Doing a College Speech on David Lee Roth. Need Help!

[Vivian Campbell]

My college computer class was given an open topic power point/speech assignment to do. I figured, why not do a report on DLR with special emphasis on his solo career?! Since, I’m looking to present the clearest picture of the god they call DLR, why not ask the fucking members of the Roth Army for a few points of clarification concerning some things I am unsure about?!

Some questions, sorry if they’re long winded.

-Concerning the VH break up:

Dave said everything was great with the band until the last three months of their existence together. What was Dave’s main bone of contention? I’ve read that he wanted to tour a lot and was concerned about ripping off the fans with sky-high ticket prices. While the sisters only wanted to do a few stadium shows. The Sisters claim that Dave was never available for work on the upcoming album, 5150. The VH1 Sam and Dave special, they made it appear that Dave got a big head off of the success of 1984 and CFTH and decided the time was right to ditch the band for solo glory. What is the real deal here?

-Skyscraper and Dave’s decline:

What was the reasoning behind the stereotypical 80s pop direction of Skyscraper? Was Dave disappointed by the sales of Eat Em and Smile in comparison to 5150 and decided to bend over to a Hagarized commercial style in order to boost sales? Would it be fair to say that this album, combined with the burgeoning rebellion against rock, fucked over Dave’s career?

Also, Vai left the band due to the direction of Skyscraper? Or were there more sinister motives behind this - I.E. using Dave to get fame and then leaving for greener pastures?

-VH scam reunion:

When Dave was brought back in for the “reunion,” was Cherone already secretly hired by the Sisters?

Besides the “tonight’s not about your fucking hip comment,” what other excuses did Ed make to fire Roth? When listening to the Sam and Dave special, I couldn’t make out what Ed was saying about Dave’s actions while presenting the MTV award.

-DLR Band, Sam & Dave, EMT, Etc.

The Wa Wa Zat record label, was it owned by Roth himself?

How successful was the Heavyweight Champs of Rock tour?

Who’s idea was it for the tour? Dave’s or Sammy’s?

Is Dave still volunteering as an EMT?

Lastly, to show what a bunch of pricks the Sisters and Sammy are, post some quotes of them bashing Roth.

[spmusicplyr]

throw in there that dave wrote half of the songs on 5150...you can get that off of the 1992 Stern interview in the radio section.
billy sheehan left after skyscraper because there were too many fills and too much production into the album. go to metalsludge.com and look for his 20 questions.
as for vai, he co-produced the album so i dont think he had a certain beef with skyscraper...i think he just used dave as a stepping stone.
dont forget to mention jason becker from 1991's a little aint enough.
buy crazy from the heat, the autobiography and read the chapter called 'reunion blues'...there's a lot about 1996 there.

i remember one part.... dave wanted to work on the old tunes for a few days because he hadn't sung in so long. he wanted to strengthen his vocal chords before working on new material and eddie shit his pants. he went nuts.
dave brought palm trees and little lights into 5150 studio to lighten up the mood and eddie/alex flipped.

i dont know a whole lot outside of that.... wa wa zat is owned by dave, i beleive.
i dont know about 2002 tour but i think it was a success.
according to the video, sam called dave in 1997 to do that tour and he said no. dave called sam in 2001 for the 2002 tour because dave had just lost his 2nd shot at joining van halen again in 2001 when they recorded 3 'astonishing' tunes.

you can find a lot of this stuff in the interview and news section on this site. buy his book

[Hardrock69]

It is obvious....The Sisters are a couple of pricks. I would not want to continue working with idiots like that either....