Diamond Dave doesn't outshine Wolfgang Van Halen.
Van Halen founder David Lee Roth hit on Wolfgang, the band's bassist and son of the late, great guitarist Eddie Van Halen and actress Valerie Bertinelli.
The charismatic singer posts an audio clip on YouTube in which he unleashes a barrage of complaints in the manner of a younger Van Halen, lambasting him for bad behavior and bad decisions made on the road.
“This kid,” she says, “complains the whole tour like I'm not giving him enough attention on stage.” Roth continues, “complaining to everyone around me — the business manager, the security guy, the laundry lady — 'Dave's not paying enough attention to me.'
The clip opens with a flashback to Roth's brief tenure The David Lee Roth Showas he launches into a fictional conversation with a 'Jesus Christ' comedian, a subtle nod to Wolfgang securing the VH gig thanks to being the son of guitar 'god' Eddie Van Halen.
Unity and harmony between bands has never been Van Halen's strong suit.
Roth himself left the band after the hit album 1984, to pursue a solo career, before returning to the fold in 1996 and again in 2001. The 'Van Hagar' era saw Sammy Hagar in (from 1985), then out (in 1996) and again (2003 to in 2005). And, in 2007, Eddie Van Halen controversially replaced founding VH bassist Michael Anthony with his own son, Wolfgang. From 2007, Wolfgang was a full member of the group until Eddie's death in 2020, aged 65, when VH disbanded.
Those cracks couldn't be hidden when VH was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2007, when Hagar and the recently-turfed Anthony were the only bandmates. accept the price.
If there was a bridge to mend, Roth's rant was a wrecking ball.
Roth tells stories of a tour where, in New York, Wolfgang “ordered some monkeys to go back, behind my back, to the side of the stage and throw out these two big girls that I invited to be my guests on the show. .”
“Actually, you won't believe this. This kid, what he doesn't know is that these two girls work for the accounting firm that represents him, not me. But as usual, like his uncle and his uncle's brother, stiff them for tickets.'
Roth tells a similar story, this time with Los Angeles' Hollywood Bowl as the backdrop, about the end of the band's possibly final Rock Hall tour in 2015. As the band was about to launch into “Ice Cream Man,” Then at Wolfgang's behest, he claims, another female guest of Roth's, sitting in the wings, was identified, made to do the “walk of shame” and ejected from the venue.
It's getting worse, obviously. “Not only is she an accountant again, and not only does she carry the pay checks for 82 of us on the road crew, but she also carries bonus cash for everyone there. You might want to tackle this next. you will pee your pants Do you remember New York? She's the same f—kin' lady,” he continues.
It is not clear what Roth marked. Wolfgang has not yet responded.
Now 32 years old, and newly married, Van Halen has long fought his own battles. “With the name or just with the parents I have,” he said Advertising sign in 2021, “people assume that I am an unmotivated person who is comfortable doing nothing and complaining about what has gone before with what my name entails. And I'm anything but that.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/david-lee-roth-wolfgang-van-halen-this-f-in-kid-1235588240/
