Joe Rogan Experience #1660 - David Lee Roth

1. 0:00 – 2:48

   Authenticity, aging, and staying curious after “the club years”

   1. NANarrator0:00

      (drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience. (drumbeats)

   2. DRDavid Lee Roth0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music plays) David always more than a player. Likewise, Joe.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:17

      You, you handle aging better than anybody that I know. You stay yourself through thick and thin. You are yourself.

   4. DRDavid Lee Roth0:24

      Please explain self, son. (laughs)

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:26

      You, you are, you are you. You don't, you know, you have z- you're- you carry zero pretense. You, you are just who you are and you're eccentric, but it is genuine.

   6. DRDavid Lee Roth0:37

      I enjoy folks.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:39

      Mm-hmm.

   8. DRDavid Lee Roth0:39

      I enjoy entertaining folks. I enjoy learning from folks, whether that's in a formatted kind of a thing or whether we're gathered around the campfire or the occasional bong. (laughs)

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:51

      Yes.

   10. DRDavid Lee Roth0:51

       The alleged bong. Um, that's something that most of us I think perhaps we s- were compelled to skip out on that once we leave school. Once we leave the club level in showbiz where we're confronted with all kinds of other neighborhoods of folks-

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:08

       Yeah.

   12. DRDavid Lee Roth1:09

       ... and w- you know, different kinds of shoes and haircuts and music and approaches to the politic and social and th- once you're out of school, you kind of, "Okay, I joined the law firm. Now, I only go out with the law firm folks that joined that country club."

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:23

       Yeah.

   14. DRDavid Lee Roth1:23

       Or you become a permanent below 14th Street downtown and, "Oh, I haven't been u- above 14th Street in, uh, four years." You used to hear that, right?

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:32

       Yeah.

   16. DRDavid Lee Roth1:33

       So when you, when you lose that, uh, it becomes, gee, you wanna become, stay part of that group. You don't wanna start speaking downtown around the law boys.

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:45

       (laughs)

   18. DRDavid Lee Roth1:46

       (laughs) I, myself am a combat hippie. Peace, love, and heavy weapons.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:51

       That's a thing about, like, leaving clubs, right? You leave clubs, you kinda leave contact with people, right?

   20. DRDavid Lee Roth1:57

       You remember the quad and it's just as important and perhaps more important going boo-

   21. JRJoe Rogan2:02

       The quad?

   22. DRDavid Lee Roth2:03

       Yeah, the quad at school.

   23. JRJoe Rogan2:04

       What, I don't what that is.

   24. DRDavid Lee Roth2:05

       The quad, y- there's a pep-

   25. JRJoe Rogan2:06

       What's that?

   26. DRDavid Lee Roth2:06

       ... rally on the quad.

   27. JRJoe Rogan2:07

       What is?

   28. DRDavid Lee Roth2:07

       At the quadrangle.

   29. JRJoe Rogan2:08

       Okay.

   30. DRDavid Lee Roth2:09

       At the, remember? At the-
2. 2:48 – 6:16

   Style, missing tooth, and the plan for a ‘blues tooth’

   1. JRJoe Rogan2:48

      Shalom. What's with the outfit, the painting outfit? I like it.

   2. DRDavid Lee Roth2:51

      Um, this is kinda what I wear regular, okay?

   3. JRJoe Rogan2:54

      Oh.

   4. DRDavid Lee Roth2:55

      If you get dressed up, there's made- nothing's gonna make you look older than trying to look young. Nothing's gonna make you look fatter than trying to look skinny.

   5. JRJoe Rogan3:02

      Mm-hmm.

   6. DRDavid Lee Roth3:02

      You wanna see how I am regularly?

   7. JRJoe Rogan3:06

      Yeah.

   8. DRDavid Lee Roth3:06

      I'm f- I'm... Elton John can't go anywhere without purple.

   9. JRJoe Rogan3:10

      He can't?

   10. DRDavid Lee Roth3:10

       He can't, no.

   11. JRJoe Rogan3:11

       No?

   12. DRDavid Lee Roth3:11

       There are folks who can't go out anywhere without a complete hair f- n- n- set up.

   13. JRJoe Rogan3:16

       Yeah.

   14. DRDavid Lee Roth3:16

       And obtaining the character.

   15. JRJoe Rogan3:18

       That seems exhausting.

