David Lee Roth

The Five Most Iconic Key Club Shows in Its History

We broke some sad news last week: the Key Club will close its doors this Friday. Since opening in 1967 as Gazzarri's, it has been a staple of the Sunset Strip for decades, under various names and ownership. The venue has seen many popular styles of music come and go, but has, Zelig-like, been at the ... More >>

The 20 Worst Albums of the '90s: The Complete List

Sure, you had the Bill Clinton blowjob scandal, OJ, Pakistan and India going nuclear, mad cow disease, the Rodney King decision, and Titanic. But what made the '90s truly awful was its music. That's not to say that there weren't bright spots -- early Beck, say, or Ok Computer and much of hip-hop's g ... More >>

The 20 Worst Albums Of The '90s: 20-11

Sure, you had the Bill Clinton blowjob scandal, OJ, Pakistan and India going nuclear, mad cow disease, the Rodney King decision, and Titanic. But what made the '90s truly awful was its music. That's not to say that there weren't bright spots -- early Beck, say, or Ok Computer and much of hip-hop's g ... More >>

The Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend

Friday, February 1 Vieux Farka Touré, Fool's Gold ROYCE HALL Music critics often describe Vieux Farka Touré as "the Hendrix of the Sahara," but the Malian guitarist doesn't really sound much like Jimi Hendrix. Instead, Touré has a distinctively exotic style that's more similar to the music of hi ... More >>

Chickenfoot - Greek Theatre - 6/10/12

Chickenfoot Greek Theatre 6/10/12 See also: *Van Halen's Babysitter: The band's record label assigned Ted Cohen to go on tour with them in their glory years. Here's what he saw *The Time David Lee Roth Abandoned His Plymouth Valiant to Rot Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony apparently don't miss play ... More >>

Comments: Bully Pulpits

Sun Araw, Eagles of Death Metal, Lil' Kim

Also, Harry Partch's Bitter Music, Jonneine Zapata, Alan Pasqua Trio and others

The Time David Lee Roth Abandoned His Plymouth Valiant to Rot

By Michael Wilton See also: *Van Halen's Babysitter: The band's record label assigned Ted Cohen to go on tour with them in their glory years. Here's what he saw *Van Halen's 1980 Tour Rider: Why They Demanded The Brown M&Ms Be Picked Out For our music feature this week we spoke with Ted Cohen, a ... More >>

Van Halen's Babysitter

The band's record label assigned Ted Cohen to go on tour with them in their glory years. Here's what he saw

Henry Rollins: The Column! Advice From Diamond Dave

[Look for your weekly fix from the one and only Henry Rollins right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday, and come back tomorrow for the awesomely annotated playlist for his Saturday KCRW broadcast.] Still in Australia, with a lot more shows to go. Right now, I am in Brisbane. We got in a few ... More >>

Guns N' Roses - The Palladium - 3/9/12

See also: Tommy Stinson Interview: Guns N' Roses' Bassist Compares Axl Rose and Paul Westerberg If you took sides during the Guns n' Roses break-up and subsequent feud, chances are it was that of the curly haired guitarist and the lanky, blonde bassist, not the ginger genius who fronted the band. ... More >>

Sammy Hagar on Eddie Van Halen: "I Don't Hate the Guy, I Love the Guy. I Hate What He Did to Me"

By Michael Christopher Last week, Sammy Hagar was in the green room at The Tonight Show, preparing to musical guest with Chickenfoot, his band that dropped its critically acclaimed second album (cheekily titled Chickenfoot III) in September. Host Jay Leno popped in to say hello, and seeing the Red ... More >>

Steel Panther: Hair Metal Cover Band Goes Legit

See also: Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: The Complete List Story by Clay Marshall Steel Panther guitarist Russ Parrish sports leopard-print Spandex and a tiger-striped ax when the group plays in concert. If all goes well, he'll climb atop the drum riser and stomp on the kick-drum pedal, ac ... More >>

Top Ten Best Replacement Singers in Rock and Metal

Dio-era Black Sabbath​See also: *Top Ten Worst Replacement Singers in Rock and Metal *Ozzy Osbourne vs. Ronnie James Dio: Who's Better? One of the biggest stories in metal this year is the revolving door for vocalists. Jesse Leach has returned to Killswitch Engage. Iced Earth played their fi ... More >>

Top Ten Worst Replacement Singers in Rock and Metal

​At the beginning of the year, Boston metalcore giants Killswitch Engage announced that they had parted ways with vocalist Howard Jones, and two weeks ago they announced they were bringing their first vocalist, Jesse Leach, back into the fold. At the very least, it seems a way to ensure they w ... More >>

Van Halen's 1980 Tour Rider: Why They Demanded The Brown M&Ms Be Picked Out

​See also: Barry Fey on that time that he held a gun to Axl Rose's head Barry Fey is a Denver-based concert promoter who has booked just about every giant rock band you can think of, and often for the first time in America. His new memoir Backstage Past speaks on his efforts bringing groups l ... More >>

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Royce Hall - 11-17-11

Chris Walker​Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds Royce Hall, UCLA 11-17-11 Better than...Liam's nasally singing on "Wonderwall" What do Noel Gallagher, Paul McCartney, Q-Tip, and David Lee Roth all have in common? Each have attempted solo careers after their immensely popular groups, to var ... More >>

Top Ten Bands Who Need To Reunite, NOW

Nope, this doesn't count​Last week, we discussed ten bands who ruined their legacy by reuniting. Don't get the wrong idea, though -- we're not complete haters. And so, here are the groups we'd like to see put together one last reunion tour. Note: We're only talking about bands with all of thei ... More >>

Van Halen Assteroidz Is Back!

