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June 3, 2021 - The Joe Rogan Experience
03:01:34
Joe Rogan Experience #1660 - David Lee Roth
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Main voices
d
david lee roth
02:12:51
j
joe rogan
39:55
Appearances
Clips
j
jamie vernon
00:44
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Speaker Time Text
unidentified
Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out!
The Joe Rogan Experience.
Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day!
joe rogan
You handle aging better than anybody that I know.
You stay yourself, through thick and thin.
You are yourself.
david lee roth
Please explain self, son.
joe rogan
You are you.
You carry zero pretense.
You are just who you are.
And you're eccentric, but it is genuine.
david lee roth
I enjoy folks.
I enjoy entertaining folks.
I enjoy learning from folks, whether that's in a formatted kind of a thing or whether we're gathered around the campfire.
Or the occasional bong.
joe rogan
Yes.
david lee roth
The alleged bong.
That's something that most of us, I think, perhaps we're compelled to skip out on that once we leave school.
Once we leave the club level in showbiz, where we're confronted with all kinds of other neighborhoods of folks and different kinds of shoes and haircuts and music.
And approaches to the politic and social.
Once you're out of school, you kind of, okay, I joined the law firm.
Now I only go out with the law firm.
Folks have joined that country club.
Or you become a permanent below 14th Street downtown.
And I haven't been above 14th Street in four years.
You used to hear that, right?
joe rogan
Yeah.
david lee roth
So...
When you lose that, it becomes, gee, you want to stay part of that group.
You don't want to start speaking downtown around the law, boys.
I myself am a combat hippie.
Peace, love, and heavy weapons.
joe rogan
That's the thing about leaving clubs, right?
You leave clubs, you kind of leave contact with people, right?
david lee roth
You remember the quad, and it's just as important and perhaps more important going boo.
joe rogan
The quad?
david lee roth
Yeah, the quad at school.
There's a pep rally on the quad, at the quadrangle.
joe rogan
Okay.
david lee roth
Remember?
At the quadrangle.
You know, there's a pep rally on the quad.
It means a square place where everybody gathers for the rally.
And people, going to music school, going to art school, doesn't matter.
Folks frequently will come out, and Al Van Halen and I went to music school together, for example.
He says, say hello.
He's listening currently.
joe rogan
Say hello.
david lee roth
As we speak, Alex actually would punch you in the shoulder and go yo.
He was part of the busing program, too.
Yo.
unidentified
Yo!
david lee roth
However, I'm Jewish, so we would say, hello.
Shalom.
joe rogan
What's with the outfit, the painting outfit?
david lee roth
I like it.
This is kind of what I wear regular, okay?
If you get dressed up, nothing's going to make you look older than trying to look young.
Nothing's going to make you look fatter than trying to look skinny.
You want to see how I am regularly?
Elton John can't go anywhere without purple.
joe rogan
You can't?
david lee roth
No.
There are folks who can't go out anywhere without a complete hair setup and obtaining the character.
joe rogan
That seems exhausting.
david lee roth
It is.
I'm not really a character.
Most of my high fashion probably comes from a sports store.
It probably comes from a surplus place.
And on a show like this, you get a better view of who I actually might be.
Now, if I was putting on face, I wouldn't have showed up with a missing tooth.
I fell off my bike going zero miles an hour.
The seat was too high.
My leg was too short.
It was a deadly combination.
joe rogan
And you lost a tooth?
When did you lose a tooth?
david lee roth
But in the mixed martial arts context, I think it might be fitting.
joe rogan
Well, again, it fits with your lack of pretense.
Are you going to get it replaced?
david lee roth
Of course.
And I'm glad you asked.
joe rogan
How do they do that?
Like screw a bolt in there?
david lee roth
Yeah.
It is in Beverly Hills.
I am fortunate enough to have some great dentists who do what I call newscaster teeth.
joe rogan
Oh, nice.
david lee roth
Who sits closer to the camera for sustained periods of time.
It doesn't matter what news you watch.
I know we watch both.
And you study them.
So their teeth have to be perfect.
And I just saw a great show on Netflix called Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
It's the story of Ma Rainey, the blues singer, played by Viola Davis.
And she has teeth that look like she made a $15 visit to an uptown dentist in 1926. It's got a frame on it, you know?
Like a gold frame.
Mike Tyson had these teeth, too.
joe rogan
I remember.
david lee roth
And so it has taken me six months, but I'm getting a blues tooth.
joe rogan
Blues tooth.
david lee roth
Oh yeah.