   16. DRDavid Lee Roth3:19

       It is. I'm not really a character. Most of my high fashion probably comes from a sports store, and probably comes from a surplus place. And on a show like this, you get a better view of who I actually might be. Now, if I was putting on face, I wouldn't have showed up with a missing tooth. I fell off my bike going zero miles an hour. The seat was too high, my leg was too short. It was a deadly combination, Joe.

   17. JRJoe Rogan3:48

       And you lost a tooth?

   18. DRDavid Lee Roth3:48

       Mm-hmm.

   19. JRJoe Rogan3:48

       When did you lose the tooth?

   20. DRDavid Lee Roth3:49

       Mm-hmm.

   21. JRJoe Rogan3:50

       Oh.

   22. DRDavid Lee Roth3:50

       But in the mixed martial arts context, I think it might be fitting. (laughs)

   23. JRJoe Rogan3:55

       (laughs) Well, again, it fits with your lack of pretense.

   24. DRDavid Lee Roth3:58

       (laughs)

   25. JRJoe Rogan3:59

       Did you, uh, are you gonna get it replaced?

   26. DRDavid Lee Roth4:01

       Of course.

   27. JRJoe Rogan4:01

       Okay.

   28. DRDavid Lee Roth4:02

       And I'm glad you asked.

   29. JRJoe Rogan4:03

       How do they do that? They, like, screw a bolt in there and-

   30. DRDavid Lee Roth4:06

       Uh, y- yeah. It's, it, it is, um... In Beverly Hills, I am fortunate enough to have some great dentists who do what I call newscaster teeth.
3. 6:16 – 8:52

   Van Halen origins: school, busing, Motown choruses, and early hustle

   1. DRDavid Lee Roth6:16

      This is our 50th year, Alex and I.

   2. JRJoe Rogan6:18

      That's crazy.

   3. DRDavid Lee Roth6:20

      Why is it crazy?

   4. JRJoe Rogan6:20

      Because this is, uh, amazing, you know? Crazy in a wild and awesome way, you know? The fact that you guys have been doing music for that long. I mean, that's pretty incredible.

   5. DRDavid Lee Roth6:29

      We came out of this music three weeks out of high school graduation.

   6. JRJoe Rogan6:35

      Phew.

   7. DRDavid Lee Roth6:35

      Okay? Our parents were very insistent.

   8. JRJoe Rogan6:38

      I feel like I'm watching a movie.

   9. DRDavid Lee Roth6:39

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan6:39

       I'm seeing it all play out right now.

   11. DRDavid Lee Roth6:41

       Yeah. Is, uh, the Van Halens, their father, and their moms said, "You're moving out." Okay? They had jobs set up for them at the airport.

   12. JRJoe Rogan6:49

       (sighs)

   13. DRDavid Lee Roth6:49

       No shit, as baggage handlers.

   14. JRJoe Rogan6:51

       Oof.

   15. DRDavid Lee Roth6:51

       Okay? Um, I had been tossed out of my house by mom, (laughs) okay, mostly, halfway through high school, okay? So-

   16. JRJoe Rogan7:00

       Halfway through high school-

   17. DRDavid Lee Roth7:01

       Yeah, later-

   18. JRJoe Rogan7:01

       ... she said out?

   19. DRDavid Lee Roth7:01

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan7:02

       What did you do?

   21. DRDavid Lee Roth7:03

       Um, well, I made my way. Ultimately, I moved in with Dad, but I finished high school and-

   22. JRJoe Rogan7:08

       No, but I mean, what'd you do to make, sh- made her kick you out of the house?

   23. DRDavid Lee Roth7:11

       I was a troublesome kid. Okay? I was in and out of the busing program. It was a wild and colorful time, all right? This is the '60s, you follow? And there was constant conflict in terms of where the Van Halens went to school, for example. That's Pasadena High School. It was 90% Caucasian, we'll call it, and other. I went to the schools that were all Black and Spanish-speaking. So when I say, "Órale," I mean it, ese.

   24. JRJoe Rogan7:44

       You roll your tongue.

   25. DRDavid Lee Roth7:44

       (laughs) Al Van Halen owns a 1956 Bel Air Coupe.

   26. JRJoe Rogan7:49

       Mm.

   27. DRDavid Lee Roth7:49

       Okay? With the slicks on the back-

   28. JRJoe Rogan7:51

       Oh, now you're talking.

   29. DRDavid Lee Roth7:51

       ... et cetera. Okay? That's Pasadena High School.

