"What would you do if you were a rock star?"
April 13, 2013 6:30 AM   Subscribe

 
Is that question subjunctive or past tense?
posted by leotrotsky at 7:02 AM on April 13, 2013


Honestly, I'm ashamed to admit that I have never considered Roth a deep pond. I'm sure it is casual bigotry which has led me to this position. This article shows that he is much more than I had thought.

Thanks for posting.
posted by hippybear at 7:10 AM on April 13, 2013 [5 favorites]


There's always been more to Dave (and the whole Van Halen camp in general) than meets the eye. I've always said that they were successors to the Beach Boys in that to outsiders, they represented California. Plus they rocked like a topless rodeo.
posted by jonmc at 7:21 AM on April 13, 2013 [4 favorites]


Never really thought I would do this, but, Metafilter: They rocked like a topless rodeo.

Never liked Van Halen's music and never really liked Dave's public style, but I became a fan of Dave the person when he took over for Howard Stern (briefly) on radio. What a smart eclectic person.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 7:25 AM on April 13, 2013


David Lee Roth is one of my all-time heroes. He's the ultimate front man, and someone who took every punch the rock world could throw at him and came back strong. A fiercer icon you won't find in music.

He's the Fool card in the Tarot deck and has more going on in his life and mind at nearly 60 than most bands have going in their entire careers.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 7:29 AM on April 13, 2013 [4 favorites]


Huh. Didn't realize that I'd be interested in what David Lee Roth was doing and thinking these days, but I am pleasantly surprised. Thanks, zarq.
posted by MonkeyToes at 7:34 AM on April 13, 2013


Gimme a bottle of anything. And a glazed donut. TO GO!
posted by KingEdRa at 7:53 AM on April 13, 2013 [4 favorites]


He did a long interview with Opie and Anthony a few weeks back, and I had the same impression. Until he started repeating himself, and then some of the things he said turned out to be BS. I am back to my original opinion- he's a nut with an act that draws people in. Nothing deeper.
posted by gjc at 8:01 AM on April 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


An interview on the Joe Rogan podcast a month or two ago gave a detailed look at life a la Roth:
-He's living in a small--by western or Japanese standards--apartment in Tokyo. His mode of transport is a bicycle.
-He studies Japanese intensively with a tutor and commutes to a dojo to learn the katana-waving practice known as "iaido."
-He hangs out with Konishiki, a famous sumo wrestler from the eighties (and possibly the early nineties?) who hails from Hawaii, and is a celeb who appears frequently in TV commercials.
-Google Roth on google.co.jp and you'll come up with pictures of him posing with average Tokyo dudes and chicks in cafes.
-I'm not sure if he's still an EMT, flies helicopters, sings bluegrass, or collects guns (all recent Roth hobbies).
-He still talks a blue streak in interviews about Uncle Manny, owner of the So Wha' bar in NY (I believe) and nonagenarian, whose interview on the debut segment of Roth's ill-fated KROCK show was considered to be a disaster of Biblical proportions.
posted by Gordion Knott at 8:02 AM on April 13, 2013




Great article. I wouldn't have guessed DLR to be that self-aware and that interesting a person.
posted by octothorpe at 9:12 AM on April 13, 2013


There's something profoundly telling that David Lee Roth turned out to be intelligent, fun, curious, and full of life experiences while Johnny Lydon turned out to be a humorless prick.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:15 AM on April 13, 2013 [18 favorites]


Got halfway through this and thought, "Why am I not listening to Jump right now?"

Fixed.
posted by 3FLryan at 9:54 AM on April 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


As mentioned in the article, he also competes in sheep herding with his dog, Russ, and others. Video (mentioned in the article).
posted by ericb at 10:16 AM on April 13, 2013


I read this when it first came up on Buzzfeed. I love Dave's passion for life, his need for the next hobby to catch his interest. What a way to live.

The Van Halen album from last year had no business being decent and was predicted to be a train wreck by many. Instead, Eddie turned up sober, Alex played like he hadn't since Women & Children First, Wolfgang served as a damn fine anchor, and Dave, well he was full on Diamond Dave. AND IT KICKED ASS.
posted by Ber at 10:18 AM on April 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


Previous FPP: DLR Dog World.
posted by ericb at 10:18 AM on April 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


I've always liked David Lee Roth and this is a fun article:

He asks me if I want to hear Russ sing. I do, of course, because Russ is a dog.

posted by A Terrible Llama at 10:51 AM on April 13, 2013


Does this involve wallhelmets and gloveshoes?
posted by humboldt32 at 12:11 PM on April 13, 2013


How cool is David Lee Roth? My nanny, we'll call her Jane, was smoking salvia in a room that had a poster of DLR on the door, and when she took a hit he jumped out of the poster and stood right in front of her and said "Hey Jane, you're one cool chick. You've got a level head on your shoulders and you're going to be all right. Don't sweat it. Keep on keepin' on". Then he jumped back into the poster.

That's how fuckin' cool David Lee Roth is.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 3:31 PM on April 13, 2013 [8 favorites]


Dave's ok.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 4:11 PM on April 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


I really want David Lee Roth to attend Rhinebeck with his dogs and sheep.
posted by pxe2000 at 6:15 PM on April 13, 2013


"Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it."
-DLR
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 11:14 AM on April 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


while Johnny Lydon turned out to be a humorless prick

Turned out to be? Was there a time, perhaps from 0 to 12 when he wasn't?
posted by juiceCake at 3:25 PM on April 14, 2013


So, why did Michael Anthony get pushed out of VH?
posted by Chrysostom at 8:18 AM on April 15, 2013


So Eddie's son Wolfgang could play bass. Micahel wasnt invited to join the reunion.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 3:40 PM on April 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


Micahel Anthony had been on the outs with Eddie since the late 90's, in part due to his continued friendship & gigging with Sammy Hagar after the Red Rooster's first departure from VH and also because (my Google-Fu has failed me for two days trying to find the exact quote but trust me, this really happened) Michael made a statement following the dismissal of Gary Cerone from the band basically saying that he was tired of having to be the guy who carried out Eddie's orders when firing lead singers (apparently, Eddie would make Mike be the hatchet man when he wanted to fire people).

I think it was pretty obvious that Eddie wanted Mike out of the band during the 2004 comeback when they made him take a cut in his royalties and began removing his songwriting credits from their older albums.

Eddie's a dick of the highest order.
posted by KingEdRa at 10:50 PM on April 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


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