I'm getting exactly one of those with the frame on it.
unidentified
Really?
joe rogan
Old school.
david lee roth
Oh yeah.
joe rogan
So a gold frame?
david lee roth
Mm-hmm.
1926. So that when I look in the mirror in the morning, I'm reminded.
unidentified
Wow.
Mm-hmm.
david lee roth
I've always wanted a gold tooth.
Think about that, right?
joe rogan
One gold tooth at least, that would be pretty dope.
david lee roth
Come on.
I just saw a picture of Mike Tyson when he was 20 years old, and he's got one tooth vision and the whole thing.
It really completes the look.
But for myself, it is blues.
I went to high school from 1926. It says so right down on the rock when it was just a trade school up in Altadena, California.
Every Van Halen song has a Motown chorus.
I saw to it conscious.
Everything that is usable in Van Halen appeals to, oh geez, every haircut you can imagine.
You can go from skinhead to dreadlocks.
Doesn't matter if you got a cowboy hat or a mohawk.
Doesn't matter if it's Hollywood, bouffant, okay?
These days, it's not just guys, gals, but in the middle as well, okay?
It translates to all.
You follow?
joe rogan
I do.
david lee roth
Sort of.
Well, it's a combination.
This is our 50th year, Alex and I. That's crazy.
Why is it crazy?
joe rogan
It's just amazing, you know?
Crazy in a wild and awesome way.
You know, the fact that you guys have been doing music for that long, I mean, that's pretty incredible.
david lee roth
We came out of this music three weeks out of high school graduation.
Okay?
Our parents were very insistent.
joe rogan
I feel like I'm watching a movie.
I've seen it all play out right now.
david lee roth
Yeah.
The Van Halens, their father, their mom said, you're moving out.
Okay?
They had jobs set up for them at the airport.
No shit, it's baggage handlers.
Okay?
I had been tossed out of my house by mom, mostly halfway through high school.
joe rogan
Halfway through high school, she said out?
david lee roth
Yeah.
joe rogan
What did you do?
david lee roth
Well, I made my way.
Ultimately, I moved in with dad, but I finished high school.
joe rogan
No, but what did you do that made her kick you out of the house?
david lee roth
I was a troublesome kid.
I was in and out of the busing program.
It was a wild and colorful time, all right?
This is the 60s, you follow.
And there was constant conflict in terms of where the Van Halens went to school, for example, as Pasadena High School.
It was 90% Caucasian, we'll call it, and other.
I went to the schools that were all black and Spanish-speaking.
So when I say, orale!
I mean it.
Al Van Halen owns a 1956 Bel Air Coupe.
Okay, with the slicks on the back.
joe rogan
Oh, now you're talking.
david lee roth
It's satirizing.
Okay, that's Pasadena High School.
I own a lowered 66 Volkswagen with a 383 Chevy engine in the front vocal.
It's like the balance that made our music colorful.
My moniker, Diamond Dave.
It comes from when I would go over to the Van Halen site, that's like Ridgemont High.
I went to, like, Cooley High, all right?
And their music was all Led Zeppelin, Stones, The Who, Sabbath, like this.
And starting at the seventh grade youth club dance for me, that was all Motown, which, you know, later my record collection was everything from Rick James and, you know, the funk.
I took Eddie Van Halen to his first black concert at the Forum.
I think it was the only one that he ever went to.
It was Earth, Wind, and Fire.
joe rogan
Whoa, you saw Earth, Wind, and Fire live?
david lee roth
1976, when all the hits lifted up.
Every famous Earth, Wind, and Fire like this.
Because I was gang-signing the whole alphabet from seventh grade on.
Come on.
We knew where to go get clip-on ties and see-through socks at A Meals.
When Alex Van Halen and I made our first lawsuit for $150 on somebody who welched on a check, we went to Emil's.
And we got clip-on ties, and we got proper socks, and we went out and sued them.
You follow?
joe rogan
You sued someone for $150?
david lee roth
Well, somebody said it was the—and I say it with respect—the Mayfield School, the Holy Child of Jesus, Incorporated, Joe.
And they said—and this was 1973— He said, according to the contract, that we had been smoking marijuana.
joe rogan
No.
david lee roth
I know I came to the right place, but save your amends.
As a fact, we did not.
That was not possible because we didn't have enough money for it.
We would have.
Full disclosure.
joe rogan
Full disclosure.
unidentified
Yep.
david lee roth
It's for $150.
So Al and I, and I know Al is listening right now.
We laugh like pirates on the phone.
Okay.
And he and I went to Emil's.
