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The Joe Rogan ExperienceThe Joe Rogan Experience

Joe Rogan Experience #1256 - David Lee Roth

David Lee Roth is the lead singer of multi-platnium hard rock band from Southern California, Van Halen. https://inktheoriginal.com/

Joe RoganhostDavid Lee Rothguest
Mar 1, 20192h 55mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:04 – 1:36

    Wabi-sabi, aging in showbiz, and “looking great”

    1. JR

      Four, three, two, one. (clapperboard snaps) And we're live, Mr. Roth.

    2. DR

      As live as live will ever-

    3. JR

      (laughs)

    4. DR

      ... possibly get on the inter-grid international.

    5. JR

      Good to see you, man. You really do look great. You look healthy, you look vibrant.

    6. DR

      You look surprised.

    7. JR

      No. (laughs)

    8. DR

      Don't, don't look so surprised. You know, I've, I haven't been to sleep since the late '80s.

    9. JR

      (laughs)

    10. DR

      I didn't miss a thing, but, uh, I'm a little groggy, but I'm good to go. In my job, you expect dis- dissipation and illness, right? You know, kind of goes-

    11. JR

      Yeah.

    12. DR

      ... along with... Y- you expect a disintegration-

    13. JR

      Right.

    14. DR

      ... in my kind of job. And, uh-

    15. JR

      Like Lemmy from Motorhead style.

    16. DR

      Mm... Do you know the term wabi-sabi? Do you know what that is?

    17. JR

      No.

    18. DR

      Wabi-sabi is a Japanese term that, succinctly put, means that which is perfect 'cause it's a little fucked up.

    19. JR

      Oh, right, like-

    20. DR

      Your favorite jeans, very wabi-sabi.

    21. JR

      Yes, like a patina on an old car.

    22. DR

      Mm... The guitar player in the Rolling Stones, very wabi-sabi. (laughs)

    23. JR

      Yes, yes. He's very wabi-sabi. (laughs)

    24. DR

      Yeah. And the, and New York City, for example, the old that starts to fall apart right next-

    25. JR

      Mm.

    26. DR

      ... to the new, that's part of the beauty there. Your favorite-

    27. JR

      Yeah.

    28. DR

      ... leather jacket-

    29. JR

      Yeah.

    30. DR

      ... is that, and you expect that to increase. But, uh, I don't know. I'm not really an athlete. I don't really train. I'm kind of a singer who always traded his celebrity to, you know, "Hey, show me how you do that," and, "How many times should I lift this?" And, uh, "What happens if I fall off of this going this fast?" (laughs)

  2. 1:36 – 3:50

    Growing up around Pasadena’s cultural mix (and lowriders)

    1. DR

      Oh, yeah. I went through, uh, martial arts the first time. Um, let me go back.

    2. JR

      Okay.

    3. DR

      I lived in student housing up until I was just about a teenager, okay? And it was a time when you bought one paintbrush at a time, okay? And most of my values come from that. Public library, I learned to swim in a public swimming pool. And my dad finished medical school, okay? I happened, I wasn't planned. M- in the '50s, that happened a lot, okay?

    4. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    5. DR

      And, uh, so we had a lot, a lot of patients who were kind of on the periphery of Pasadena, California, which is where we came, okay? I was born in Indiana, lived in Massachusetts. He was a resident. Grew up around the hospitals. Dinner meant going to the hospital, meet Dad, you know? And when we came out to LA, the Japanese were kinda peripheral. Spanish-speaking people, curiously enough, you know, the running story w- was that there were six Spanish-speaking people at UCLA, and three of them were in gardening.

    6. JR

      (laughs)

    7. DR

      No, really. That, back in the '60s, that was the case. Today, easily, uh, you know, massive amounts of percentage is (speaks Spanish) , okay? It's not the second language. It's kinda the first-and-a-half now, right? (laughs)

    8. JR

      Right.

    9. DR

      Things have really changedamento, all right?

    10. JR

      Yeah.

    11. DR

      And I grew up in those neighborhoods, okay? So I can gang sign the whole alphabet.

    12. JR

      Can you really?

