Roth's Top 5 biggest career blunders.

[WARF]

5) Wrong choices for singles: I think this may have really hurt his album sales in the 90's. Everything after the title track for ALAE has been misfired. Also, the lack of video supporting the DLR Band cd. As I mentioned Dave turned down a video and song for the Armeggeddon soundtrack with Slam Dunk as well.

4) Production on skyscraper:
The loss of Billy Sheehan and many other factors started the commericial downhill slide for DLR.

3)Roth Radio:
According to DLR he was just a replacement until they could get OPIE AND ANTHONY I believe. I don't remember. I don't recall really listening to this show very much other than it completely flopping.

2)No Holds BBQ - I might get flamed for this... but I don't understand why Roth dished out over a million dollars of his own money on this piece of crap. The techno covers were horrible... I don't know what the hell Dave was thinking when he did this.

1)Roth Departing from Van Halen - Whether he quit or was fired... it doesn't matter... the world went to shit after 1985.

[DONNIEP]

3)Roth Radio:
According to DLR he was just a replacement until they could get OPIE AND ANTHONY I believe. I don't remember. I don't recall really listening to this show very much other than it completely flopping.

I gotta agree with this one. I listened nearly every day and, well, I wasn't crazy about it. I think it could have been much better than it was if it had had some sort of format.

[TJMKID]

I gotta agree with this one. I listened nearly every day and, well, I wasn't crazy about it. I think it could have been much better than it was if it had had some sort of format.

Dave could still have a great DJ show if he wanted --- Alice Cooper and Dee Snider both have successful late-night radio shows and Dave is way funnier than both of them

[DONNIEP]

Dave could still have a great DJ show if he wanted --- Alice Cooper and Dee Snider both have successful late-night radio shows and Dave is way funnier than both of them

Absolutely! He should have let the station try to format the show. But, it was Dave and I would have listened to it even if he just spoke slowly and in a monotone voice...which he did one day and I sat through the whole show, cause it's Dave

[Seshmeister]

5) Wrong choices for singles: I think this may have really hurt his album sales in the 90's. Everything after the title track for ALAE has been misfired. Also, the lack of video supporting the DLR Band cd. As I mentioned Dave turned down a video and song for the Armeggeddon soundtrack with Slam Dunk as well.

4) Production on skyscraper:
The loss of Billy Sheehan and many other factors started the commericial downhill slide for DLR.

3)Roth Radio:
According to DLR he was just a replacement until they could get OPIE AND ANTHONY I believe. I don't remember. I don't recall really listening to this show very much other than it completely flopping.

2)No Holds BBQ - I might get flamed for this... but I don't understand why Roth dished out over a million dollars of his own money on this piece of crap. The techno covers were horrible... I don't know what the hell Dave was thinking when he did this.

1)Roth Departing from Van Halen - Whether he quit or was fired... it doesn't matter... the world went to shit after 1985.

I don't agree with you on some of this. (2) and (3) were non events and not high enough on the radar to count as terrible blunders.

I suspect the Backyard BBQ may have been a massive tax thing but even if it wasn't then it's just a rock star pissing money away and in a more productive way than snorting it up his nose.

I think the real mistakes he made were

1) Naming the band Van Halen meaning he had to lose his brand when he left

2) An even split of writing royalties in Van Halen giving Antony as much as he was getting even though he was writing the vocal melodies and lyrics

3) Taking the fun and showbiz out of things notably on the YFLM tour and the one with Hagar.

4) The Brett Tuggle keyboards high in the mix on Van Halen songs live and the cheesy shit on Skyscraper.

5) The YFLM tour - doing a wedding band set with a wedding band

6) Just Like Paradise not becoming the theme tune to Beverly Hills 90211

There are many more, Dave makes lots of mistakes but hey...

[clarathecarrot]

I like, The Dave Show.

...and you do too.



We should post up a board that sais, IN or OUT.. like they have in offices a board that has those little red magnets to stick on the board across from your name under the IN or OUT verticle box ...you know to indicate wether or not someone is here at the moment...then way across the board there should be another member status indicator it should read, Dave is a Cunt.

Seems most members are here or not, or,.. Dave is a Cunt...

Classic.

[mh5150]

2 hour video of love train

[Momshell]

Am I the only one that really liked Dave's radio show?! I was a huge Stern fan and got Sirius installed in my car when he switched to satellite. But once I heard Dave on the radio, I couldn't tear myself away to listen to Howard anymore. I thought Dave was all of the things that make me love Dave - funny, smart, interesting, different- and that sexy voice, holy crap I love Dave's voice! I could listen to him all day.

[Seshmeister]

I quite liked it too but it was a ridiculous format, so fucking stupid that I kind of believe the conspiracy theories now that it was meant to fail.

I don't know much about American radio but I listen to plenty in the UK and I can't see how it's possible in any way for anyone to do a 4 hour radio show with no guests or music for 5 days a week - that is completely impossible, ludicrous.

[DONNIEP]

I quite liked it too but it was a ridiculous format, so fucking stupid that I kind of believe the conspiracy theories now that it was meant to fail.

I don't know much about American radio but I listen to plenty in the UK and I can't see how it's possible in any way for anyone to do a 4 hour radio show with no guests or music for 5 days a week - that is completely impossible, ludicrous.

