# David Lee Roth on Tonight Show

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-lee-roth-on-tonight-show/359713>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 7, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-lee-roth-on-tonight-show/359713 "2006-06-07T05:08:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-lee-roth-on-tonight-show/359713/21 "2006-06-08T02:26:47Z")

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[QUOTE=Hampshire]  
Somebody fill me in…

When and how did DLR get the rights to all those VanHalen songs?  
[/QUOTE]

Anybody can perform new versions of anybody’s songs at any time.

The only rights involved are about who gets the money in the end.

Now, I have no idea whether DLR could release the original versions himself, but that’s a totally different issue.

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**Author:** ![sleeping\_mud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58f4c7/32.png) [@sleeping\_mud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping_mud)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-lee-roth-on-tonight-show/359713/22 "2006-06-08T02:54:18Z")

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That “grin” could get him a plum role in any horror movie.

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**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-lee-roth-on-tonight-show/359713/23 "2006-06-08T06:43:37Z")

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[QUOTE=E-Sabbath]  
After listening to DLR on the radio in the morning, it is not that the man is fearless. It is that his ego is so large it has sat upon his fear and squashed it.

This is generally kickass in a rock and roll band, mind you.  
[/QUOTE]

After having worked with the man at a show,. I can verify the size of his ego.

We had to put a 5 foot barrier between the stage and the crowd just so the people in the front wouldn’t be smothered by it.

He’s funny on stage. Off stage he’s a prick.

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**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-lee-roth-on-tonight-show/359713/24 "2006-06-08T13:09:39Z")

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[QUOTE=BubbaDog]  
Just the other day some friends and I were saying that we just didn’t understand how Van Halen got away with recording “Jump” without the essential banjo part.  
[/QUOTE]

Waaaaay back when the VH version first came out, the local radio DJ (KLOL-101.1 FM Houston) had a thing about noting that all of Van Halen’s hits were covers. Of course, we all knew about the Kinks and Roy. But, to prove his point, all thru his shift he did a unique type of 2fer. Every Van Halen hit song he would play would be followed by the original (or much earlier anyways) version. _Jump_ surprised me. It was an old style, twangy as hell, C&W song! (Some might call that Bluegrass.) Anecdotal evidence, sure, and from over two decades ago, but that 2fer really stuck with me.

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