    13. DR

      (laughs) Yeah. I have two lowriders. I've got a '51-

    14. JR

      Do you really?

    15. DR

      I've got a '51 Mercury that's chop, drop, low and slow. I-

    16. JR

      Do you drive it?

    17. DR

      Oh, yeah. I got a '66 VW Bug with a Chevy engine, a 383 up in the front. ( Spanish) And I can roll my Rs.

    18. JR

      (laughs)

    19. DR

      You gotta roll your Rs, just ( Spanish) . (laughs)

    20. JR

      (laughs) Where do you drive those things?

    21. DR

      Well, we drive them all around, you know... It's, it's Southern California, of course, is different.

    22. JR

      Right.

    23. DR

      Now, a lot of you are listening in with five layers and going, "Hey, fu- I'm not driving anywhere (laughs) for the"-

    24. JR

      Right.

    25. DR

      ... "next three days, according to the weather map," you know? But, uh, here, for example, it's T-shirt weather. So, you know, the great outdoors means (imitates engine revving) . How's that sound over the headphones?

    26. JR

      Good.

    27. DR

      (laughs)

    28. JR

      It sounds like a, like a, an engine.

    29. DR

      Yep.

    30. JR

      Yeah.

  3. 3:50 – 4:57

    First encounter with Japanese culture: swords, temples, and lifelong fascination

    1. DR

      But I always try... The first time I ever... We were just, uh, playing with a sword there. And that's not a samurai sword. That's like calling a nine-millimeter a police gun. Yeah, it kinda is 'cause they used... But that's a katana-

    2. JR

      Right.

    3. DR

      ... right? And we were playing with that a little bit. First time somebody handed me those, we were at the Buddhist temple in Pasadena. 19... You bet I remember, 1965. And there was a demonstration of the Japanese culture. Thank you.

    4. JR

      (laughs)

    5. DR

      (laughs) And a fella came out and demonstrated ito and, you know, the sword arts and stuff. And then he said, he said, "I'm gonna take somebody from the audience," and my dad pushed me. And I walked out in the middle of that floor and held it, you know, "Here, hold that sword," just like you said. Wow, that's... What is that, a 100-year-old sword, or?

    6. JR

      Thi- it's from the 1500s.

    7. DR

      Yeah. Wham-o. Muramachi or something like this. First time I held that sword, it was like out of a graphic novel, lightning. (laughs)

    8. JR

      (laughs)

    9. DR

      Inazuma, that's Japanese for lightning. (laughs) Careful what you show your kids, Joe. (laughs)

  4. 4:57 – 11:15

    Learning Japanese as brain cross-training (and the value of travel)

    1. JR

      Well, you went and lived in J- like, last time I talked to you, you were living in Japan.

    2. DR

      Nice.

    3. JR

      And you were doing kendo over there.

    4. DR

      Yes. Uh, well, you pitch a ball some day, I'm gonna play for the Yankees, Joe.

    5. JR

      (laughs)

    6. DR

      I loves to wrestle and grappling. Someday, I'm gonna get in the middle of the ring and Joe Rogan's gonna say my name. (laughs)

    7. JR

      (laughs)

    8. DR

      (laughs) And I'm working my way up through Ed Parker's American Kempo system, and someday I'm going to Japan.

    9. JR

      Wow.

    10. DR

      And I'm gonna learn from the guys who invented this stuff. Now I'm putting on a p- pork barrel accent to make it entertaining, but I did. And I started exactly like I did in, uh, Barham Boulevard, making rock and roll with the Mighty V, Mighty Van Halen in the late '70s, uh, at the Oakwood Garden Apartments in Midtown Tokyo. I did not know a single person. I didn't know a syllable of Japanese. I had no idea where I was. And no, I can't drive on the left side of the street. I barely carry a cellphone, car- come on. (laughs) And, uh...... uh, I expect that a, a lifetime of adventure, you do all the traveling. Come on, artist to artists, you're at home everywhere now, aren't you?

    11. JR

      Yeah, in a lot of ways. Yeah.

    12. DR

      You, you are the comfortable one in the room. Especially if there's conflict, which there always is, and that's what's the most unsettling to the, to the tourist travelers.

    13. JR

      Hmm.

