|
Roth Hot for Van Halen Reunion
05/26/2006 2:49 PM, E! Online
Josh Grossberg
David Lee Roth is ready to jump for Van Halen again.
After he was unceremoniously booted from his morning show
in April, four months after replacing Howard Stern on CBS Radio, Diamond
Dave opened up about his future job prospects, telling Billboard
he foresees a day when he and his old bandmates are bound for a
reunion.
"I see it absolutely as an inevitability,"
Roth told the magazine. "There's contact between the two camps, and they
have legitimate management; Irv Azoff is part of their loop now."
But will the rest of Van Halen's members welcome back their
first and most popular vocalist, who led the heavy metal band to
superstardom, with open arms?
"To me, it's not rocket
surgery," added Roth. "It's very simple to put together. And as far as
hurt feelings and water under the dam, like What'shername says to
What'shername at the end of the movie Chicago--so what? It's
showbiz! So, I definitely see it happening."
It was
during the acrobatic frontman's tenure from 1974 to 1985 that Van Halen
scored its greatest success on the charts, with such classic rock gems
as "Jump," "Hot For Teacher," "Panama," "Jamie's Cryin'," "Dance the
Night Away" and "Runnin' With the Devil," among others.
But bad blood between Roth and guitarist Eddie Van Halen, bassist
Michael Anthony and drummer Alex Van Halen surfaced over his
increasingly showman-like stage antics. After the release of Van Halen's
sixth and most acclaimed album, 1984, the flamboyant crooner left
the group in 1985 and launched a middling solo career.
He was replaced by Sammy Hagar and Van Halen entered a softer, more
pop-oriented phase (an era many fans refer to as the Van Hagar years).
The original lineup did get back together briefly in
1996, when Roth was invited to join Eddie and the boys in the studio to
record two new songs for Van Halen's Best of Vol. 1. However, a
bizarre appearance by the foursome at the MTV Video Music Awards that
year revealed the old tensions were still there.
Talk
of a full-blown reunion has been on and off since then, heating up in
1999 after Van Halen ended their two-year ill-fated collaboration with
their third frontman, Gary Cherone.
Instead, the
rockers went on a four-year hiatus, only to resurface in 2004 with a
second greatest-hits album and a modestly successful summer reunion tour
fronted by Hagar, who returned to his solo career shortly thereafter.
Meanwhile, when he wasn't touring on his own tours or
recording solo albums such as 1988's experimental Skyscraper or
1990's more conventional rocker, A Little Ain't Enough, the "Just
a Gigolo" singer wrote his autobiography, Crazy From the Heat and
tried his hand at being an EMT before turning to radio.
Roth took over the morning drive slot from Stern on CBS Radio in
January after the shock jock jumped to Sirius Satellite Network, but low
ratings prompted his ousting in April and he was replaced by Opie &
Anthony.
However, rumors of a Van Halen reunion got
going again when the rocker told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
that he had spoken with Anthony and that a reuion was in the offing.
Whether it happens or not, Roth plans to press ahead with
his own tour this summer, telling Billboard he's looking forward
to playing all the old Van Halen hits with a large band he's
assembling.
"I'm so proud of that music," he added.
"I like to bring out the brass section now and the keyboard players and
the singers and so forth. It's probably a little closer to the Rolling
Stones revue than to the early three-piece power trio."
|