I liked the show too. But the format sucked. And Dave, for better or worse, said himself on the air that he was gonna do it his way. And I listened nearly every day. I just think he should have had some sort of format or structure to the show. I don't think that it would have succeeded in that spot on that station - no matter what. But Dave could definitely pull a late night gig on satellite with no problem if there was some structure to it. And bring back Brian Young!!

[SunisinuS]

)1 It has all been self promotion.*

)2 Where ya been?

[Terry]

Difficult to answer this in some ways, since some of the peculiar left hand turns he took produced things I really enjoyed.

I can't really say with a strong degree of certainty that leaving Van Halen in 1985 was a bad move for him. By ALL accounts after the 1984 album and tour the band was unable to function to the point where they couldn't even agree on what direction the music should head toward, or even strategies for touring a proposed 1984 follow-up. Some of the music on 5150 on an instrumental level...it would have possibly been interesting to hear Roth's take on that music. However, I don't really think I would even WANT to hear Roth attemtping to try and put words or vocals to tracks like Dreams, Love Walks In or Why Can't This Be Love. I mean, doubtless had Roth stuck around the next album after 1984 would have been a huge seller and a massive tour would have followed.

In no particular order:

1) Letting the synth pop creep in with the release of Skyscraper/the loss of Billy Sheenan
Yes, Eat 'Em And Smile does suffer from overkill in the guitar hero wankery department at times, but overall the album totally rocked from start-to-finish, and rocked in a variety of styles of which NONE were reliant on synths as anything other than a bit of additional coloring. Skyscraper had some tunes that rocked among the best Roth solo has to offer, but others that tread the line between novelty and disposable (ex: I'm not exactly wearing out my cd by repeated listenings to Stand Up).

2) The Diamond Dave 2003 release
Roth had such a slamming effort with the 1998 DLR Band cd. Five years on, he follows that up with this tepid release of forgettable covers, a couple of average originals (only within the context of this album does Thug Pop really shine - when stacked up alongside the rest of Roth's output as a whole, Thug Pop is hardly stellar) and some throwaway gibberish. In all honesty, I thought the dude was washed up when I heard this. Between this album and his rather bizarre appearance/waning performances on the Sam and Dave tour, my concerns about Van Halen being able to reconstitute with a semblance of dignity weren't limited to just Eddie's health.

3) Your Filthy Little Mouth
Some good stuff alongside a lot of stylistic experiments that were only notable because it was David Lee Roth doing them, rather than the experiments themselves being good strictly on their own merits. This was the point where, in commercial terms, Roth began sliding into oblivion. Not really unusual, inasmuch as many of Roth's big rock contemporaries saw their careers crater by the time the early 1990s rolled around. I still can't figure out if YFLM was a bold move by Roth to just do whatever the fuck he wanted since he knew he wasn't the flavor of the month any longer, or a calculated move to crossover to a more adult-oriented audience.


At any rate, those are the big three for me. Even so, Roth has had a pretty successful career far as rock musicans go. He's had his top of the heap moments, most of which happened during the 1980s. He's also had an equal amount of years dealing with inevitable decline. Now, he's back with Van Halen, making music he can hold his head high about and headlining arenas. I suspect if he were asked, he'd say he regrets nothing except for the adventures he might have missed. In retrospect, outside of a bust for ten bucks worth of "bunk Jamacian reefer" Roth was never involved in anything scandalous (and was it really a shock to ANYBODY that Dave liked to smoke pot?). He hasn't had any messy public breakups far as private relationships go, no deviant scandals or meltdowns in public. Hasn't gone too overboard with plastic, cosmetic makeovers. All things considered, far as the music biz goes Roth is more than breaking even, which isn't small potatoes considering he's been at it in one form or another since 1974 or so.

[TJMKID]

But Dave could definitely pull a late night gig on satellite with no problem if there was some structure to it. And bring back Brian Young!!

It was hard for Dave to have a radio gig earlier in his career --- mainly because he had so much comedy schtick to project that it made it impossible for anyone else to get a word in edgewise.

But after seeing the Vimeo clips where he interviews Eddie and Alex about the old days --- Dave has mellowed out to the point where one-on-one interviews with fellow rockers would be quite entertaining and interactive.

[TJMKID]

3) Your Filthy Little Mouth
Some good stuff alongside a lot of stylistic experiments that were only notable because it was David Lee Roth doing them, rather than the experiments themselves being good strictly on their own merits. This was the point where, in commercial terms, Roth began sliding into oblivion. Not really unusual, inasmuch as many of Roth's big rock contemporaries saw their careers crater by the time the early 1990s rolled around. I still can't figure out if YFLM was a bold move by Roth to just do whatever the fuck he wanted since he knew he wasn't the flavor of the month any longer, or a calculated move to crossover to a more adult-oriented audience.

I didn't get too worried when I heard about YFLM or the Vegas Mambo Slammers --- like you said it was the early 90's and grunge & hip hop killed off hard rock like a plague but I knew it wouldn't last long.

Dave disappearing from the grid for those few years in the 90's just made people miss him that much more --- as in a standing ovation at the '96 MTV Awards.

[DONNIEP]

Dave's appearance with the rest of VH in '96 was fucking incredible. I don't really care what anyone says about the '96 appearance - I know what it meant to me...I know how much it meant to me when I heard Van Fuckin' Halen on the radio for the first time in over 10 years...thank God Wolfie wasn't the bass player at that time.. And you know what? That was the last fucking recording of Classic Van Halen that there ever will likely be. So piss and moan and tell me how this version of VH is the real version of VH but it ain't...