   30. JRJoe Rogan7:54

       Ah.
4. 8:52 – 13:31

   Small-claims court, long hair in 1973, and showman identity

   1. DRDavid Lee Roth8:52

      Every famous Earth, Wind and Fire like this. Because I was gang signing the whole alphabet from seventh grade on. Come on. We knew where to go get clip-on ties and see-through socks at Amiel's. When Alex Van Halen-

   2. JRJoe Rogan9:06

      See-through socks?

   3. DRDavid Lee Roth9:06

      ... and I made our first lawsuit for 150 bucks on somebody who welshed on a check, we went to Amiel's. And we got clip-on ties, and we got proper socks (laughs) , and we went out and sued them. You follow?

   4. JRJoe Rogan9:18

      You sued someone for 150 bucks?

   5. DRDavid Lee Roth9:21

      Uh, it was the, uh, and I say it with respect, the Mayfield School, the Holy Child of Jesus Incorporated, Joe. And, uh, they said, and this was 1973, they said according to the contract that we had been smoking marijuana.

   6. JRJoe Rogan9:36

      (gasps) No. That can't-

   7. DRDavid Lee Roth9:37

      I know. I came to the right place.

   8. JRJoe Rogan9:39

      That doesn't sound right.

   9. DRDavid Lee Roth9:40

      Save your amens. (laughs) As a fact, we did not. That was not possible because we didn't have enough money for it. We would've, full disclosure.

   10. JRJoe Rogan9:50

       Full disclosure?

   11. DRDavid Lee Roth9:50

       Yep, it was for a 150 bucks. So Al and I, and I know Al is listening right now. We laugh like pirates on the phone. Okay. And, uh, he, uh, uh, he and I went to, um, uh, Amiel's and we got clip-on ties. Okay? And we went and we filed in the small claims division. All right? Um, we stood in there and the, uh, uh, the school showed up. There were two nuns and a family, a father, a mother, and two young daughters. It was quintessential. This is 1973. In these days, like for example, here in Texas with long hair, whoa, you better watch out over your shoulder. It was a very, very different background. Okay? This is, now we, to, any kind of haircut goes these days. But remember, long hair in 1973 in a court of law? (scoffs)

   12. JRJoe Rogan10:45

       Hmm.

   13. DRDavid Lee Roth10:46

       Wow. You were already on your back foot. And we stood up, thought we were fooling the magistrate, you follow? With our long ponytails. Remember what I used to look like, Joe? I used to look like Tarzan who read a few paperbacks. Come on. (laughs)

   14. JRJoe Rogan10:59

       Right.

   15. DRDavid Lee Roth11:01

       I was you, Joe. (laughs)

   16. JRJoe Rogan11:05

       (Laughs) Look at you.

   17. DRDavid Lee Roth11:07

       (laughs)

   18. JRJoe Rogan11:07

       Look at you in high school.

   19. DRDavid Lee Roth11:07

       Exactly. And, you know, cheekbones for days, man. You could sharpen a hunting knife on those cheekbones, huh? (laughs)

   20. JRJoe Rogan11:14

       Look at those cheeks. Look at those cheeks.

   21. DRDavid Lee Roth11:15

       That's right.

   22. JRJoe Rogan11:16

       What a beautiful man you were.

   23. DRDavid Lee Roth11:17

       There we go. I was gorgeous.

   24. JRJoe Rogan11:19

       Beautiful, man.

   25. DRDavid Lee Roth11:20

       Man, I launched a thousand hips. (laughs)

   26. JRJoe Rogan11:24

       Yeah. (laughs)

   27. DRDavid Lee Roth11:24

       When you look back on that life-

   28. JRJoe Rogan11:25

       You see-

   29. DRDavid Lee Roth11:25

       No, I'm not a... No, no. I'm not a sex symbol. You dig? I'm not a sex object. It's, I symbolize it when you guys feel sexy. I'm the emcee. I make other people feel sexy. You come and you listen to Van Halen music, you give me three songs, you're gonna feel young and skinny. You, Joe, will feel invincible, and your old lady will feel (imitates raspy music) eminently desirable. How much is that worth? It's inestimable. (laughs)

   30. JRJoe Rogan11:54

       You got some good marijuana. I'll tell you that.
5. 13:31 – 23:06

   Cigarettes, creativity myths, and nicotine as ‘go fast’

   1. JRJoe Rogan13:31

      Do you still smoke cigarettes?

   2. DRDavid Lee Roth13:32

      Occasionally, I do.

   3. JRJoe Rogan13:33

      How often?

   4. DRDavid Lee Roth13:35

      Every two days, perhaps.

   5. JRJoe Rogan13:36

      Every two days?

   6. DRDavid Lee Roth13:37

      That's right.