    14. DR

      You're at home. When you first start learning Japanese, comes in three stages. First, you watch kids shows on television because they pronounce everything and nobody interrupts. Then you watch the news. Everybody speaks with a perfect accent, bigger words, nobody interrupts. And then you start going with me to the movies in the middle of the day on Tuesday in Tokyo at Ginza, and you're the only pale face in the room, it's all in Japanese, and it's the movies. Everybody is interrupting, everybody is shooting, screaming, sirens, airplanes going by, and if you can begin to decipher even one character, then you'll develop yours maybe.

    15. JR

      Well, do you know how to write it?

    16. DR

      Well, you practice that, certainly. And think of it as cross-training. All right? There are a lot of schools, for example, uh, Hebrew school. You always hear about Hebrew school before you go to bar mitzvah class. It's an ancient way of, wait a minute, you gotta develop the side of your brain by correlating designs with language, with meaning that may not actually be in English. Nobody is walking around speaking Hebrew after all, only four summers (laughs) of why, but you develop that side of your brain to where you start to have a capacity to learn in an accelerated way. So all your best musicians speak a couple of languages.

    17. JR

      Really?

    18. DR

      All your best politicians speak a couple. All your best artists, architects, all your best, uh, design folks and stuff speak a couple of languages. It's no secret that you develop that side of your brain. If your kids don't speak Spanish, get after it.

    19. JR

      I gotta learn a language. That's it.

    20. DR

      And it's never too late. You'll see the difference. You don't... I did every single day, every... I called it Roth University in Tokyo. Every morning, f- uh, two hours Japanese class, you know, speaking the language. I can get things done for you, but I'm not conversant.

    21. JR

      Right.

    22. DR

      You follow? Uh, the end result is that it's cross-training.

    23. JR

      Hmm.

    24. DR

      All right? Long term memory. My short term memory is a little too short (laughs) . It gets shorter. But you'll see the difference in your ability to remember what you read. You'll start remembering everything you see.

    25. JR

      Really?

    26. DR

      Sometimes that's dangerous.

    27. JR

      Because of the fact that you're learning this new thing, so you're activating this part of your brain?

    28. DR

      Oh, yeah.

    29. JR

      Ah.

    30. DR

      You'll start it off with little kids in art class, for example, where you take a pencil and you go, "This is just a pencil. But what else could it be?" Well, in this environment, it's a stick shift (makes sound) (laughing) No, it's not, it's a kuboton. He's got Joe's wrist (laughing) . Now, and the little girls go, "It's a bow, dad." (laughs) Me, I'm a hero, I'll save the day (laughs) . And you can start to think in those terms using actual language. Movements, same thing. At this point in your career with jujitsu and grappling, you have a vocabulary that starts to expand, expand, by having to learn and challenge and challenge. People marvel at Anthony Bourdain.

  5. 11:15 – 14:27

    Explaining jazz, taste, and “bittersweet” artistry

    1. DR

      Well, I see the look on your face, it's because nobody taught you how to taste beer.

    2. JR

      Hmm.

    3. DR

      Be- beer works in three parts, and like it says in The Pickwick Papers, you don't taste it with a sip.

    4. JR

      What do you taste it with?

    5. DR

      (laughs) You gotta gulp, you gotta quaff, you gotta something.

    6. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    7. DR

      And when you describe, well, there's the finish to the taste of a Cuban cigar.

    8. JR

      Right.

    9. DR

      They go, "You mean, when it's finished in the a..." No. The finish. Okay, somebody explained these things to me.

    10. JR

      Mm-hmm. Yeah.

    11. DR

      All right? What's the difference between Scotch whiskey and Tennessee Bourbon?

    12. JR

      What is the difference?

    13. DR

      Well, there's an E in the word.

    14. JR

      Right. (laughs)

    15. DR

      (laughs) In Bourbon whiskey, there's an E, and there is no E in the wor- in whiskey for Scotch, okay? That simple sort of starts it. Jazz music, somebody explains it to you in very simple, digestible, not lofty necktie terms-

    16. JR

      Okay.

    17. DR

      ... you begin to understand a little bit of what's going on.

