Everybody Wants Some by Ian Christe

Author:Ian Christe
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: United States, Life Sciences, Rock musicians - United States, History & Criticism, Science, Entertainment & Performing Arts, General, Van Halen (Musical group), Rock musicians, Music, Rock, Biography & Autobiography, Genres & Styles, Composers & Musicians
ISBN: 9780470039106
Publisher: Hoboken, N.J. : John Wiley & Sons, c2007.
Published: 2007-08-10T06:00:00+00:00

While Eat ’Em and Smile had been a boisterous off-the-cuff outpouring of ideas, the construction of Skyscraper became much more labored. Steve Vai moved into a co-producer capacity when overdubs and effects grids became overwhelming. Billy Sheehan called the album “kind of contrived and well-thought out—too well-thought out.” Dissatisfied with the band’s music, he left to form Mr. Big with guitar shredder Paul Gilbert, and was replaced in Roth’s band by the drummer’s brother, Matt Bissonette.

Skyscraper had its moments of made-for-TV perfection, like Roth’s rants on “The Bottom Line” laced with heavy guitar trills, and “Perfect Timing” with its Michael Anthony–like backing vocals. The record was still all Roth, but except for the wistful and reflective “Damn Good,” it lacked heart. “Stand Up” was nothing but a mindless aerobics exercise, a parody of eighties synth pop.

The standout on this album of would-be TV themes was “Just Like Paradise.” On this near-perfect rock confection, Roth wisely planted his boots and hung loose for the ride. The single climbed to number 6, helping Skyscraper raise up the album charts to the same position. For the “Just Like Paradise” video, a crew captured Roth climbing on vertical rock at Yosemite, while Vai contorted over a three-necked heart-shaped guitar on a soundstage. Inspired, the producers of a new TV teen drama called Beverly Hills 90210 tried unsuccessfully to license “Paradise” as their theme song.

As expected, the Skyscraper tour was happily excessive. Continuing the mountaineering theme, Roth rappelled from the lighting rigging in his rock-climbing outfit. He also flew across the stage every night on a surfboard suspended from the rafters. “If you have money, you can buy a laser effect,” he explained. “When we do tricks, we don’t hire some designer for $100,000. It’s as simple as when I used to go see Peter Pan onstage when I was a kid, when we’d get home my sister would hang a board in the room, and I’d strap myself into it, and slam forward into the future.”

He was now traveling with enough uniforms in his wardrobe to outfit a small militia. “That goes back to when I was eleven years old in the Boy Scouts—that was the first uniform they forced me to wear.” He was also photographed in a frilly, colorful pair of skimpy pants sewn together from women’s underwear thrown onstage during his shows—Roth had been hoarding every scarf, bandanna, and dirty underthing thrown onstage since the early 1980s. In fact, he later revealed that he often kept in touch for many years with the women he met on tour. Through their marriages and divorces he kindled the flames—a gentlemanly side to the infamous cad.

If Hagar was reticent to sing old Roth material with Van Halen, Roth himself was only too happy to deliver the goods, laying claim to the most heated material from the back catalog, like “Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love,” “On Fire,” and “Hot for Teacher.” He remained a one-man challenge not just to his former band, but also to the legions of also-rans then populating the airwaves.

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