   7. JRJoe Rogan13:37

      Th- that, that, like, f- flies in the face of the myth that you smoke 'em and you get hooked, right? And then you have to smoke 'em constantly.

   8. DRDavid Lee Roth13:43

      I... If anybody catches up with me, um, it'll probably be the Marlboro Man. I can't imagine all of my heroes creating what they did in a smoke-free environment.

   9. JRJoe Rogan13:56

      Really?

   10. DRDavid Lee Roth13:56

       I can't imagine any of my favorite comics, especially the ones from the vinyl records that I grew up worshiping, okay? Um, how do you create that kinda comedy? Whether it was Lenny Bruce or Rich Pryor or anybody in between, how do you create that in a smoke-free environment? How do you create jazz music?

   11. JRJoe Rogan14:17

       Mm.

   12. DRDavid Lee Roth14:17

       Remember all those Blue Note Jazz album covers? And you might not even know what to call 'em, but if I hold it up, you'll go, "Oh, I've seen that a thousand times."

   13. JRJoe Rogan14:25

       Mm.

   14. DRDavid Lee Roth14:26

       And that slow smoke, the s-

   15. JRJoe Rogan14:28

       Mm-hmm.

   16. DRDavid Lee Roth14:28

       Every se... Even the drummer has a cigarette (laughs) in his mouth. And the places in the movies, when I was very, very young, were all black and white, and it was Humphrey Bogart, and I think Ingmar Bergman or whoever it was. I'm not even sure who it was, but she was gorgeous. And I was young, and I was just sorta getting started and tuned in to the way of l- like a, like just basically a teen. And, uh, she, uh, turns to him and... With a cigarette and says, "Got a light?" And along with 20 million other baby boomers, I went, "You bet." (laughs) And then later, when I was 13, we went and saw Goldfinger.

   17. JRJoe Rogan15:13

       Ah.

   18. DRDavid Lee Roth15:13

       He smokes a cigarette named after a Roth.

   19. JRJoe Rogan15:16

       (singing)

   20. DRDavid Lee Roth15:16

       That's Rothman, king size. "You bet I am, Esee." (laughs) And I turned into Bond.

   21. JRJoe Rogan15:22

       So-

   22. DRDavid Lee Roth15:22

       James Bond, Roth-

   23. JRJoe Rogan15:23

       ... what, what's the benefit of the cigarette? What's the cigarette do?

   24. DRDavid Lee Roth15:26

       Well, initially, cigarette's all posture. It's all presentation. It's all showbiz. And especially for someone like myself, who just... The world's a stage, and I'd appreciate some better lighting. (laughs)

   25. JRJoe Rogan15:45

       (laughs)

   26. DRDavid Lee Roth15:45

       It's a video. Why stop now, Joe Rogan? (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan15:47

       Yes, I get it.

   28. DRDavid Lee Roth15:49

       And the cigarette would complete it, because all of my heroes smoked, every cowboy. When you heard the harmonica or whatever it was in Clint Eastwood-

   29. JRJoe Rogan15:59

       Mm-hmm.

   30. DRDavid Lee Roth15:59

       ... he was smoking s- something called a chair root, and I didn't even know what that was, but I knew that I was doomed to actually try one sooner or later.
6. 23:06 – 25:16

   From Wagyu to ransomware: hacked meat supply and AI paranoia

   1. JRJoe Rogan23:06

      Did you hear, didn't when there something, didn't the beef supply get hijacked? Didn't something happen today where the-

   2. DRDavid Lee Roth23:13

      They're was hacked, not hijacked.

   3. JRJoe Rogan23:14

      Hacked?

   4. DRDavid Lee Roth23:15

      Hacked.

   5. JRJoe Rogan23:15

      How do they hack the beef supply?

   6. NANarrator23:17

      Uh, someone's mess- I mean, there's probably some hack, they did the pipeline for the-

   7. JRJoe Rogan23:21

      Yeah.

   8. NANarrator23:21

      ... gas in the other day, like, uh, in the South?

   9. JRJoe Rogan23:22

      Is that what's gonna happen every now and then now?

   10. NANarrator23:24

       I don't wanna see, uh...

   11. JRJoe Rogan23:25

       They're gonna do it with everything?

   12. DRDavid Lee Roth23:26

       It'll, I imagine fully-

   13. JRJoe Rogan23:28

       Ransomware?

