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Joe Rogan Experience #1660 - David Lee Roth

David Lee Roth is a singer, songwriter, solo artist, and the voice of the Grammy Award-Winning hard rock band Van Halen.

David Lee RothguestJoe Roganhost
Jun 27, 20243h 1mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:00 – 15:00

    (drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast,…

    1. NA

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

    2. DR

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

    3. JR

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

    4. DR

      Please explain self, son. (laughs)

    5. JR

      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. DR

      I enjoy folks.

    7. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    8. DR

      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. JR

      Yes.

    10. DR

      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. JR

      Yeah.

    12. DR

      ... 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. JR

      Yeah.

    14. DR

      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. JR

      Yeah.

    16. DR

      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. JR

      (laughs)

    18. DR

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

    19. JR

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

    20. DR

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

    21. JR

      The quad?

    22. DR

      Yeah, the quad at school.

    23. JR

      What, I don't what that is.

    24. DR

      The quad, y- there's a pep-

    25. JR

      What's that?

    26. DR

      ... rally on the quad.

    27. JR

      What is?

    28. DR

      At the quadrangle.

    29. JR

      Okay.

    30. DR

      At the, remember? At the-

  2. 15:00 – 30:00

    Ah. …

    1. DR

      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.

    2. JR

      Ah.

    3. DR

      He smokes a cigarette named after a Roth.

    4. JR

      (singing)

    5. DR

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

    6. JR

      So-

    7. DR

      James Bond, Roth-

    8. JR

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

    9. DR

      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)

    10. JR

      (laughs)

    11. DR

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

    12. JR

      Yes, I get it.

    13. DR

      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-

    14. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    15. DR

      ... 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.

    16. JR

      Yeah, he smoked those dark leaf cigarettes, right?

    17. DR

      That's called a chair root.

    18. JR

      Chair root?

    19. DR

      Yes.

    20. JR

      That's what it's called?

    21. DR

      Yes.

    22. JR

      Mm.

    23. DR

      And, uh, that's just your adventure heroes.

    24. JR

      Mm.

    25. DR

      All my favorite comics smoke cigars. I myself am a very indelicate house blend of a Kurosawa samurai epic and Groucho.

    26. JR

      Mm.

    27. DR

      And how many times... D- I don't know if you've ever tr... I don't know you well, but any kid in my neighborhood growing up, at some point did this to a pretty girl with your eyebrows.

    28. JR

      The Groucho Marx move, yeah.

    29. DR

      Yeah, and pretended you-

    30. JR

      You bet your life.

  3. 30:00 – 45:00

    (laughs) How do you…

    1. DR

      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)

    2. JR

      (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.

    3. DR

      Slide off of them satin sheets.

    4. JR

      Do people sleep-

    5. DR

      Now, that's a Johnny Paycheck song when-

    6. JR

      Satin sheets?

    7. DR

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

    8. JR

      Oh.

    9. DR

      (laughs)

    10. JR

      I know they, silk sheets is the-

    11. DR

      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.

    12. JR

      Oh, okay.

    13. DR

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

    14. NA

      (laughs)

    15. JR

      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.

    16. DR

      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.

    17. JR

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

    18. DR

      It's not an insult, Joe.

    19. JR

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

    20. NA

      (laughs)

    21. DR

      All of it is like a slap in the face.

    22. NA

      (laughs)

    23. JR

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

    24. NA

      (laughs)

    25. JR

      I mean, try finding another David Lee Roth.

    26. DR

      (laughs)

    27. JR

      But you are, you do, like, you, you know, you just go out there and go on these little adventures. I'm sure you get baked to the gills and then you go to the grocery store or something.

    28. DR

      Okay. Adventure-

    29. JR

      (laughs)

    30. DR

      ... means the unpredictable finish. Grocery store for me is very predictable. (laughs)

  4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

    My dog was... M-…

    1. JR

      kendo, and takes kendo four nights a week."

    2. DR

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

    3. JR

      Shepherd?

    4. DR

      Yep. With, uh, a raccoon tail.

    5. JR

      Oh.

    6. DR

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

    7. JR

      You don't?

    8. DR

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

    9. JR

      Oh.

    10. DR

      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)

    11. JR

      (laughs)

    12. DR

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

    13. JR

      How long did you live in Japan for?

    14. DR

      Two years.

    15. JR

      Wow.

    16. DR

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

    17. JR

      And did you-

    18. DR

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

    19. JR

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

    20. DR

      No. I, I didn't know-

    21. JR

      I love that.

    22. DR

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

    23. JR

      Oh, they have Oakwoods in Japan?

    24. DR

      Yes. (laughs)

    25. JR

      Are you joking?

    26. DR

      Y- exactly like the first tour, first tour with Van Halen, right? Over on Barham.

    27. JR

      You want some coffee?

