An Inconvenient Truth .... About David Lee Roth, Vol. 1

Whoa-oa-oa, hey you!
Who said that?
Baby, how you been?
You say you don't know-ow-ow
Won't know until it begins.

- Lyrics from Jump, off of Van Halen's 1984.

As a contributor to this blog, The Tricky Trail Times (or, "Hey it's a name until we think of somethng cooler than a six-year-old's game"), I will periodically explore one of the more complex, compelling, and yet somehow grossly misunderstood figures in pop culture history:

David Lee Roth

During Van Halen's heyday, Rolling Stone described David Lee Roth as, "the most obnoxious singer in human history, an achievement notable in the face of long tradition and heavy competition." Wikipedia similarly blasphemes with this remark: "[Roth's] often humorous and campy lyrics, were integral to Van Halen's sound."

To this I say: bullshit!

To understand David Lee Roth, the man, the philosopher, the embodiment of a generation's social consciousness, one must understand the incisive wisdom lain bare in his poetic lyrics. Moving forward, I plan to illuminate this wisdom. Stay tuned ...