last show of the post-radio show tour, i asked Brian if he felt they were set up to fail and he said "we were absolutely set up to fail."

[DavidLeeNatra]

Dave's radio show was one of the greatest career moves he ever did!

I had my seven minutes on the phone with the man and nobody can ever take this away from me...

[envy_me]

Dave's radio show was one of the greatest career moves he ever did!

I had my seven minutes on the phone with the man and nobody can ever take this away from me...

7 minutes? What did you talk about? What did he say? Did you say hi from me

[envy_me]

He spent 1 million on that BBQ thing??? I'd rather that he snorted it up instead, then at least somebody would get some pleasure out of the money.

[DavidLeeNatra]

7 minutes? What did you talk about? What did he say? Did you say hi from me

we talked about an "army of prostitutes"...about Hamburg and the red light district...how it's legal here or illegal there...I still have the last sentence of that conversation on my cellphone as a ringtone...the old farts here remember it

[envy_me]

we talked about an "army of prostitutes"...about Hamburg and the red light district...how it's legal here or illegal there...I still have the last sentence of that conversation on my cellphone as a ringtone...the old farts here remember it

What did he think about that? Did he think it should be legal everywhere?

[Nitro Express]

So apparently hamburger town is a real meat market.

[Nitro Express]

I listened to Dave's radio show once. Uncle Manny was the special guest.

[envy_me]

I listened to Dave's radio show once. Uncle Manny was the special guest.

I never heard the show, but I read somewhere that his "daughter" was a guest. Is that his daughter for real?

[Dave's Bitch]

No.Just some filthy porn star

[envy_me]

No.Just some filthy porn star

Man, why are filthy people drawn to this band (not us of course ). And why couldn't she have chosen Sammy instead? He'd probably see her as pride and joy of his life. Sammy would probably say "yeah, thats my girl up there, look at her, just like her daddy"

[VHscraps]

I listened to Dave's radio show once. Uncle Manny was the special guest.

I listened to that show with Uncle Manny. I thought that was pretty good - especially Dave interviewing Manny about his time in England in the US Air Force, and the story about his buddy with the unfortunate name - Basil Cockshot, I think it was. That was hilarious.

[Whorehey]

I think Nirvana and Jason getting sick
took some wind out of his sails for a while
there. He had to scrap touring behind ALAE,
didn't he?

[chuckjitsu]

Terry, what are your thoughts on the Vegas era? Did anybody around here actually see the show? If so, how was it?

[binnie]

Personally, I like most of YFLM.

I think what you guys have to remember is that the '90s was a tough time for bands from the late '70s/'80s. Are these really career blunders from Dave or just a sign of the times? Which equivalent artists were having great successes around the time that YFLM and the DLR Band record came out? There aren't many......

[Terry]

Terry, what are your thoughts on the Vegas era? Did anybody around here actually see the show? If so, how was it?

Never saw the show. I seem to remember watching a clip from a Roth appearance on Leno around 1995 or so where Roth and what I presume was his Vegas band played California Girls - am assuming that was representative of what his Vegas show was like. At the time he was actually in Vegas, I don't recall even being aware of it. I do remember reading about it shortly after the fact in a GQ article in the spring of 1996. By that point in the 1990s, it wasn't really a case of Roth getting much mainstream media coverage, and the net wasn't in every home...

I'd be interested in seeing clips of his Vegas shows. In some ways that would be more interesting than what he was doing live from 1999 to 2006, which was essentially "David Lee Roth presents The Van Halen Experience (all the greatest hits - minus Van Halen - with a few obligatory Roth solo tunes thrown in)".

It seems in retrospect that much of the period between 1992 and 1999 was a case of Roth trying to figure out what to do and how best to reignite mass public interest in his career...trying to either refine or redefine himself in the public mind. The Vegas stint falls in that period for me.

I will say I DID really enjoy the No Holds Bar B Que. I dug the fact that Roth spent his own money, went ahead and did exactly what the fuck he wanted to do, paying little mind to general, commercial public perceptions. As important (if not more), I quite enjoyed the results.