​​​In 2009 a great blessing came to be known: Atari video game Asteroids had been hacked to incorporate Van Halen. The simple vector graphics asteroids were replaced by obstacles in the shape of the dancing burger from "Better Off Dead," the Van Halen logo drifting through space, and a rig ... More >>

Ten Groups Who Never Should Have Gotten Back Together

Beware fellas, bad things may be coming your way​On New Year's Eve 2009, Chris Cornell made a Twitter declaration: "School's back in session." The implication was that Soundgarden was reuniting. However, it took several months for the official announcement. The grunge pioneers would be putting ... More >>

Music Picks: Alison Krauss, Flying Lotus, My Morning Jacket

Also, Jaga Jazzist, Kid Cudi, Baths and others

Top 10 Most Recycled Women of Rock (Only Three Call Themselves Groupies!)

Jena Ardell​ Everyone has had a crush on rockstar before, but these woman actually pursued and conquered rockstars. In order to make our Top 10 Most Recycled Women of Rock list, these ladies had to have dated (or bedded) six or more famous musicians. There's one musician who appears on four o ... More >>

Lord of the Dance 3D

The Gaslamp Killer: Greetings From Hell

This Kid's a Total Freak

Emperor of the Air

Six-String Heroes: Iconic Photographer Neil Zlozower Talks New Book, Mr. Musichead Launch Party, and Making Friends with Rock Stars

Neil ZlozowerEddie Van Halen​"Talking rock n' roll with Zloz is like discussing tan lines with Hugh Hefner or escort services with Charlie Sheen," boasts the Van Halen fans in the David Lee Roth Army (yeah, that's right, army). Not like we'd want to pick a fight with Diamond Dave's soldiers an ... More >>

Who the Hell Is Holy Grail?

An L.A. metal band with songs about “chicks, Vikings, ex-chicks, being tough, macho/machismo, FEMA, Fabio, Conan, rad dinosaurs, UFOs and Bilderberg Group,” that’s who

Photos That Defined 2008: Food, Music, Cobrasnake, Nightranger and Breaking News

Have some time to kill over the holidays while avoiding chit-chat with your second cousin twice removed? Well, why not peruse L.A. Weekly's favorite photos of 2008.  We've broken down this year's most unforgettable images into several categories: Year in Photos, Year in Food, Year in Music, Yea ... More >>

TRS-80: Tron on Acid

Jay Rajeck founded TRS-80 in Chicago in 1997, and while the line-up and location have changed over the past 11 years, he's remained consistent in his delivery of relatively minimalistic, predominantly instrumental electronic music, which he often mixes with bizarre retro samples. The result is a s ... More >>

Silver Lake's CMH Label Strikes Gold With Two Oddball Ideas

Tabloid Takeover: L.A. Fashion Week's Celebrity Overdose

Is there a designer in the house?

Chills, Hills and (Cheap) Thrills

Catching the fashion bug takes on new meaning during flu season, or so we've discovered. The collections and presentations at Mercedes Benz fashion Week at Smashbox Studios the past few days have been fairly interesting, but nobody should have to cram into stuffy rooms filled with bitchy fashion fi ... More >>

The Magic of David Lee Roth's voice, naked

Attention producers: I defy any of you to listen to this vocal track of David Lee Roth singing "Runnin' With the Devil" and not stumble across some sample-worthy snippet. Holy Toledo think of the remixes! The mashups! Those grunts are golden! (courtesy Chunklet) photo by Randall Roberts

Lights and Flash

Room with a groove; "White Lines" blow your way; stars and artists Zero in

Bookworm in a Tequila Bottle: 2007's Most Intriguing Music Books

Oh, those bed-wetting, penis-injecting, 43-person gangbang days of yore

Van Halen: Reunited (and It Feels So Good)

Van Halen at Staples Center, November 20

Van Halen, Staples Center, November 20

Van Halen Staples Center, November 20 By Randall Roberts Jack and Coke? Check. Bic lighter? You know it. Rocker passed out on sidewalk, girlfriend exasperated, before the show? There were a few of them here. This is Van Halen, after all, and them up there is Diamond David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Ha ... More >>

Rock Picks: Puffy AmiYumi, the Dickies, the B-52's, Fear, Van Halen

For the week of November 16 - 22

A Diamond Is Forever

Van Halen to Play LA in November

Which Van Halen? The Diamond-Dave fronted VH, of course. The band is slated to play the Staples Center on November 20. As previously speculated, the band will consist of Eddie, David Lee Roth and Alex Van Halen. Michael Anthony will not re-join the band for the tour and bass duties will fall to ... More >>

Squared Roots

Neo Meze

Freedom's Just Another Word for Arty Videos, the Doors and Sippy Cups

What to do in Los Angeles this week

Tête Offensive

One brainy farce and an angry debate

Things That Go Pomp In the Night

The Darkness' new bohemian rhapsodies

Art and Struggle . . .

. . . but mainly nutso debauch with David Lee Roth

Lizard Queens and Amazing Things

Time, Please

Kim Gardner, 1948–2001

Tick, Tick . . . Kablooey!

15 Minutes and Company Man

Neighborhood Bars & Nightclubs

Minstrels at the Crossroads

To live and love the blues