Roth's Top 5 biggest career blunders.

[loucap81]

Exactly. Seems like bands can get caught in the "we need to update our sound" trap or feel the need to go in different directions, which I can understand on some level, but the problem is that you then get stuff like VHIII, Generation Swine, or St. Anger. Then what happens? The band does a "getting back to our roots" album. I understand that most bands can't/won't follow the AC/DC model, but you can't abandon what got you there in the first place!

That's the key to being great musicians. How do you experiment, try for different sounds and keep pushing the envelope, but still sound like "you"? As an example, The Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed doesn't sound like Some Girls yet both are unmistakably the Stones. VH accomplished this themselves with WACF and FW, which clearly have different moods and sounds from the first two albums and even each other. But they all are clearly "Van Halen."

Only the best musicians can pull this off, but at the same time, even the great ones may overstep their bounds. It sucks for the fans at the time of release, but there's a silver lining--when an artist realizes he's gone too far with an idea, a good album afterwards usually results as you alluded to. I'd argue there'd be no Death Magnetic without St. Anger and there sure as hell would be no ADKOT without the failure of VHIII.

[fourthcoming]

This is just my opinion....but i think the whole Eddie doing the solo on Beat It pissed Dave off and i think he had an absolute legitimate reason. Beat It was the first single off Thriller.....that album became a friggin monster....so huge that it was number one on the charts forever....and who was number 2 on the charts forever? Van halen with 1984. If I was Dave I would be saying o.k. it's apparently fine if Eddie wants to make music with michael jackson, or record some god awful song with Nicolette larson but I can't make a 4 song EP of cover tunes? The movie idea probably was a grandiose idea....but it was an avenue for Van Halen....not just for Dave. What the fuck ever....what am I babbling about...it's ancient fuckin' history.

[fourthcoming]

By the way.....Some Kind Of Monster was the worst piece of crap I ever laid eyes on.

[hambon4lif]

By the way.....Some Kind Of Monster was the worst piece of crap I ever laid eyes on.

Agreed! 2 hours of millionaire rock stars whining like a pack of pampered pussies. "Some Kind Of Monster" made "Steel Magnolias" look like "Scarface" by comparison.

I felt the same way when Axl Rose became famous. My first thought was "sometimes we give fame and fortune to the wrong fuckin' people".

When Lars and Mustaine were in the therapists office talking about their feelings, it made "The Notebook" look like a goddamn Clint Eastwood flick.

I'm thankful that Van Halen never made a stupid bullshit documentary like that, but even if they did, there would be parts where they would actually take swings at each other, and not sitting around and crying like a sorry sack of cunts.

[gbranton]

cunts.

That sums it up.

[vandeleur]

By the way.....Some Kind Of Monster was the worst piece of crap I ever laid eyes on.

i cringed the whole way through it ... it was like spinal tap at a couple of points ....the beginning through to the end

[vandeleur]

the bit when lars kept banging on about the end of things bullshit , it was like he was reading the script for Tap 2 the metal years .

[Dave's Bitch]

The whole shit with Dave Mustaine pissed me off immensely

[vandeleur]

The whole shit with Dave Mustaine pissed me off immensely

why ?

[Dave's Bitch]

Guessing you are not a Megadeth fan Vandeleur?

[vandeleur]

the opposite db i like them , i was just curious to why in particular the dave mustain bit ... i get that he didnt come across great .. to say the least ... just curious as to your take on the whole thing .

[Dave's Bitch]

the opposite db i like them , i was just curious to why in particular the dave mustain bit ... i get that he didnt come across great .. to say the least ... just curious as to your take on the whole thing .

Well during the whole Megadeth Metallica saga i fell directly in the Megadeth camp,They are one of my favorite bands and i love Dave.The producers of some kind of monsters requested Dave's permission to include his footage in the film and he denied it,But he signed a release form giving the producers the right to use it and they went ahead and put it in anyway.I just think that was a completely classless and yet another betrayal and fuck you to Dave,Which really pissed me off as Dave Mustaine and Megadeth are flat out better than Metallica

[vandeleur]

I was surprised dave got involved it did seem a bit of a set up

[Seshmeister]

This is the same Dave Mustaine that supported Rick Santorum for president?

[Dave's Bitch]

Yup