   14. DRDavid Lee Roth23:29

       ... sure. Fully sure. (clears throat)

   15. NANarrator23:31

       Sometimes cyberattack meat supply, uh, uh-

   16. JRJoe Rogan23:33

       How did they s-

   17. NANarrator23:33

       ... JBS cyberattack shuts down some slaughterhouses.

   18. JRJoe Rogan23:37

       With, like, their-

   19. NANarrator23:38

       Another website.

   20. JRJoe Rogan23:38

       ... software or something?

   21. NANarrator23:39

       Yeah, I don't know. It's just Russia likely behind it, but I don't know.

   22. DRDavid Lee Roth23:42

       I have, y- uh, s- everything is software.

   23. JRJoe Rogan23:44

       Yeah.

   24. DRDavid Lee Roth23:44

       Every machine, even the parking meter. What would happen? I mean, I'm, you know, I'm a homemade, uh, SEAL Teamer. I watch a lot of movies on Netflix. (laughs)

   25. JRJoe Rogan23:57

       (laughs)

   26. DRDavid Lee Roth23:58

       Here's the plan.

   27. JRJoe Rogan23:59

       Okay.

   28. DRDavid Lee Roth23:59

       And then, okay, and you'll be the cellos, hit the cellos when I go-

   29. JRJoe Rogan24:02

       Okay.

   30. DRDavid Lee Roth24:02

       ... this may sound crazy, Joe.
7. 25:16 – 28:20

   AlphaGo, intuition, and why humans struggle against learning machines

   1. JRJoe Rogan25:16

      You were talk- you were talking about AI before, like when- when we were sitting down out there-

   2. DRDavid Lee Roth25:19

      Yes.

   3. JRJoe Rogan25:19

      ... about, uh, its self-learning.

   4. DRDavid Lee Roth25:21

      Go. Yes. AlphaGo. Look this up over there. The AlphaGo project is, Jesus, I think $60 million went into this. It's a familiar ... Go being a super difficult, uh, game. You'll know it from a computer game. I- I'm not, uh, familiar with the name of it. The word Atari-

   5. JRJoe Rogan25:39

      Yeah.

   6. DRDavid Lee Roth25:40

      ... comes from this. You have some pieces. I try to surround yours before-

   7. JRJoe Rogan25:44

      Yeah.

   8. DRDavid Lee Roth25:44

      ... you surround mine.

   9. JRJoe Rogan25:46

      I don't know the game, but, uh-

   10. DRDavid Lee Roth25:47

       A- a child can play it within 30 minutes.

   11. JRJoe Rogan25:49

       But it's super complicated, right?

   12. DRDavid Lee Roth25:50

       And you can take it all the way up to adult level. Instead of the number of stripes, we'll call them, like chess, you have 19 by 19, et cetera.

   13. JRJoe Rogan26:00

       Look at this. It says, "As simple as the rules may seem, Go is profoundly complex. There is- there is an- there are an astonishing 10 to the power of 170 possible board configurations, more than the number of atoms in the known universe."

   14. DRDavid Lee Roth26:13

       Okay, so how do you bundle this in your brain? You can do it, but we have to train your intuition.

   15. JRJoe Rogan26:17

       This makes the game-

   16. DRDavid Lee Roth26:18

       And that's the only way you're gonna beat AI.

   17. JRJoe Rogan26:20

       Look at this. "This makes the game of Go a google times more complex than chess."

   18. DRDavid Lee Roth26:25

       Okay. Now S- ... AI, Go, AlphaGo, the program, they expected it, with no input from human beings, to teach itself. Let's just give it the rules and see if it'll teach itself up to adult level. We think it'll take two and a half, three years. It took two weeks.

   19. JRJoe Rogan26:44

       Jesus.

   20. DRDavid Lee Roth26:45

       All the way up to tournament level. So, just to be wise-asses, and I'm jumping around, but I encourage y'all to dig into this, this is a national sport in Korea. This makes headlines. The Samsung Cup champion's in his late 20s and gets half a million dollars. China launched their champion against AlphaGo, and when the computer started winning, they shut down all national broadcast, okay? It's a national sport. The way, uh, chess might be the national sport of, uh, Jesus, in the '60s, it was America versus Russia. There might be British champions in chess. My point being, AI can defend itself. If we humans know how, then of course, AI ... And it can learn way faster. What you learn from that game is how deeply into your brain you can bundle up, you can deal with millions and millions. There was a time in club days when all I could imagine was $150. Do you follow? (laughs)

   21. JRJoe Rogan27:44

       That's the- that's the number.

