In 1984 Van Halen had journalist Lisa Robinson come out on the road with them. She hung out with Roth quite a bit in New York and it's funny that she barely mentions Van Halen in her book.
Just a few days after this party, Lisa took Dave to see Michael Jackson in New York.
On August 4, 1984, I took Van Halen's lead singer David Lee Roth, then at the height of his band success, to see the Jacksons show at Madison Square Garden. Before the show, we met Michael in a private area of the gardens rotunda. I was taken aback to, by how much make up he wore, it rubbed off on my clothing when we hug hello. But mostly I was amused by how fully aware he was of just exactly who David Lee Roth was, probably even down to the number of records Van Halen had sold at their chart positions.
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10/14/1982
(LISA ROBINSON – THERE GOES GRAVITY – A LIFE IN ROCK AND ROLL)
LISA ROBINSON: Michael couldn’t have chosen two crazier guitarists to work with than Eddie Van Halen and Slash. When I first met Eddie in 1982, he wouldn’t do interviews; he left that to his lead singer, the occasionally amusing blabbermouth David Lee Roth. Because Eddie refused to do interviews, he was the one I wanted to talk to.
One night in 1982, I was at the, “new” Peppermint Lounge in New York City with Debbie Harry, David Bowie, and Paul Simonon of the Clash. We were there to see Iggy. David Lee Roth walked in-all flowing blonde hair and leather chaps and a shirt opened down to his waist. He flaunted masculine confidence and a king of the jungle persona-until he walked over to Bowie and Paul Simonon to tell them how much he admired them. I might have been the only person at our table who actually knew who David Lee Roth was, and as he babbled on, everyone stared at him and said nothing. Embarrassed, he eventually skulked away.
The next day, his publicist phoned repeatedly, asking me why I wouldn’t interview Dave. Because, I said, I wanted to talk to Eddie. Finally I agreed to go to dinner with Dave if later, I could interview Eddie. We went out at midnight one night- to a variety of New York “nightclubs” (Danceteria, the Mudd Club) and seedy spots (Hellfire, Diamond Lil’s) that I thought might shock him.
Everywhere we went, he was greeted effusively by patrons. I was surprised that he was so much more famous than I had previously thought.
He dared me to accompany Van Halen on their tour bus through the South. And so, in November of 1982, I found myself with Eddie’s then wife, actress Valerie Bertinelli, at a mall, purchasing wooden Christmas tree ornaments
I started to enjoy Van Halen’s show. Although, after years of observing Jimmy Page and Keith Richards up close, I wasn’t that impressed with Eddie’s over-the-top guitar histrionics and onstage knee slides.
Dave was smart and he could often be amusing. But it was off putting to witness all those nights when roadies went into the audience to pick out girls to “meet” Dave after the show.
I have hours and hours of tape from that tour of a very coked-up Dave and an equally, “inspired” Eddie; at one point they asked me to co-write their autobiography. There was many a night at a truck stop, when Eddie and Dave would be out of their minds, screaming at each other in some parking lot about something or other while the rest of us- the other members of the band, tour managers, crew – would have to sit on the bus and wait for hours. Hours. Then, in 1985, they broke up. And, more than twenty-five years later, they briefly reunited. And there’s not a shred of doubt in my mind that even sober, they had the same problems with each other in the 21st Century that they had with each other then.
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