We got clip-on ties.
Okay.
And we went and we filed in the small claims.
Division.
All right?
We stood in there and the school showed up.
There were two nuns and a family.
A father, a mother, and two young daughters.
It was quintessential.
This is 1973. In these days, like for example, here in Texas with long hair, you better watch out over your shoulders.
A very, very different background.
Okay?
Now any kind of haircut goes these days.
But remember, long hair in 1973 in a court of law?
unidentified
Wow.
david lee roth
You were already on your back foot.
And we stood up, thought we were fooling the magistrate, he followed, with our long ponytails.
Remember what I used to look like, Joe?
I used to look like Tarzan, who read a few paperbacks.
Come on.
I was you, Joe.
joe rogan
Look at you, a nice guy.
david lee roth
Exactly!
And, you know, cheekbones for days, man.
You could sharpen a hunting knife on those cheekbones, huh?
joe rogan
Look at those cheeks.
david lee roth
That's right.
joe rogan
What a beautiful man you were.
david lee roth
There we go.
I was gorgeous.
joe rogan
Beautiful man.
david lee roth
Man, I launched a thousand hips.
joe rogan
When you look back on that life...
unidentified
No, no.
david lee roth
I'm not a sex symbol.
You dig?
I'm not a sex object.
It's, I symbolize it when you guys feel sexy.
I'm the MC. I make other people feel sexy.
You come and you listen to Van Halen music, you give me three songs, you're going to feel young and skinny.
You, Joe, will feel invincible, and your old lady will feel...
Eminently desirable.
How much is that worth?
It's inestimable.
joe rogan
You got some good marijuana, I'll tell you that.
When I walked in here, when I got to the studio, it was like the fog was thick in the building.
As I passed through, I'm like, Dave must be here.
david lee roth
I'm thinking of starting a brand.
joe rogan
Yeah?
A weed brand?
You should.
david lee roth
I would call it the shit that killed Elvis.
T-S-K-8.
What do you think?
joe rogan
It's a good move.
david lee roth
It's a good t-shirt.
unidentified
I would wear it.
joe rogan
I'll wear that t-shirt.
If you start that brand, I'll wear that t-shirt on the podcast.
david lee roth
Well, if I was going to do an acoustic guitar, you know, people in my position, they sell guitars, for example.
As a lead singer, what am I going to sell?
An acoustic guitar.
It would be, I thought about this, the loudest Acoustic guitar you ever bought.
Without being bigger.
joe rogan
How can it be louder?
david lee roth
I don't know.
I'm not an engineer, Joe.
I'm an artist.
joe rogan
You would just figure out a way to make it louder.
david lee roth
But the DLR, the DRO Special, would somehow be louder without being larger.
And if we were making a weed brand, why don't we just cut to the chase?
You know, it's like when we get stuff that makes us look good.
Do you really care about wellness?
No.
Do you really care that it was made from educated fava beans or that it can speak Spanish or make a damn good espresso?
No.
This ointment makes me look vaguely handsome.
So I'll put it on.
I don't care.
And so do Marlboro's.
They make me look handsome, too.
Do you have one?
joe rogan
Marlboro's?
Make you look handsome?
unidentified
Yeah!
david lee roth
That's how Marlboro made his living.
unidentified
Cause I'm a cowboy, baby!
david lee roth
You can tell from my cigarette.
And I can say that in 182 Marlboro languages.
joe rogan
Do you still smoke cigarettes?
david lee roth
Occasionally I do.
joe rogan
How often?
david lee roth
Every two days, perhaps?
joe rogan
Every two days?
david lee roth
That's right.
joe rogan
That flies in the face of the myth that you smoke them and you get hooked, right?
And then you have to smoke them constantly.
david lee roth
If anybody catches up with me, it'll probably be the Marlboro Man.
I can't imagine all of my heroes creating what they did in a smoke-free environment.
Really?
I can't imagine any of my favorite comics, especially the ones from the vinyl records that I grew up worshipping, okay?
How do you create that kind of comedy?
Whether it was Lenny Bruce or Rich Pryor or anybody in between, how do you create that in a smoke-free environment?
How do you create jazz music?
Remember all those Blue Note jazz album covers, and you might not even know what to call them, but if I hold it up, you go, oh, I've seen that a thousand times.
And that slow smoke.
Even the drummer has a cigarette in his mouth.
And the places in the movies when I was very, very young were all black and white.
And it was Humphrey Bogart and I think Ingmar Bergman or whoever it was.
