David Lee Roth Takes Credit for “Structuring” the Guitar Solos on Van Halen’s First Album

We have a lot of love for David Lee Roth here at MetalSucks, and I think every DLR fan in the world is aware that the singer can be quite the, um, showman in interviews. But holy moly!, the Van Halen frontman’s latest claim seems almost designed piss off fans.

What happened is this: Roth was on the Missouri radio station KSHE 95 to discuss his upcoming Vegas residency (tickets). He was asked if he needed permission from his on-again-off-again bandmates to perform material from Van Halen’s eponymous 1978 debut. And Roth’s response was to take credit for the entire album… including, to an extent, Eddie Van Halen’s legendary guitar solos:

“No. I wrote the songs. I wrote every word you heard, every syllable, every melody. I structured out even the guitar solos on that first album.

“Why do you think the solos [later] changed so radically? I sang the solos for ‘Jamie’s Cryin” and ‘Runnin With the Devil’… I structured those songs. I designed the backgrounds on the stage. I came up with the album covers. I thought of the stripes on the guitar. I’m the one who said, ‘Call it Van Halen.’”

Uh… uh… like, this is kind of melting my brain. The solos on that album are the very definition of “legendary.” Eddie Van Halen changed rock guitar forever. So it takes balls the size of Alex Van Halen’s drum kit to take any credit for those solos. Shit, even just claiming “I thought of the stripes on the guitar” seems like gambling with your life. Those stripes are so freakin’ iconic, they make EVH guitar Christmas ornaments now. So this would be like Eddie saying it was his idea for DLR to never button up his shirt.

So are Roth’s claims true or, y’know, the aforementioned showmanship? There’s only one person I would trust to answer that question: Michael Anthony. All other versions of the band’s history are highly suspect IMO.

You can listen to the entire interview below.

[via Metal Addicts]