It's the end of an era! David Letterman ended his incredible 33-year career in late night on Wednesday, after nearly 20,000 guests! During 1985 through 1995, Eddie Van Halen, David Lee Roth, or the entire band were on the show a total of five times. We've assembled all of these classic appearances below for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy! 1/1/85: David Lee Roth's Hilarious … [Read more...]
CIA Admits Role In 1985 Coup To Oust David Lee Roth From Van Halen
CIA agents reportedly seeded false information in Rolling Stone and other media outlets to convince the public that Roth was toppled solely by his bandmates in a bloodless revolt. Another gem from The Onion: LANGLEY, VA—Shedding new light on a tumultuous period of upheaval that dominated international headlines nearly 30 years ago, the U.S. government declassified … [Read more...]
David Lee Roth’s Race Across America!
View image | gettyimages.com In early September of 1985, the MTV Video Music Awards were coming up, and David Lee Roth was planning on attending. After all, his Crazy From The Heat solo EP had come out in January, and his music videos for "California Girls" and "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" were in huge rotation on MTV that year. Van Halen and David Lee Roth producer … [Read more...]
A Bourbon Street Adventure with Van Halen
Journalist Steven Rosen shares his tale of his wild weekend attending the '85 NAMM show with Eddie Van Halen. This is the full, unedited version of that adventure (only right here!)—from issue #9 of The Inside magazine. The weekend begins on a deceptively subdued note, but this would change. The alarm clock performs its mechanical duty, jolting me from my sleep at the … [Read more...]
VHND’s All Access Photo: Guitars at 5150 Studio
Never-seen shot from Eddie Van Halen's 5150 Studio of some of his guitars. Ten guitars in total - some rarely or never seen. Circa 1985. “All Access” Van Halen photos is a weekly feature at VHND.com. Every weekend we feature a photo from a roadie, friend, or band insider. Many are never-seen-before exclusives. Tune in every weekend for more! … [Read more...]
33 Years Ago: Eddie Van Halen and Sammy Hagar First Perform Together
In a way, the birth of "Van Hagar" was exactly 33 years ago today. It was during the summer of 1985 that rock fans heard the devastating news that Van Halen and David Lee Roth had split up. There were rumors that the band was going to look for a new singer, but that's all that anyone knew. It was September 22, 1985, when "Red Rocker" Sammy Hagar performed at the first Farm Aid, … [Read more...]
VHND’s All Access Photo: 5150 Studio
This week’s photo is from 1985 and shows Eddie Van Halen and then wife Valerie Bertinelli chillin' at 5150 Studios. Never published anywhere until now! (Technically, we did publish this photo in issue #8 of The Inside magazine back in '97, but the vast majority of fans have never seen it. The Inside was Van Halen's official magazine that we published from 1995-2000). “All … [Read more...]