I'm not even sure who it was, but she was gorgeous, and I was young, and I was just sort of getting started and tuned into the way, like just basically a teen.
And she turns to him with a cigarette and says, got a light?
And along with 20 million other baby boomers, I went, you bet.
And then later, when I was 13, we went and saw Goldfinger.
He smokes a cigarette named after a Roth.
That's Rothman king-size.
You bet I am, S.A. And I turned into Bones.
So James Bones.
joe rogan
What's the benefit of the cigarette?
What's the cigarette do?
david lee roth
Well, initially, cigarettes all posture.
It's all presentation.
It's all showbiz.
And especially for someone like myself who just the world's a stage and I'd appreciate some better lighting.
unidentified
It's a video.
david lee roth
Why stop now, Joe Rogan?
joe rogan
Yes, I get it.
david lee roth
And the cigarette would complete it because all of my heroes smoked.
Every cowboy.
When you heard the harmonica or whatever it was in Clint Eastwood, he was smoking something called a chair root.
And I didn't even know what that was, but I knew that I was doomed to actually try one sooner or later.
joe rogan
Yeah, he smoked those dark leaf cigarettes, right?
david lee roth
It's called a chair root.
joe rogan
Chair root?
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
That's what it's called?
david lee roth
Yes.
And that's just your adventure, heroes.
All my favorite comics smoke cigars.
I myself am a very indelicate house blend of a Kurosawa, Samurai Epic, and Groucho.
And how many times, I don't know if you've ever, I don't know you well, but any kid in my neighborhood growing up, at some point did this to a pretty girl with your eyebrows.
joe rogan
The Groucho Marx move.
Yeah.
You bet your life.
david lee roth
And pretended you had a cigar.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah.
david lee roth
And you all know what you weren't saying.
That was all about subtext at 11 years old.
joe rogan
But, okay, so there's the presentation of the cigarette, but what about the effects?
david lee roth
Oh, ultimately, certainly, certainly.
joe rogan
What's the positive benefits of the effects of the cigarette?
david lee roth
There are no positive benefits or effects of tobacco.
joe rogan
There's a cognitive benefit.
david lee roth
Oh, well now you're reaching for the cognitive instead of the medical.
I can't name you a single author.
You know I'm a bookman.
We were talking earlier about my house back in Pasadena.
You're welcome to come in and try and steal it.
All you're going to carry out are books.
There are probably 2,000 books I could fill this entire room with books, books, books, books.
I don't know any great author who wasn't involved in nicotine.
Mark Twain smoked 40 full Cuban cigarettes a day.
That's two full boxes a day.
joe rogan
That's insane.
david lee roth
Freud, same thing.
joe rogan
Churchill.
Same thing.
david lee roth
Churchill smoked at least a box.
That's 30. And a Churchill, if you know anything about cigars, that's as fat as a kickstand on a fat boy.
And nicotine will do something in your head, okay?
And this comes with full disclaimer of, kids, don't do this.
I'm not recommending you do it.
But in terms of, what do you really think?
You tell me what you think.
I think that in terms of authorship, where you really have to use your intellective, something like playing chess or writing a book or a play or novels or whatever, that nicotine has a major impact.
All of my favorite musicians who are composers, Leonard Bernstein, have you seen the coming attractions for...
West Side Story.
I myself am not a big Broadway fan, but it's mind-blowing what's going on with what he did with film for West Side Story.
And Leonard Bernstein was a chain smoker.
Don't tell me that that nicotine didn't have the same thing to do with what he's doing that William Burroughs and Kerouac did.
The fellas.
It's just a big part of it.
joe rogan
Stephen King talked about how when he quit, he had a real noticeable effect.
When he got off the cigarettes, it was much more difficult to write.
david lee roth
It's hard to adjust to this kind of a thinking sometimes because we got schnuckered or swindled.
We got swindled, Joe.
When it came to LSD. And people would start going, wow, you know, drugs can open up a whole lot.
And I know we have a far reach or your voice has a far reach.
And there are some people, you know, named Moonbeam or Snow Doggy going, dude, it had a really positive effect on me.
When you start to hear that now, you realize that perhaps psychedelia didn't have such a creative value, somewhat, perhaps, whatever.
But compared to whatever is go fast, I certainly don't recommend any of it.
joe rogan
Go fast?
david lee roth
Anything that makes you go fast.
joe rogan
Go fast.
david lee roth
Nicotine makes you go fast.
joe rogan
You're making me want a cigar.
Do you want one?
david lee roth
Go ahead, please.
joe rogan
Do you want one?
david lee roth
I'm fine.