   22. DRDavid Lee Roth27:46

       I can't imagine much more, and then somebody said-

   23. JRJoe Rogan27:48

       That was a good road gig.

   24. DRDavid Lee Roth27:49

       Oh, they said, "Hey, you know, you can make $1,500 doing this." "Oh, I can't imagine how do you-"

   25. JRJoe Rogan27:53

       It's crazy.

   26. DRDavid Lee Roth27:54

       So you say-

   27. JRJoe Rogan27:54

       What do you do with it all?

   28. DRDavid Lee Roth27:55

       I'm so used to putting everything in the gas tank. And then you have the musician's menu. I'm sure it's like the, uh, humorist menu. It's this. No matter where you go, here's the menu, and you push the coins around and go, "How much you got, Joe? Okay, we'll have the large." (laughs) Right? Whatever here is left over from not putting it in the gas tank.

8. 28:20 – 44:46

   ‘Laugh to Win’: struggle, fear, and staying grounded after fame

   1. JRJoe Rogan28:20

      Those days are important to connect to, though, right? Don't you think that it's important to stay in touch with the feeling that you had when you were starting out and you were trying to scrap together all that money and scrape together all that money to buy food?

   2. DRDavid Lee Roth28:33

      Without that, there is no struggle. Without that struggle, you have to learn fear.

   3. JRJoe Rogan28:42

      Yeah.

   4. DRDavid Lee Roth28:42

      And you have to learn how you adjust to that fear. Okay? I don't care if you're a Spartan knight or the Jamaican bobsled team. And don't laugh at the last one, 'cause they flipped their sled at 100 miles an hour, and they are the champions of the Calgary Olympics. The Jamaican bobsled team operated exactly like the Spartans did. How do you survive fear? That's what should be in your humor. That's what should be in your show. You laugh to win. It can be salty, back-at-you humor. How do you survive barracks life? How do you survive no food for how long when you were just struggling as a comic? Remember when you got through points and you thought, "I don't even know if I can continue this. I really don't." When that dark dog comes up at night and says, "You're gonna fail. You are never gonna make it." How'd you get through that?

   5. JRJoe Rogan29:35

      I don't know.

   6. DRDavid Lee Roth29:36

      You gave them what's called a Texas hanky. "Out this side." (laughs) And that's Spartan humor, homie. Now let's push that sled. Hottest thing on ice. The same thing. Laugh to win, I call it. Laugh to win. You have to develop that through struggle. We played five 45-minute sets a night. Five 45-minute sets a night, sometimes up to nine nights in a row. Al, I know you're listening to this and you are laughing. That's how this one went, too, right? (laughs) And you had to learn to laugh at it. And then you had to learn to laugh at each other and find the resource when you wanted to quit or die or just die, and you c- ... No matter what, you had to learn laugh to win. Now, whether you're a surgeon doing night shift...... you're struggling, whether you're a combat veteran, mixed martial arts, you better learn how to laugh to win. You dig? Because if you start to giggle and come in, "Oh my God, crybaby," well, now you're a politician. (laughs)

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:40

      (laughs) How do you hold onto that though when you become a big rock star? Like once, once you're already sleeping on satin sheets and, or silk? Yeah.

   8. DRDavid Lee Roth30:51

      Slide off of them satin sheets.

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:52

      Do people sleep-

   10. DRDavid Lee Roth30:52

       Now, that's a Johnny Paycheck song when-

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:54

       Satin sheets?

   12. DRDavid Lee Roth30:54

       ... I'm, we're in Austin right now, Joe.

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:56

       Oh.

   14. DRDavid Lee Roth30:57

       (laughs)

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:57

       I know they, silk sheets is the-

   16. DRDavid Lee Roth30:58

       You want me to sing it? << Slide off of them satin sheets >> Yeah, it's on, uh, Take This Job and Shove It, same album.

   17. JRJoe Rogan31:06

       Oh, okay.

   18. DRDavid Lee Roth31:06

       But let's, let's stay focused, Joe.

   19. NANarrator31:07

       (laughs)

   20. JRJoe Rogan31:07

       Why do you, like, how do you keep the, how do you keep that feeling? 'Cause you have to stay grounded, right? And you're very grounded. Like, you, we were talking before the podcast that you ride your bike everywhere.

   21. DRDavid Lee Roth31:18

       I do, and I have three different backpacks depending on where I'm gonna go, 'cause I traded it. You know, if I gotta go to the grocery, that's the bigger backpack.