    18. JR

      How do you, how do you explain it to someone?

    19. DR

      Okay.

    20. JR

      How would you explain jazz to me?

    21. DR

      I'm gonna, I'll really tighten up for you. (clears throat) Excuse me. Well, at least I got my health going for me, huh? (laughs) Um, we'll do it in the Beatles style. Here's the best way to go, for somebody new and interested. The McCartney note and the Lennon note, okay? The McCartney note is always kinda happy. I've actually bumped into Sir Paul over at Henson Studios and he's really happy, okay? In his note, it would go (singing) . Hear how pretty that sounds?

    22. JR

      Yeah.

    23. DR

      It sounds pretty. I'll do it again. (singing) Lennon, he's the salt and the caramel, baby. He's got a... There's a darkness, there's an edge, there's a shadow. Listen to the last three notes. (singing)

    24. JR

      Hmm. Mm-hmm.

    25. DR

      They drop off. And there's a little darkness. And what, those last three notes is where you get that little, (sighs) the little bit of pepper in the chocolate, yo.

    26. JR

      Mm.

    27. DR

      (singing)

    28. JR

      Mm.

    29. DR

      And it's a little wistful, it's a little melancholy, ain't life like that. And when you put them together, it doesn't sound like they do. (sighs) But if I could, I'd sing both parts and it goes together and you go, "Wow, bittersweet."

    30. JR

      Mm.

  6. 14:27 – 19:39

    Japanese tattoo suit, pain tolerance, and protecting body art

    1. DR

      Got any tattoos?

    2. JR

      Yeah, two sleeves. Yeah, both my arms.

    3. DR

      Same here.

    4. JR

      Yeah.

    5. DR

      I ne- I rarely show.

    6. JR

      Yeah.

    7. DR

      Okay? That, maybe that's a baby boomer thing or...

    8. JR

      Do you have them from the elbow up?

    9. DR

      Yeah. I'm, uh, I have the-

    10. JR

      This is all Japanese style, right? Traditional tap style? Did you get that done?

    11. DR

      Yeah, yeah. All my colors were tapped in and in front is Horiyoshi. I have the tuxedo.

    12. JR

      Damn, you do?

    13. DR

      Yeah, the whole, uh-

    14. JR

      Butt cheeks and everything?

    15. DR

      ... tree. Yeah, the whole thing.

    16. JR

      Wow.

    17. DR

      Interpreter had to sit on me and hold me down while... (laughs)

    18. JR

      Oh.

    19. DR

      I'm not gonna kid you. You know, it, it was a trial.

    20. JR

      Yeah, I would imagine.

    21. DR

      And, uh-

    22. JR

      Is it much more painful to do it that ta-tapped way?

    23. DR

      No.

    24. JR

      No?

    25. DR

      It's, uh, overall, I think what happens is tattoo, when you get something that stings, you can take it for a while. It's the distance-

    26. JR

      Hmm.

    27. DR

      ... that counts. You can take the cold for 30 seconds.

    28. JR

      Right.

    29. DR

      You can take measurable cold. Are you doing the cryo dunk or anything?

    30. JR

      Yeah, I do that stuff.

  7. 19:39 – 29:10

    Outdoor life: climbing, running bridges, and illegal NYC kayaking adventures

    1. DR

      climbing. I started off at Joshua Tree and climbing out at Tocketts in the '70s. Didn't Al Hon- wasn't Alex Honnold just on the show here?

    2. JR

      Yeah, yeah.

    3. DR

      Okay? Well, same circuit from Camp 4 to Studio 54. I was on, I was in both. I was flavor of the week the first time when Studio 54 was the happening-est, okay? At the same time, I had just bought a Winnebago that looked like something from, uh, Breaking Bad (laughs) . It's the same Winnebago. I, I saw it. I just, uh, I used to own that. That was for nothing but going to Yosemite.

    4. JR

      Really?

    5. DR

      Did you know how Al in the documentary is-

    6. JR

      Yeah.

    7. DR

      ... is living in his van?

    8. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    9. DR

      I just, part of me always looks back at that and just, wow, sleeping in the back of Bobby Hatch's pickup truck, parked out in the middle of nowhere in Joshua Tree, 1973.