[TJMKID]

I think what you guys have to remember is that the '90s was a tough time for bands from the late '70s/'80s. Are these really career blunders from Dave or just a sign of the times? Which equivalent artists were having great successes around the time that YFLM and the DLR Band record came out? There aren't many......

I think the 1-2 punch of Nirvana exploding on the scene and Jason Becker getting ill was too much for Dave to overcome ---- or any "hair metal" act he was lumped in with.

He decided to pull back the reins and try those left-hand turns he always talked about. I think he had plenty of money and investments in the bank --- Dave was never about rock star excesses anyway. Why not indulge some quirky shit and pass it off as artistic enlightenment ??

I think most VH fans knew there would be a huge Roth reunion someday --- just a matter of EVH not dying from throat cancer or liver cirrhosis.

[vanshipman]

I liked about 3/4 of YFLM, and these days that's pretty good in finding an album with that many tracks you like.

As far as Roth radio goes, I liked it just because it was Dave, but Dave should've prepared for that gig, because you just can't wing hours of free air without things getting old. I got to speak to Dave when he was talking about steroid use, and it was very cool.

The No Holds BBQ was just Dave doing on video what he was doing on the radio...winging it. lol but it's Dave and I love pretty much almost everything he does.

[TJMKID]

I'd be interested in seeing clips of his Vegas shows. In some ways that would be more interesting than what he was doing live from 1999 to 2006, which was essentially "David Lee Roth presents The Van Halen Experience (all the greatest hits - minus Van Halen - with a few obligatory Roth solo tunes thrown in)".

Here's a short snippet --- some of Dave's dancing girls were worth the boner material alone:

[Seshmeister]

In the bootleg I heard (must be on the forum here somewhere) the jokes were surprisingly lame but maybe you had to be there.

I think the problem with a show like that is I would have spent the whole time thinking how much I wished he was doing rock but I don't think it was terrible just a bit too 'middle of the road' for me, all that Livin in America stuff.

[TJMKID]

I think the problem with a show like that is I would have spent the whole time thinking how much I wished he was doing rock but I don't think it was terrible just a bit too 'middle of the road' for me, all that Livin in America stuff.

I didnt buy a ticket to see the Mambo Slammers in Vegas --- had no desire to --- but I admired Dave's willingness to indulge his artistic whimsy.

I would've been really disappointed if he came out with a grunge album in 1994 --- wearing flannel shirts and greasy hair just to make a few bucks.

[loucap81]

I'd have to say the whole period from 2002 through 2006 just before he got back with Van Halen. There was literally nothing about that period I found redeeming, from touring with Hagar, to doing that tired, rehashed 90 minute setlist for all those years in a row, the No Holds BBQ/techno crap, the God-awful Diamond Dave album that literally sold less than 25,000 copies, and of course the horrible radio show. What really pisses me off about that era is that he made a comeback starting with DLR Band in 1998 (his best album in my opinion), he got himself in tip-top shape by 2001, and then the air just went right out of that balloon with four years of garbage.

Let's be clear, he needed Van Halen just as much as Van Halen needed him by 2006. If not for VH, I think he would have just shut it down and drfited out of the public eye. Even if he wanted to continue as a solo artist, what would be left for him? Being an opening act for washed up, 100+ shows a year casino bands like Def Leppard or REO Speedwagon? Certainly I can't imagine Ray Luzier, Brian Young and whoever else was involved would have stuck around any longer as that whole thing was played out.

[Momshell]

I listened to Dave's radio show once. Uncle Manny was the special guest.

Wasn't that day one?

[Coyote]

The radio thing was an interesting deviation. I tuned in as often as I could...

I'd say the only major blunder was selling the "Diamond Dave" persona to a disinterested mainstream audience.
Maybe a slight case of cultural shellshock going from 80's megastardom to 90's-00's quirk, as well...