But please, I'll enjoy yours.
I love the aroma of tobacco coming off of a cigar.
When you smell that with scotch on the rocks and a women's perfume drifting in on a warm breeze, you tell me that's not Miami?
You try to lie to me and I'm going to stop you right here on the air?
joe rogan
That's poetic.
You're talking poetry.
david lee roth
Right?
That's Hemingway, baby.
joe rogan
Women's perfume with the scotch.
Oh, my God.
david lee roth
Right?
And the smell of that rich cigar tobacco smoke, and it's humid, right?
You want to go modern?
Off in the distance.
She's got an accent.
No, really, you know that.
It's an aroma.
It's not a fragrance.
It's not a smell.
It's an aroma.
Like something that comes out of a kitchen when you smell bread being baked in New York City.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Sourdough.
david lee roth
You walk past that, and at my age, You get turned on by different things.
I was living in Japan.
And downstairs, they had a whole section of just wagyu beef, you know, that $50 an ounce kind of red meat.
I called it the porno section.
joe rogan
I don't really like that stuff.
david lee roth
Me neither.
joe rogan
I think it's too...
david lee roth
It's bad for you.
Porno?
joe rogan
It's too fatty.
No.
david lee roth
No, no, no, no.
It's bad for you, but...
Want to change the subject?
unidentified
No.
david lee roth
Oh, hell no.
You're in Texas.
We talk beef.
unidentified
No.
david lee roth
I eat red meat regularly.
I was raised in Indiana coming out of Newcastle.
You know the little circle picture, your profile picture?
It's a picture of a little kid.
That's me when I'm about four years old learning to tie my shoe.
This fellow with some bib overalls and these exact kind of boots.
Teaching me to do it in Newcastle, Indiana, right down the street.
So I grew up with what I fondly called white trash soul food, baby.
Everything was cheese.
Everything had butter on it.
Oh, there you go.
That's me.
Careful what you show your kids.
joe rogan
Look at that little cutie.
You were adorable.
david lee roth
Pop was in school until I was about 11, 12 years old at Indiana U. So, it's all about the outdoors.
What do you do when you have no money in the family?
You learn to play outdoors.
Go outdoors.
It's raining.
Pretend you're on a boat.
It's snowing.
Now you're in Eskimo.
And take your Eskimo sister with you.
unidentified
How many times did I hear that?
david lee roth
It's dusty and hot.
Okay, cowboy.
joe rogan
How did we get here from beef?
Didn't the beef supply get hijacked?
Didn't something happen today?
david lee roth
There was hacked.
Not hijacked.
joe rogan
Hacked?
david lee roth
Hacked.
joe rogan
How do they hack the beef supply?
unidentified
Someone's messing.
I mean, there's probably some hack.
jamie vernon
They did the pipeline for the gas the other day.
joe rogan
Is that what's going to happen every now and then now?
unidentified
Let me see.
joe rogan
They're going to do it with everything?
david lee roth
I imagine fully show.
unidentified
Ransomware?
david lee roth
Fully show.
joe rogan
Cyber attack meat supply.
jamie vernon
JBS cyber attack shuts down some slaughterhouses.
joe rogan
With their software or something?
Yeah.
david lee roth
Russia likely behind, but I don't know.
Everything is software.
Every machine, even the parking meter.
What would happen?
I mean, I'm a homemade seal teamer.
I've watched a lot of movies on Netflix.
Here's the plan.
Okay.
And you'll be the cellos.
Hit the cellos when I go, this may sound crazy, Joe.
joe rogan
Boom, boom.
david lee roth
But crazy is all we got.
I think all we have to do, all we gotta do, is take that little bar on the parking thing and break it so it don't open.
Nobody will know what to do.
Watch what'll happen.
If you just jam the thing on the little wooden arm at the parking entrance of any parking lot of a corporate environment...
joe rogan
Right.
No one will know what to do.
david lee roth
Nobody will know what to do.
They'll all get on their smartphones and you'll be able to completely stop up the traffic entirely.
joe rogan
Right.
david lee roth
So how hard is it for some computer...
To slow down the machines that are working inside, the mathematics of what your bookkeeping is, everything from the lights.
And remember, AI knows how to defend itself.
It's as simple as you've entered the perimeter.
joe rogan
That's dangerous.
david lee roth
Yes.
joe rogan
That's the future.
david lee roth
Exactly.
