VAN HALEN 1984

(Warner Bros.)

by Michael Davis

PASADENAf-The hometown view of any band is bound to be different from the image it projects to the rest of the world: familiarity doesn’t always breed contempt, but it usually does discourage most forms of outright worship. I mean, I used to sell cigarette papers to David Lee Roth before he knew Ted Templeman from Bugs Bunny, so I’m rather unlikely to ever consider the guy anything unto a god. Likewise, there were locals who undoubtedly shared a laugh at the way the rest of the planet ate up Roth’s “all I’ve got, I had to steal” shtick from “Runnin’ With The Devil”; after all, it was Dave’s doctor daddy who helped bankroll the band in their early years. Still, however many stories there are on these guys, there are two general areas of agreement: 1) from the time he first set foot on a stage, Eddie Van Halen has been one mother of a guitar player and 2) from the time he first put his foot in his mouth (substantially earlier), David Lee Roth has been a, um, er, “colorful character.”