   22. JRJoe Rogan31:27

       But you do all this stuff yourself, you handle everything yourself. You're very normal in your, your ab- you're not normal, but-

   23. DRDavid Lee Roth31:34

       It's not an insult, Joe.

   24. JRJoe Rogan31:35

       ... you're very, you're like a regular person.

   25. NANarrator31:36

       (laughs)

   26. DRDavid Lee Roth31:37

       All of it is like a slap in the face.

   27. NANarrator31:39

       (laughs)

   28. JRJoe Rogan31:39

       I don't, I don't mean... I don't mean, you're very, you're very eccentric, so you're not normal.

   29. NANarrator31:42

       (laughs)

   30. JRJoe Rogan31:42

       I mean, try finding another David Lee Roth.
9. 44:46 – 57:26

   Japan chapter: kendo life, Konishiki, sumo culture, and martial arts lineage

   1. JRJoe Rogan44:46

      Right, like your kendo training and all of that.

   2. DRDavid Lee Roth44:49

      Oh, yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan44:49

      And-

   4. DRDavid Lee Roth44:49

      'Cause, 'cause from there, you're gonna be hungry.

   5. JRJoe Rogan44:52

      It's one of my favorite stories, when you moved to Japan just to learn kendo. I'm like, "That's a bad motherfucker. Just decides to go to Japan, brings his dog, learns kendo, and takes kendo four nights a week."

   6. DRDavid Lee Roth45:02

      My dog was... M- my dog was the best icebreaker ever. He was a full, uh, Australian, okay?

   7. JRJoe Rogan45:09

      Shepherd?

   8. DRDavid Lee Roth45:09

      Yep. With, uh, a raccoon tail.

   9. JRJoe Rogan45:12

      Oh.

   10. DRDavid Lee Roth45:12

       Okay? So you never see a 50-pound dog in, in Japan or whatever.

   11. JRJoe Rogan45:17

       You don't?

   12. DRDavid Lee Roth45:17

       Like... Oh, no, you see little pocket rackets, you know.

   13. JRJoe Rogan45:19

       Oh.

   14. DRDavid Lee Roth45:19

       You got little, little, uh, you know, ankle biters or what, lots and lots of those. But this looked like a, a wolf. People would ask me, "Is that a wolf?" And I would answer, "No, I am." (laughs)

   15. JRJoe Rogan45:30

       (laughs)

   16. DRDavid Lee Roth45:30

       He's from there. (laughs) Russ, and Russ got along with everybody. He was in-

   17. JRJoe Rogan45:36

       How long did you live in Japan for?

   18. DRDavid Lee Roth45:37

       Two years.

   19. JRJoe Rogan45:38

       Wow.

   20. DRDavid Lee Roth45:38

       I based outta there. I took my dog and my guitar.

   21. JRJoe Rogan45:41

       And did you-

   22. DRDavid Lee Roth45:41

       I did not know a single word of Japanese, I did not-

   23. JRJoe Rogan45:44

       Yeah. You just went out there, you didn't know anybody or anything, right?

   24. DRDavid Lee Roth45:45

       No. I, I didn't know-

   25. JRJoe Rogan45:47

       I love that.

   26. DRDavid Lee Roth45:47

       ... where I was gonna go, and you know where I wounded up? In, um, the Oakwood Garden Apartments.

   27. JRJoe Rogan45:53

       Oh, they have Oakwoods in Japan?

   28. DRDavid Lee Roth45:55

       Yes. (laughs)

   29. JRJoe Rogan45:55

       Are you joking?

   30. DRDavid Lee Roth45:56

       Y- exactly like the first tour, first tour with Van Halen, right? Over on Barham.
10. 57:26 – 1:13:02

    Injuries, spine fusion, and finding humor inside pain

    1. JRJoe Rogan57:26

       How do you, uh, keep from blowing your joints out at that age?

    2. DRDavid Lee Roth57:32

       I've had seven surgeries.

    3. JRJoe Rogan57:33

       Grown kids. Seven?

    4. DRDavid Lee Roth57:33

       I've, I've blown them all out, Joe. (laughs)

    5. JRJoe Rogan57:35

       What have you... What, what kind of surgeries have you had?

    6. DRDavid Lee Roth57:37

       Thanks a pantload for reminding me. (laughs)

    7. JRJoe Rogan57:40

       (laughs)

    8. DRDavid Lee Roth57:41

       Faxed me an Advil, will you, kid? (laughs)

    9. JRJoe Rogan57:43

       What, uh, what surgeries have you had?

    10. DRDavid Lee Roth57:45

        Oh, back. Come on. Shoulder-

    11. JRJoe Rogan57:47

        You've had your back done?