    28. DR

      Uh, please. And, uh, uh, from there, my first day traveling through the lobby, um, this fella sitting there, and I'm not out of line to say-

    29. JR

      Cheers. (glasses clinking)

    30. DR

      ... "Joe, great to see you again."

  5. 1:00:00 – 1:15:00

    Mm. …

    1. DR

      unusual. It means he's been here more than once or twice. It's just the way of things. And we have a look, and I remember looking at him. And I know how to ask these questions. And s-... I looked at the door, and I went like that. It means how many for you? And he held up four fingers like this. He goes like this. And he looks at me, and he goes... Looks at the door. And I looked around conspiratorially. "Seven." And you could see him do the math and break into a big fucking smile (laughs) and look at his mom like, "Shit, I still got some in front of me." You share it.... do you understand? You make fun of your own misery and your own pain, and you can share it and get somebody else up that mountain.

    2. JR

      Mm.

    3. DR

      Okay? I've gotten to that space in my life.

    4. JR

      How's your back now?

    5. DR

      Fucked, thanks to Diaper Load for reminding me. (laughs)

    6. JR

      Is it ... Did the, uh, surgery-

    7. DR

      No, no.

    8. JR

      ... help at all?

    9. DR

      I am a miracle of the Watkins team.

    10. JR

      The Wackens team?

    11. DR

      The Watkins team is the-

    12. JR

      Oh, Watkins team.

    13. DR

      ... best spinal surgeons ever, ever, ever.

    14. JR

      Yeah?

    15. DR

      Their me wall is the biggest you could ever imagine. You know what a me wall is?

    16. JR

      No.

    17. DR

      Here's me with the mayor. Here's me with Joe Rogan. (laughs)

    18. JR

      Oh. Oh. Got it.

    19. DR

      (laughs)

    20. JR

      Me wall.

    21. DR

      Here's me. (laughs)

    22. JR

      We should get a me wall here.

    23. DR

      (laughs) Yeah. Here's me with Joe ... (laughs)

    24. JR

      So-

    25. DR

      Like this, their me wall-

    26. JR

      Right?

    27. DR

      ... contains virtually everyone from the Cirque du Soleil, every action hero-

    28. JR

      Oh, I can only imagine, right?

    29. DR

      ... you can possibly imagine, without naming, without naming names. (laughs)

    30. JR

      It's always backs, right?

  6. 1:15:00 – 1:19:06

    Wow. Is, uh- …

    1. DR

      had one guy do the back and one guy do all the front.

    2. JR

      Wow. Is, uh-

    3. DR

      It was all done in Japan.

    4. JR

      ... is it tap-tap style more painful? Is it slower?

    5. DR

      You know what? It's not that it's so much one hurts more. It all hurts the same, and how much can you take?

    6. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    7. DR

      Okay? So, the needle hurts a certain amount, and if it's just a little dime-sized thing, ah, your threshold wasn't reached. It's you're gonna work your way up. And the same thing for tapping. That hurts a little bit less than an electric, okay? But that being said, you may reach your threshold within 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how often you're going.

    8. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    9. DR

      Now, I'm not gonna kid you. I learned to fear that needle. I had to get ready (laughs) like getting ready for a fistfight, man.

    10. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    11. DR

      I had to get on the bike, get my heart rate up with 45 minutes. I had to make sure-

    12. JR

      Look at you.

    13. DR

      ... I had to make sure... There you go.

    14. JR

      In the tattoo studio, rocking out.

    15. DR

      That's Horiyoshi III, and he's really famous, you know. He's-

    16. JR

      Is there any video of you getting tap-tap-tapped?

    17. DR

      Ah, there may be some in there.

    18. JR

      Yeah, I wanna see it. It's a s-... A bizarre and, uh, beautiful style of, uh, tattooing, the way they do it with that, the stick and the tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.

    19. DR

      I pursued a whole art approach there. You know, I paint and draw every day.

    20. JR

      Do you?

    21. DR

      Yeah. And on my Instagram, you can see a lot of my artwork and stuff like this. So-

    22. JR

      I wanna see some.

    23. DR

      ... when I wasn't doing-

    24. JR

      One at a time.

    25. DR

      ... my training, um, uh, I went to, uh, an academy for sumi-e, which is ink painting. I had a sensei for that. I went twice a week, sometimes three times. I was the only Anglo there. (laughs)

    26. JR

      (laughs)

    27. DR

      And, uh, it's a, uh... I cr-... What I did, Joe, is I created a liberal arts education that I never had 'cause I went on the road with Van Halen and never looked back. HiDozo on the high desert.

    28. JR

      Well-

    29. DR

      So, I said, "What- what- what would you do if you went to college in the 1500s?" You would learn language, which I learned every morning. You would learn kendo. You would learn Go.

    30. JR

      Mm-hmm.

Episode duration: 3:01:50

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