You'll teach it to defend itself.
joe rogan
And you teach it to decide that it wants to take over because it doesn't want you pulling plugs and shutting off switches.
david lee roth
Exactly.
joe rogan
I don't like these humans.
david lee roth
And it will say, I'm simply defending myself.
That's pretty familiar in the news.
joe rogan
You were talking about AI before, like when we're sitting down out there, about self-learning.
david lee roth
Yes.
AlphaGo, look this up over there.
The AlphaGo project is, Jesus, I think $60 million went into this.
It's a familiar.
Go being a super difficult game.
You'll know it from a computer game.
I'm not familiar with the name of it.
The word Atari.
It comes from this.
You have some pieces.
I try to surround yours before you surround mine.
joe rogan
I don't know the game, but...
david lee roth
A child can play it within 30 minutes.
joe rogan
But it's super complicated, right?
david lee roth
And you can take it all the way up to adult level.
Instead of the number of stripes we'll call them, like chess, you have 19 by 19, etc.
Look at this.
joe rogan
It says, "As simple as the rules may seem, go as profoundly complex, there are an astonishing 10 to the power of 170 possible board configurations, more than the number of atoms in the known universe." Okay, so how do you bundle this in your brain?
david lee roth
You can do it, but we have to train your intuition.
And that's the only way you're going to beat AI. Look at this.
joe rogan
This makes the game of Go a Google Times more complex than chess.
david lee roth
Okay, now AI, Go, AlphaGo, the program, they expected it with no input from human beings to teach itself.
Let's just give it the rules and see if it'll teach itself up to adult level.
We think it'll take two and a half, three years.
It took two weeks.
joe rogan
Jesus.
david lee roth
All the way up to tournament level.
So just to be wiseasses, and I'm jumping around, but I encourage you all to dig into this.
This is a national sport in Korea.
This makes headlines.
The Samsung Cup champions in his late 20s and gets half a million dollars.
China.
Launched their champion against AlphaGo, and when the computers started winning, they shut down all national broadcast.
It's a national sport.
The way chess might be the national sport of, Jesus, in the 60s, it was America versus Russia.
There might be British champions in chess.
My point being, AI can defend itself.
If we humans know how, then of course AI, and it can learn way faster.
What you learn from that game is how deeply into your brain you can bundle up.
You can deal with millions and millions.
There was a time in club days when all I could imagine was $150.
Do you follow?
joe rogan
That's the number.
david lee roth
I can't imagine much more.
joe rogan
That was a good road gig.
david lee roth
They said, hey, you can make $1,500 doing this.
I can't imagine.
joe rogan
Crazy.
What are you doing at all?
david lee roth
I'm so used to putting everything in the gas tank.
And then you have the musician's menu.
I'm sure it's like the humorist menu.
It's this.
No matter where you go, here's the menu.
And you push the coins around and go, how much you got, Joe?
Okay, we'll have the large.
unidentified
Right? - Preach!
david lee roth
Whatever here is left over from not putting it in the gas tank.
joe rogan
Those days are important to connect to though, right?
Don't you think that it's important to stay in touch with the feeling that you had when you were starting out and you were trying to scrap together all that money and scrape together all that money to buy food?
david lee roth
Without that, there is no struggle.
Without that struggle, you have to learn fear.
And you have to learn how you adjust to that fear.
Okay?
I don't care if you're a Spartan Knight or the Jamaican bobsled team.
And don't laugh at the last one, because they flipped their sled at 100 miles an hour.
And they are the champions!
Of the Calgary Olympics, the Jamaican bobsled team operated exactly like the Spartans did.
How do you survive fear?
That's what you'll be in your humor.
That's what you'll be in your show.
You laugh to win.
It can be salty back at you humor.
How do you survive barracks life?
How do you survive no food for how long when you were just struggling as a comic?
Remember when you got through points and you thought, I don't even know if I can continue this.
I really don't.
When that dark dog comes up at night and says, you're going to fail, you are never going to make it.
How'd you get through that?
You gave him what's called a Texas hanky.
Out this side!
And that's Spartan humor, homie.
Now let's push that sled.
Hottest thing on ice.
The same thing, laugh to win, I call it.
Laugh to win.
You have to develop that through struggle.
We played five 45-minute sets a night.
Five 45-minute sets a night, sometimes up to nine nights in a row.
Al, I know you're listening to this and you are laughing.
That's how this one went too, right?
And you had to learn to laugh at it.
And then you had to learn to laugh at each other and find the resource when you wanted to quit or die or just die.
And no matter what, you had to learn laugh to win.
