A thought I haven't seen before...

[Drumvike]

At least I think this thought has never been discussed here before, so here goes:

What would/could have happened to Dave's career after 1984 if he would have started a new band as an actual band with a bandname instead of touring the world as 'David Lee Roth'? Would the original EEAS band have stayed together longer? Could it have been possible that even with EEAS bandmembers leaving the succes would have been on a much higher level also later on in the nineties?

For me, I think that if he would have started up a new and actual band (like Alter Bridge for example) he would have had a much better chance to stay on top of the game at least longer than he has. For example: If I would have been Vai and I was part of an actual band rather than a solo artist, I think it would have been much more difficult to leave that band. Just my thoughts. Looking forward to yours!

Take care,
D.

[VAiN]

I think the outcome would have been the same. By the late 80's/early 90's, music was completely changing and Dave's 'big rock' sound was on the way out.
VH was only able to hang on because of the foundation that CVH had laid down... oh, and the fact that sammy is such a great singer. :hagar3:

[Drumvike]

As far as the music scene changing bigtime in the late 80s/early 90s, I completely agree with you. However, Dave was in possession of the same foundation that classic VH laid down plus he was the voice of that VH era. I really believe that he could have kept a large amount of the 'old' VH fans if he would have been able to keep his first band together longer, especially if it would have been a 'band' and not 'Dave plus a few other musicians'.

Oh and I never doubted Spammy's qualities. That's why he's looking into the possibility of giving free concerts in the future, right? har har ;-)

[VAiN]

Although Dave was the voice, and had the foundation - he didn't have the VH 'brand' backing him anymore. Dave without VH is like VH without Dave... it just ain't the same... I don't care what you call the group of musicians. So, no, I don't think things would have played out all that differently if the DLR band had a different name.

[Drumvike]

Now this is something that I can definitely agree with...not having the VH brand backing him anymore was definitely a loss that he obviously couldn't overcome on his own. Needless to say that I was happy to have seen him live 3 times in his 'good' years but much better that the current VH tour is taking place! Thanks :-)

[knuckleboner]

actually, i think dave WAS the brand name for his solo effort.

people knew "van halen" better than they knew "david lee roth" but they definitely knew "david lee roth" better than any new band name.

and for a solo act, dave had a successful career.

1 platinum EP, 2 consecutive platinum LPs and 1 gold LP. include 2 headlining arena tours and it's a fairly solid solo effort.

[bueno bob]

A solo career was really the only option. I don't think slapping a name on the Vai/Sheehan/Bisonette lineup would have improved anything by any margin. Dave's writing would have been the same, as would Steve's and Billy's...Dave floundered after '91 and popular music was a whole new ballgame at that point, anyway, whether or not it was the "David Lee Roth" band or "R.V.S.B." (for lack of anything better to call it) wasn't going to change that.

Warner Bros. lost faith in him after '88 anyway, which was why ALAE had basically no promotion behind it...fuck, I didn't even know it was out until I saw the CD at a local Payless store...

A better question would be "What would have been had David had a better solo band?"...