Roth’s Greatest interview. Innerview with Jim Ladd 1980
Finally! After years of searching I finally tracked it down…purely by accident. This interview (partial) was on the old Army site years ago. I had recorded this from radio on an 8-track when I was a junior in high school (1980) and used to listen to it all the time. At one point, I transferred it to cassette but had lost it during one of my many moves during the late 90’s or early 2000's.
I had listened to this so many times that I had basically memorized the whole damn thing and was actually going to transcribe it for all here to read.
What was so exciting about this interview was that I was a huge VH fan but had never really heard their voices. Just reading interviews was about all there was at the time. So, when I heard that this was going to air, I was pumped man!
When I heard Dave speak I was like “holy shit! He’s a stoner surfer dude!” He was Jeff Spicoli two years before there was a Jeff Spicoli! The interview is funny as hell. Dave apparently had just burned one before he showed up. Note Jim Ladd offering M&M’s in case he got the munchies! He is really “laid back” with Jim Ladd and seems really comfortable with the interview. Jim Ladd was the man back in the day. He interviewed EVERYBODY!
What's coll is that there’s not really any of the be-bop shoo-be doo shtick we are used to hearing. (Although Ladd describes it as a kind of pinball game).
Part 2 of interview the following weekend w/ both Dave and Al was more like the Dave we know. A bit of this is available on Youtube I think.
Kudos to Jim Ladd and his editors for mixing in awesome VH tunes between the questions and answers at just the perfect spots.
So don’t skip over the songs if possible they are integral to the interview.
Notable parts to listen for are Dave’s description of Alex and Michael A. and especially Eddie and how "Ed SPEAKS".
Also, the brown M&M story. You Tube poster lists this as 1982, but it was just after release of WACF in 1980.
So grab a beer or favorite beverage, turn down the lights, and put on the headphones and listen to what I know is the greatest DLR interview ever captured on tape. It is the reason that after all these years I’m such a fan of Dave and why I am here.
Enjoy!
“I believe in this kind of life man. I believe you should exist. It’s magic man, there should always be magic” DLR