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David Lee Roth
Pretty much the boilerplate cautionary tale for what happens when lead singers get too big for their (admittedly skin-tight) britches. Roth was the lead singer and unqualified star of Van Halen from the band's inception to its (then-) biggest success, the album "1984," which featured "Jump," "Panama" and "Hot For Teacher." The videos for these songs featured indelible images of Roth jumping, dancing and otherwise mugging for any camera that cared to watch him. He was a rock god, too big for any band that couldn't be bothered to use his name. So solo he went, and scored a couple of hits with novelty covers ("California Girls," "Just a Gigolo") whose videos made quick work of his now familiar TV persona, Diamond Dave. Then he made a proper record, then he made another and another and maybe even another. They all tanked, while Van Halen went on, with a mediocre replacement singer (Sammy Hagar) in tow, to bigger and -- well, if not better, then certainly bigger -- things (read about Sammy Hagar and other replacement lead singers). Roth was last seen flailing as a NYC radio host and desperately trying to recapture some of the old Van Halen mojo with a bluegrass band on "The Tonight Show." He was right about one thing: in a situation like that, you really might as well jump.
Pretty much the boilerplate cautionary tale for what happens when lead singers get too big for their (admittedly skin-tight) britches. Roth was the lead singer and unqualified star of Van Halen from the band's inception to its (then-) biggest success, the album "1984," which featured "Jump," "Panama" and "Hot For Teacher." The videos for these songs featured indelible images of Roth jumping, dancing and otherwise mugging for any camera that cared to watch him. He was a rock god, too big for any band that couldn't be bothered to use his name. So solo he went, and scored a couple of hits with novelty covers ("California Girls," "Just a Gigolo") whose videos made quick work of his now familiar TV persona, Diamond Dave. Then he made a proper record, then he made another and another and maybe even another. They all tanked, while Van Halen went on, with a mediocre replacement singer (Sammy Hagar) in tow, to bigger and -- well, if not better, then certainly bigger -- things (read about Sammy Hagar and other replacement lead singers). Roth was last seen flailing as a NYC radio host and desperately trying to recapture some of the old Van Halen mojo with a bluegrass band on "The Tonight Show." He was right about one thing: in a situation like that, you really might as well jump.
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