    10. JR

      And you would be climbing even back then?

    11. DR

      Oh, yeah.

    12. JR

      What, what kind of equipment did you guys use back then?

    13. DR

      Oh, yeah.

    14. JR

      The same stuff they use today?

    15. DR

      N- n- no. Nah, nothing like it. We used webbing for our harnessing, and you, you used, uh, 11 millimeter Kern Mantle or manila rope. All right? And I remember the first time, it was in 1972, you'll see his name, John Bald, uh, uh, as pioneering a lot of the routes in, uh, Joshua Tree. First time we watched him as seniors in high school go flagging, you know, where you pressure with... Can you see this on the-

    16. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    17. DR

      ... uh, screen there where you pull with your hands and push with your feet?

    18. JR

      Yeah.

    19. DR

      Go flagging all the way up the corner of a handball court (laughs) at Muir High School in Pasadena. All the way up to the top, and then stood on the top and looked down showing incredible.

    20. JR

      Wow.

    21. DR

      Well, nine incredible talents (laughs) . We'd never seen such a thing. And from that point, uh, you know, we just floored it because m- living in, uh, up in Yosemite and the various parts was something new. Uh, traveling to Joshua Tree, Tocketts, down to the beaches and such, that was a constant for me. I've always tried to follow something as opposed to thinking of it as training.

    22. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    23. DR

      Even the, even the word training, ugh, tastes like homework (laughs) .

    24. JR

      Right.

    25. DR

      So I've always tried to... I, I was running for a long period of time. This is about seven years when I jogged and ran. And I decided on the road I'll run across every bridge in America that we tour through. So I, probably 15, 20 different bridges. Golden Gate, Brooklyn, it's... That's where I ran. Now, I did smoke a joint and run the New York City marathon (laughs) . And I came in right behind the wheelchairs in the back.

    26. JR

      (laughs)

    27. DR

      Okay? Well, some folks need the ribbon, and they need to see the clock and everybody clapping, and then there's some folks, you know, who just-

    28. JR

      Just wanna make the experience.

    29. DR

      ... you know, they did okay. And they had took down the clock, but the line was still there on the cement in Central Park. Hopped over the line, got the picture, airborne. Went home, took a nap. And that night I went out and got drunk on tequila.

    30. JR

      How long did it take you to finish the marathon?

  8. 29:10 – 42:51

    Becoming an EMT: humility, danger, and what it taught his voice

    1. JR

      (laughs) When did you start working as an EMT? That was around the same time, wasn't it?

    2. DR

      Mm-uh, EMT was about 12 summers ago for me. So I was turning 50. And I started going back to school for outdoor med response, camping, climbing, and-

    3. JR

      What, what is it like when you go to one of those classes and they realize who you are? How weird does it get?

    4. DR

      Uh, sometimes it can get a little bit, uh, uptight 'cause I'm the oldest guy in the room, okay?

    5. JR

      Right.

    6. DR

      And I wanna clarify something, Joe.

    7. JR

      Okay.

    8. DR

      When I became an EMT shield number 327466, 47th precinct, big shout out to all of you who taught me and tolerated me. Until I became an EMT and put on that uniform, I wasn't somebody, "Somebody clean the fucking truck up." (laughs)

    9. JR

      (laughs)

    10. DR

      Until I put on that uniform, Joe, after training for how many months, it's almost a year for me, like this, I wasn't someone, "Someone clean up the truck." (laughs)

    11. JR

      (laughs)

    12. DR

      And that was my job.

    13. JR

      Wow.

    14. DR

      Starting right off. But, uh-I was also the somebody who dragged the oxygen box on 13 floors up in the E- Eden Wald projects, and artist to artist, how many times have you driven past something, whether it's a huge building or a teepee? I wonder what's in there.

    15. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    16. DR

      And then you go in there, and, "I wonder what's in the refrigerator? I wonder what they listen to in there. And I wonder who the they are." I have a fascination for that.

