By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
March 28, 1994
“I use the same judgment at my shows as I do when I go out on a date for the first time,” said David Lee Roth. “I ask myself, `Would I still be here if I was blind?’ And the answer always is yes. I look out there and see these kids having a great time, and I know I’m in a great business.”
Roth challenges kids to put his blind theory to a test. Those of you with tickets to his sold-out concert Friday night at Metro: Close your eyes for a couple of songs and see if you like what you’re hearing without seeing the man behind the mouth.
“You won’t get your money back if you don’t like it,” Roth said, laughing. “But I think people at my shows enjoy themselves no matter what because they see I’m having a great time.”
Roth, 39, laughed throughout most of this interview – not at anything in particular. Just at life in general.
It doesn’t seem possible 10 years have passed since Roth quit Van Halen after recording “1984” to pursue a solo career. Critics predicted the group would suffer from Roth’s departure, but the hard rock band has fared quite well with Sammy Hagar as its singer. Last year, Van Halen filled enordomes on U.S. tours. Roth, on the other hand, is playing smallish clubs.
“It ain’t the size that makes the ride,” he said, taking the title of his latest CD “Your Filthy Little Mouth” to heart. “I’m just happy to be here after 20 years of doing this. This is a business where you’re here today and gone later today. So I’m not knocking anything.”
Garrulous and funny, Roth said he understands “mass produced nonconformity.”
“There is a great deal of what I call audience dependency,” Roth said. “That is, when in search of a hero, an audience will find a musician that looks just like them. So if you take my blind theory, then you’re taking away some of the superficiality.”
These days, Roth looks less raunchy than he did during his Van Halen period, when he was known as much for his lion-maned ‘do and leopard skin Spandex pants as his trademark karate kicks and splits on stage. Sporting a neater haircut and less flamboyant clothes, Roth said he isn’t eager to return to his more hedonistic days.
“The ’80s were fun while they lasted,” he said. “But it’s not something I long for. It was an expendable time. Now and here is where the most challenge is for me. Now is where history will be made.”
He laughs.
“I’ve always been a gaijin,” said Roth, referring to the Japanese term for foreigners living in their country. “New Yorkers think I’m weird and people (in Los Angeles) don’t understand my jokes.”
Added Roth, who currently lives in New York, “I’ll take weird any day.
