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Summary: Legendary stories from rock's ultimate showman
Review: No band captured the spirit of the wild lifestyle of rock n' roll better than Van Halen, and David Lee Roth was the ringmaster of it all. The self-proclaimed "Toastmaster of the Immoral Majority" relives all those crazy years while in Van Halen, as well as the years before and after it, and tells it like only he can. Diamond Dave has always moved & talked 3 times faster than anyone else, and this book is a testament to his philosophy on life - live every day to the fullest and make it fun! I have already read it 3 times, and look forward to the 4th! I hope Dave takes time out of his "no rear-view" life and writes another great book. Long live Diamond Dave!!!
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Summary: The last of the great rock stars !!!
Review: A very funny and entertaining book ! The "DIAMOND ONE" (if you will),is a rock star true to form !!He rambles ,but its okay because he's Dave !!! The Van Halen war stories are the best !He should be a motivational speaker !!Great reading !
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Summary: THE BOOK IS WORTH THE EXPENSE
Review: David Lee Roth is probably the most talented frontman I have ever seen in concert. His music with Van Halen was absolutely classic, and they were better live than the Rolling Stones when Dave was their singer. This book is good, but describes some elements of the rock-n-roll profession (and Dave's personality) that I would have preferred to not know. I would have preferred a simple autobiography. If Dave had simply told "his story" I would have been satisfied. Instead, a good amount of it is dedicated to mud-slinging toward the Van Halen brothers. It is also geared toward "self defense" because Dave is Jewish and believes the world is out to get him. I almost wish he hadn't pursued that line of reasoning as far as he did. I'm sure not an anti-semite, but the stories Dave tells almost make anti-semites look like they have some grounds for what they say. For instance, Dave describes how he planned to upstage Aerosmith when Van Halen was opening for them. They were going to basically trample Aerosmith's show when the boys in Van Halen opened the concert. It wasn't a gesture of sabotage, but was designed to be pretty offensive toward Aerosmith. If they had been better MUSICALLY, then I would have no problem with it. But no, this was different, pretty offensive. It turns out Aerosmith found out about Dave's plan before the show. They didn't stop what he intended to do (although I'm sure they could have), but basically reminded the audience who the headliner was. No problem, right? Well, Dave was furious. The way he describes it in the book, it sounds like he was saying "How dare they [Aerosmith] NOT let me rip them off?!" He even says he never spoke to any of the guys in Aerosmith after that show! HO-kay, Dave... His efforts at explaining his career reflect a similar line of reasoning. He describes how he monitored every element of merchandising involved in Van Halen. I'm talking EVERYTHING: T-shirts, posters, you name it. He says the "programs" on sale at the VH concerts were "works of art." Well, I can testify that they weren't. They were about as attractive as 2-week-old newspapers, and were way overpriced. The T-shirts were overpriced too, and of terrible quality. The fact that Dave was in charge of all of that makes him look pretty bad. He says he didn't do all this merchandising to make more money, but says that since he did it he DESERVED the money. Okay... How about making more music, Dave? How about shutting up and just singing the songs? In the book, how about talking about what inspired the great music Van Halen made? Instead Dave talks about how many women he simultaneously "got physical with." Later in the book Dave cries about one of his guitar players getting Lou Gherig's disease. It was clearly a charity note: Meaning, by saying the guitar player was a genius, and how sad he was about the poor guy getting ill, he tries to make himself look like a nice guy. Let's freeze the frame here: First, the guitar player wasn't very good to begin with (just listen to the LITTLE AIN'T ENOUGH album!); Second, Dave's explanation seems so fake that you will believe his only "sense of loss" was about the MONEY he might have lost. Dave's character starts to show itself, and in spite of his tremendous abilities as a frontman he is basically a slimy jerk. In a way that's all right, though; Mick Jagger is too...! Basically, if you're a fan of classic Van Halen then you might like the book. You don't have to LIKE Dave to like his abilities as a frontman! Classic Van Halen rocks, and has never been the same since he left!
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Summary: An Inspiring book that should be read by all
Review: David Lee Roth is a Man's Man's Man. He really speaks from the heart and is for the most part honest in this autobiography. Ironically, he almost comes out as the Anti-Simmons if you have read Gene Simmons yarns of half-truths. I never expected Roth to be as literate and witty as he is in this book, which was edited down from a manuscript that was thousands of pages. In this book, he tells us about his Jewish upbriging, his early adventures with Rock and Roll and other culture, his (mis)adventures with Van Halen, as well as a lot of other personal stuff. It almost reads like a beatnik "on the road" type book, with his flair for language, and his witty tales. I never knew that he was an experienced mountain climber, a poet, and also a once aspiring movie director. Basically David Lee Roth has a zest for LIFE and this makes the book one of the most inspiring I've ever read.
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Summary: Messy
Review: Sometimes good, sometimes great but overall this book is VERY laid back and sort of half baked. Roth writes with a Zen persona - so some stories dont really head anywhere and some anecdotes fade out before they should.
Some of the time it works and certain chapters are funny, informative, and entertaining. Other times the Zen man doesn't deliver the goods.
Overall the book is a must read for fans of classic Van Halen and DLR because there really is nothing else out there. Unfortunately, there is very little insight to the Van Halen machine at he height of their success.
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Summary: This is one of my standard "beach" books
Review: It might seem like an odd choice, but "Crazy From the Heat" retains a permanant spot in my beach bag for one very simple reason: Diamond Dave understands island time.
The prose is VERY laid back: in fact, I strongly suspect someone gave Dave a list of topics, turned a tape recorder on, then simply transcribed the resulting stream-of-consciousness rambling that came forth.
There's very little slagging his former band here: In fact, I found Dave to be generally complimentary about the Brothers VH (and we can forgive a little dig here and there). And guess what? Legendary ego aside, Dave is the first one to admit that he doesn't have the greatest singing voice in the world; in fact, he says he sounds like four flat tires.
This book is part biography, part music industry commentary, part travelouge and part philosophical manifesto. The photos and captions are a hoot. There's some BS here and there -- I'm not sure I believe his rif about scrubbing stages late at night before a show (C'mon Dave... give us a break...) -- but all in all this is a fun, disarming, light-weight read. If you're From The Eighties, love music and travel, I'd say throw this one in your beach bag too.
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Summary: The last of the great rock stars !!!
Review: I LOVED THIS BOOK! I'm only 16 years old and I read this book a year ago it was the best book to know and learn what I did about Dave and the rest of the group. I loved how he let it all out and not just because of it being a biography but because it's how he really is, reading this book and then meeting him shortly after it I feel like I've known him all my life. I find it intriguing that Dave can match every predicament he was in and make you feel like you were right there with him in it. Anyone who isn't a David Lee Roth fan will shortly become one after they read this book. Bravo to Dave and Henry for writing such a mind captivating and fun filled book that I would recommend for any highschool reader!
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