    17. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    18. DR

      My pop had a big sprawling, I think, is it sympathy? Empathy for people. You know, when the fellas started getting AIDS in the early '80s, he started treating them. He's a eye surgeon. And, uh, everybody, my sisters and stuff started saying, "But this is a time when you think you can catch that shit from breathing it, Pop, and whatever." And he turned to me, I'll never forget, he said, "I don't get to choose my patients." Well, I don't get to choose my audience.

    19. JR

      So what was the motivation-

    20. DR

      "Let's go see 'em."

    21. JR

      ... to start doing that, though? Like what-

    22. DR

      "Let's go see what's in their refrigerator, Joe. And you'll walk in first 'cause you're way stronger than me, in case there's trouble. And you'll go, 'Ambulance.' And in case somebody comes at us, you handle it." (laughs)

    23. JR

      (laughs)

    24. DR

      Oh, I had a, I had a mentor named Keisha who had to pile her dreadlocks up so high that it was as long as from her shoulders to the top of her head, her haircut. It was like she had 10... She'd put her hat up on top, and Keisha walked in that door first, homie. (laughs)

    25. JR

      (laughs)

    26. DR

      Domestic disputes?

    27. JR

      Oh.

    28. DR

      She dealt with the guys.

    29. JR

      You had to be there for domestic disputes?

    30. DR

      Oh, yeah.

  9. 42:51 – 47:53

    Comedy club roots: The Ice House auditions and learning stagecraft

    1. DR

      1973, I was working as a janitor/tech in surgery at a hospital in Pasadena.

    2. JR

      Oh.

    3. DR

      It was night shift, okay?

    4. JR

      Wow.

    5. DR

      In the early '70s, we did everything. It was the stepping stone to going to medical school. And I was playing acoustic guitar, okay? I still take lessons, playing acoustic guitar, okay? And on Sunday nights, audition night, you would sign up for audition at the ice house. At 6:30, they'd open the window, and you would sign up. So, I'd take my dinner break and drive my Opel Cadet station wagon up to (laughs) the ice house, get there at about 6:15, wait, they'd pop the window, sign up so that I would be one of the first three to audition after the last act on Sunday night, which would happen right around 10 o'clock. If you weren't one of the first three during audition night, nobody was there and, uh, they shut it down. And I would sign up and go back to work. And then come, you know, drive myself back, change out of my hospital stuff, you know, put on the right clothes, (laughs) put on my jeans or whatever, and I auditioned there probably 15 times.

    6. JR

      Wow.

    7. DR

      L- l- m- m- Bob Stane, who owned and ran the place, was just a voice over the intercom. He was unforgiving. Bob was a famous non-smiler.

    8. JR

      (laughs)

    9. DR

      (laughs) (clapping hands together)

    10. JR

      What's funny is there's a Bob that owns it now, Bob Fisher. Couldn't be more different.

    11. DR

      (laughs)

    12. JR

      The nicest guy on the planet Earth.

    13. DR

      Really?

    14. JR

      Always smiling, hugging everybody, super sweetheart of a guy.

    15. DR

      Okay.

    16. JR

      Yeah.

    17. DR

      Well, Bob Stane was a voice over the intercom. He was hardcore, you know, of a-

    18. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    19. DR

      You go, "Well, here's a little song," and, uh, voice would say, "Hopefully it's littler than the one preceding it." (laughs)

    20. JR

      (laughs)

    21. DR

      Yeah, and, and you worked your chops according to Bob.

    22. JR

      Yeah.

    23. DR

      He was your, uh, he was your Ike Turner. (laughs)

    24. JR

      Ah, oh boy.

    25. DR

      Yeah, he was unforgiving. And, uh, you learned quick of, about timing in between, transitions, segue. You were allowed to do three songs. And if he felt your song was too long or your, your riff in between, as he, oh, he called you on it. If he didn't like your shoes, he talked about it. You never saw him. You heard it over the PA.

    26. JR

      Oh, wow.

    27. DR

      He was in the back. It was quite a ritual. And I learned a tremendous amount about how you communicate with a, with a crowd. How do you talk to people as one? How do you make eye contact? What, in fact, are the wrong shoes? (laughs)

    28. JR

      Hmm. What are the wrong shoes?

    29. DR

      Platforms. (laughs)

    30. JR

      Oh yeah, back in the day they wore platforms.