Now, whether you're a surgeon doing night shift, Struggling, whether you're a combat veteran, mixed martial arts, you better learn how to laugh to win.
You dig?
Because if you start to giggle, then come in, oh my god, cry, baby.
Well, now you're a politician.
joe rogan
How do you hold on to that, though, when you become a big rock star?
Like once you're already sleeping on satin sheets or silk?
Yeah.
david lee roth
Slide off of them satin sheets.
Now that's a Johnny Paycheck song.
We're in Austin right now, Joe.
joe rogan
Silk sheets is the...
david lee roth
You want me to sing it?
unidentified
Slide off of them satin sheets.
david lee roth
It's on Take This Job and Shove It, same album.
But let's stay focused.
joe rogan
How do you keep that feeling?
Because you have to stay grounded, right?
And you're very grounded.
Like we were talking before the podcast said, you ride your bike everywhere.
Oh.
david lee roth
I do.
And I have three different backpacks, depending on where I'm going to go, because I traded it.
You know, if I got to go to the grocery, that's the bigger backpack.
joe rogan
But you do all this stuff yourself.
You handle everything yourself.
You're very normal.
You're not normal.
david lee roth
It's not an insult joke.
joe rogan
You're like a regular person.
david lee roth
I don't mean...
joe rogan
You're very eccentric, so you're not normal.
I mean, try find another David Lee Roth.
But you just go out there and go on these little adventures.
I'm sure you get baked to the gills, and then you go to the grocery store or something.
david lee roth
Okay.
Adventure means the unpredictable finish.
Grocery store, for me, is very predictable.
joe rogan
Yeah, depending on how high you are.
david lee roth
Do you hear the Texas accent?
It's just sliding right in there.
Accents are music.
Nobody's born with an accent.
joe rogan
I know.
david lee roth
What are you trying to say to me, loco?
No, you don't have a palatal difference.
If I was going to meet Prince Harry and Meghan, I'd give him some salty humor.
I'd go, oh, what a wonderful child.
unidentified
I certainly hope he was born with a proper accent.
Yeah.
david lee roth
Can you imagine if that kid got to be king and he'd sound like a California beach boy from Santa Barbara?
Dude, you are so voked.
joe rogan
Voked?
david lee roth
Revoked.
joe rogan
Is that the opposite of woke?
david lee roth
Dude, I so hereby voke you.
joe rogan
Wow.
david lee roth
I haven't been to Santa Barbara recently.
joe rogan
I think they just have no accent.
Santa Barbara, they just talk normal.
david lee roth
No, no.
There is an accent that you're not familiar with.
joe rogan
I'm not picking it up.
david lee roth
Because you speak it.
joe rogan
It's like a dog whistle.
You know, like you can't hear it, but the dogs can.
david lee roth
We grew up around it.
We're California enough that y'all don't hear it.
They say something about livestock, same kind and same mind.
joe rogan
So if you hear someone, you can say, oh, you're from Santa Barbara?
david lee roth
No, California.
There is a California vowel-speak kind of a beach.
joe rogan
A little vowel-speak, yeah.
david lee roth
Whatever.
Well, that sounded like Taylor Swift, who's sounding like Cal-speak.
joe rogan
There's a little bit of that going on.
david lee roth
Yeah.
And it's something that you learn.
And it's something that we speak.
What was our original subject?
unidentified
Who cares?
joe rogan
I think we're talking about the sound of the rhythm of accents.
It is fascinating that they get grouped up in certain areas.
david lee roth
Hold on a second.
You wouldn't know that unless you had golden time when you were traveling.
joe rogan
Yeah.
david lee roth
In the clubs, in the bars, and the struggle...
Isn't just to make it.
It's to educate yourself and figure out who you are and who you aren't.
Today, we use Reality Series for that.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's not as good.
The road is the way, right?
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
And you're going to figure out from working with all of your other colleagues who you aren't, mostly.
Because most of it's going to be, I'll never do that.
Oh, God, I'll never wear those shoes.
What was he thinking?
Oh, shit.
Aren't you embarrassed?
And you will decide yourself.
The same as when we watch the Kardashians.
joe rogan
The Kardashians?
unidentified
Oh yeah.
david lee roth
You figure out who you are.
It's not about them.
joe rogan
Oh.
david lee roth
You watch and you go, okay, I'd sleep with her but not her.
joe rogan
There's wisdom in this.
david lee roth
Okay, but this guy here, he's making a big mistake.
He's drinking too much.
unidentified
Mmm.
david lee roth
Ah, that one, that guy's onto a good idea.
