On a recent episode of The New Roth Show, Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth said that Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl’s voice sadly is not as iconic as The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger’s. Alternative Nation transcribed Roth’s comments.
Roth: I have probably twelve-thirteen songs that you would know instantly in 82 languages. Pretty erotic. Believe me, I have drank free and ate free once or twice and never asked for either one, I’m that guy. People can imitate me, we’ve discussed that but there’s only how many folks, singers, that you could go put down your Cerveza and go “okay, who is this? Okay, it’s Mick Jagger.” If you try and use Dave Grohl, I mean, I could do it because I’m a pro, I can recognize the musician from across the room but is there someone certifiable that you know what you’re gonna do? You’re gonna touch your toe, you’re gonna do the mile-wide smile – actually, I can get my smile and I did this with practice because I couldn’t originally do it of course. You have to work it like the contortionists at Cirque Soleil. I can get my smile to wrap all the way around my head.
During the same podcast, Roth discussed how he was once fired from a Las Vegas performance for delivering a racially insensitive joke to rock legend, Edgar Winter. Alternative Nation transcribed Roth’s comments.
Roth: We went to another hotel, I forget which, oh it was Bally’s. Another great one, at the time arguably the second biggest hotel in Vegas, consequently the Earth. I got fired for another joke. I was performing with Edgar Winter at the time, we are still close friends. That’s the saxophones on Just a Gigolo. He’s the one that orchestrated saying California Girls, it was an amazing session along with the David Letterman Band. This is the Paul Schaffer Band playing Just and Gigalo and California Girls and so forth. All these character people, an amazing arrangement was well done in one weekend. Edgar Winter, like his recently gone brother Johnny is albino and at the time, these are insensitive times concentric to now it’s probably not something that I would ever say but you know, I got a charge and I admit in full disclosure it’s probably insensitive by today’s criteria and standards.