  10. 47:53 – 59:23

    Can bands be recast? Van Halen identity, “cross-training,” and songwriting stamina

    1. DR

      All right, well this solicits an interesting subject, perhaps compels it. Um, are some bands like West Side Story-

    2. JR

      Hmm.

    3. DR

      ... where you can continually revitalize the production-

    4. JR

      Right, with different actors.

    5. DR

      ... with different actors, okay, a whole lot of Shakespeare going on.

    6. JR

      Yeah.

    7. DR

      Okay. Um-... but you have to kinda replicate the initial sound, or do you?

    8. JR

      Well-

    9. DR

      'Cause I'm sure all of Beethoven's early orchestras are dead. Dead and fried chicken.

    10. JR

      Well, let me speak to this because I don't think you can say this, because, uh, this was a part of my youth. Van Halen was a part of my youth. I mean, we used to do the, the Van Halen logo on our notebooks in high school, along with the Rolling Stones, m- m- like, uh, the mouth and, you know, all the... Kiss logo. When it switched over to Sammy Hagar, it became a different thing. It was a different thing.

    11. DR

      It was a whole different pivot.

    12. JR

      I mean, it wasn't, it wasn't a bad thing-

    13. DR

      No, no. All of Sam's-

    14. JR

      ... but it was a different thing.

    15. DR

      Sam, all of Sam's lyrics contain love.

    16. JR

      Yes.

    17. DR

      Okay? Why can't this be love? And I ain't talking about love.

    18. JR

      Talking about love (laughs) .

    19. DR

      We'll be right back with more fighting after this.

    20. JR

      (laughs) Yeah.

    21. DR

      Come on, who do I-

    22. JR

      That was a different vibe right there.

    23. DR

      Who do I jog with?

    24. JR

      Yeah.

    25. DR

      I don't, I run.

    26. JR

      Yeah.

    27. DR

      Who's my running partner? (laughing)

    28. JR

      Yeah, running with the devil.

    29. DR

      Hello. Okay.

    30. JR

      Yeah.

  11. 59:23 – 1:33:00

    The craft of performance: 30,000 hours, rehearsals, and banking lyrics

    1. DR

      We always had to win. In Van Halen, we had no choice.

    2. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    3. DR

      We had to win the battle of the bands. It was competitive.

    4. JR

      Yeah.

    5. DR

      We had to win over the club owner. This was before there were dance systems. Cerwin Vega hadn't in- hadn't figured out those bass bins yet and you had to have a live band. Five 45-minute sets a night please.

    6. JR

      What was your motherfucker closer song where you knew a band couldn't go on after you?

    7. DR

      Lagrange.

    8. JR

      Oh. (laughs)

    9. DR

      (laughs)

    10. JR

      Yeah.

    11. DR

      Oh, yeah. W- uh, we were pretty good at anything. We had no development phase.

    12. JR

      Mm.

    13. DR

      Um, I have tapes of us at the Hilton Hotel in Pasadena in 1973. Y- you would, if I didn't tell you, you know, would, you would think it was three years ago.

    14. JR

      Wow.

    15. DR

      Kind of a sound. There was virtually no development.

    16. JR

      How'd that happen? How did it work that way?

    17. DR

      We had classical training.

    18. JR

      Ah.

    19. DR

      All right? And this kinda speaks to what we were discussing-

    20. JR

      Cross-training.

    21. DR

      ... earlier in that a lot of my colleagues are having a great time making music, and they celebrate, and it's, uh, the word fun.... comes into it. And we grew up in classical music backgrounds where you had to challenge for first chair saxophone.

    22. JR

      Mm.

    23. DR

      Every six to eight months, you gotta go to the conductor and say, "I want first chair."

    24. JR

      Mm.

    25. DR

      And if you're first chair, and he thinks I have a shot, he's gonna come over. Joe, he says, "Roth's talking about you."

    26. JR

      Ooh.

    27. DR

      "You both, you both get to play this piece in front of the orchestra next Wednesday. You best practice."

    28. JR

      Ah.

    29. DR

      Okay? And we'll both get up-

    30. JR

      Yeah.

Episode duration: 2:55:36

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