    12. DRDavid Lee Roth57:48

        ... et cetera.

    13. JRJoe Rogan57:48

        What'd you have done to your back?

    14. DRDavid Lee Roth57:50

        Uh, three in the back. You know, the, uh-

    15. JRJoe Rogan57:52

        Discectomy?

    16. DRDavid Lee Roth57:53

        ... scooped out, and I had the, uh, the big bitch-

    17. JRJoe Rogan57:56

        Bulging discs?

    18. DRDavid Lee Roth57:56

        ... recently.

    19. JRJoe Rogan57:57

        Which have?

    20. DRDavid Lee Roth57:57

        You're, six hours on the spit.

    21. JRJoe Rogan57:59

        Which have?

    22. DRDavid Lee Roth57:59

        When the, um, uh, it was-

    23. JRJoe Rogan58:01

        They put the cage around your spine?

    24. DRDavid Lee Roth58:03

        Yeah.

    25. JRJoe Rogan58:03

        Oh, no.

    26. DRDavid Lee Roth58:04

        Dude, finally get it all. But, uh, like I said, I've been bouncing around.

    27. JRJoe Rogan58:07

        But what are you saying? What, what, what was going on with it?

    28. DRDavid Lee Roth58:09

        Oh, just wear and tear. I wore out my break pads and tore it up.

    29. JRJoe Rogan58:13

        The, the discs?

    30. DRDavid Lee Roth58:13

        I've been bouncing around hard since I was a teenager.
11. 1:13:02 – 1:44:59

    Tattoos, tap-style irezumi, and the ‘1500s liberal arts’ self-education

    1. JRJoe Rogan1:13:02

       (laughs)

    2. DRDavid Lee Roth1:13:04

       (laughs) So, I've gone out of my way to make sure I'm somewhere very cool and representative when I get that tattoo.

    3. JRJoe Rogan1:13:12

       Yeah.

    4. DRDavid Lee Roth1:13:13

       You know I'm covered.

    5. JRJoe Rogan1:13:14

       Yeah, no, you're- you're full sleeve.

    6. DRDavid Lee Roth1:13:14

       I got the full Japanese tuxedo here.

    7. JRJoe Rogan1:13:17

       No one's ever seen that though, right? You don't, like ... You don't have photos of it anywhere, do you?

    8. DRDavid Lee Roth1:13:20

       Well, allegedly. (laughs)

    9. JRJoe Rogan1:13:22

       Allegedly? It's not out there online or anything like that.

    10. DRDavid Lee Roth1:13:25

        No.

    11. JRJoe Rogan1:13:25

        You- you had a tap-tap done, right?

    12. DRDavid Lee Roth1:13:27

        I got the f-... Oh, yeah.

    13. JRJoe Rogan1:13:27

        You had it old school style.

    14. DRDavid Lee Roth1:13:28

        I got the f-... It took me three years-

    15. JRJoe Rogan1:13:31

        Woo!

    16. DRDavid Lee Roth1:13:31

        ... to get it all the way. But I made very sure that when it... 'Cause when you look at your tattoo, for all of you who are just pondering.

    17. JRJoe Rogan1:13:40

        Mm-hmm.

    18. DRDavid Lee Roth1:13:40

        Remember, that you're gonna think of where you got it, and who put it on you, and what the music was that you heard.

    19. JRJoe Rogan1:13:46

        Right.

    20. DRDavid Lee Roth1:13:47

        And who... And then, who you were at the time. So, I went out of my way, and I made sure. I went to Yokohama and had Sting do it. (laughs)

    21. JRJoe Rogan1:13:57

        (laughs)

    22. DRDavid Lee Roth1:13:58

        So to speak. (laughs) HiDozo on the high desert. No, I had Horiyoshi III doing this.

    23. JRJoe Rogan1:14:04

        Can you show us some of it?

    24. DRDavid Lee Roth1:14:05

        It's like this. Oh, Jesus. I don't know.

    25. JRJoe Rogan1:14:08

        Show us some of it.

    26. DRDavid Lee Roth1:14:08

        Is- is this the right place?

    27. JRJoe Rogan1:14:08

        I wanna see some of that. Yeah. Fuck yeah.

    28. DRDavid Lee Roth1:14:11

        Let me see here.

    29. JRJoe Rogan1:14:11

        It's absolutely the right place.

    30. DRDavid Lee Roth1:14:13

        Um, turns out in- in-

Episode duration: 3:01:50