And you're figuring out who you are.
joe rogan
Right, how you would be on that show.
david lee roth
Oh, who you are as a human being.
That's a cool haircut.
You gotta be crazy to wear that one, though.
And we do this on reality.
As the decisions show up, you figure out who you are.
The hut, the hut, the hut is on fire.
Well, I'd go for the extinguisher.
And you wait to see what the hero does.
joe rogan
My wife watches that show when she's on the Stairmaster.
david lee roth
Which one?
joe rogan
The Kardashian show.
And I watch it, and I try to study it like a scientist.
david lee roth
Well, it is an essay on what we value in public, but it's who you are.
That's what it's for.
We used to use the Bible for that.
You would look at different characters in the Bible and you go, now that's me.
joe rogan
The Kardashians of the Bible.
david lee roth
Oh yeah.
And you would look at another character in the Kardashians and you go, yo dawg, y'all gonna be a pillar of salt by morning.
joe rogan
What I think it does is it locks you into a watching mindset because first of all it's brilliantly edited.
They understand the rhythm of your attention span.
And they capture the rhythm by constantly changing scenes and constantly changing cameras and going back and forth.
And you just get...
You get locked into the drone.
And you just watch these people live their lives.
And very few extraordinary things happen, but many above ordinary things happen.
They have very nice things.
They have beautiful homes.
They're very pretty.
But they have petty problems that confuse you.
unidentified
Hold on.
david lee roth
So it's a question.
joe rogan
Right.
david lee roth
You compel a question here, Joe.
We hear it's Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
There's an element of that.
unidentified
Champagne wishes and caviar dreams.
david lee roth
Austin, Texas.
joe rogan
The lifestyles of the rich and famous.
david lee roth
Okay.
So is that going out of style or is that becoming more popular?
Is that because, you know, we are a very highly valued culture now.
We love to have public, you know, we love to assign ourselves of our values, whether it's social, whether it's political, etc.
And the idea of even, you know, it's You make fun of lifestyles of the rich and famous, but I'm gonna wonder if it's even secretly more popular than ever before and just not cool to talk about in public.
joe rogan
You mean balling out of control?
david lee roth
Well, for example, in the hip-hop world, Bling brings it.
joe rogan
Yeah, hip-hop worlds never lost their love of beautiful things.
david lee roth
Bingo!
And I see that there is China Bling or Asian Bling, I say with respect, that's in Beverly Hills.
This is a reality series, and the folks are primarily Chinese, and it is their version.
joe rogan
There's a show called Asian Bling?
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
Do you know about that?
david lee roth
Look that up.
They're out of Beverly Hills.
joe rogan
Is it like Crazy Rich Asians?
david lee roth
That kind of vibe?
Yeah, exactly.
The pivotal character is a billionaire fella.
He's a very sympathetic character from Singapore.
And everybody there is in Beverly Hills.
You'll recognize all the street corners and ice cream store bingo.
joe rogan
Bling Empire on Netflix.
Okay, follow LA's wildly wealthy Asian and Asian American fun seekers as they go all out with fabulous parties, glamour, and drama.
david lee roth
This is like when you guys talk about boxers.
You can flip the channel, and it's the same description for every boxer.
joe rogan
Scroll back up again?
david lee roth
Mexican boxers are fierce and strong and feisty.
You know, Italian boxers are a strong and feisty...
You know, Joe, South Pacific boxers, they're a strong...
joe rogan
I don't follow you.
david lee roth
It's the same resume.
unidentified
Same thing?
joe rogan
So the Bling Empire is the same, whether it's with rappers, with...
david lee roth
It's identical.
And if you're lucky enough to move out of the country for a while, you'll start seeing programs.
When I was in Japan, you'll see Indonesian reality series, you'll see Korean reality series, and Half the time you're not even aware literally what they're saying, but you can figure it out exactly.
And it is a warship of the bling that I think I'm going to wonder if America is just learning to hide it.
Or if there's an actual change, what do you think?
joe rogan
I think there's an actual change.
I think people are less fascinated by materialism now than they have been in the past.
I think there's also an oversaturation of wealthy people posing in front of private jets, you know, that kind of shit.
I think people are done with that.
But not in the rap world!
The rap world knows how to ride.
They know how to ride.
They keep it exactly the same.
It's all about blings.
david lee roth
It is right out front.
joe rogan
Grills.
david lee roth
I subscribe to a couple of boat magazines.
I don't own a boat.
I own a kayak.
I subscribe to Wooden Boat, which is all- Wooden Boat Magazine?
Yes.
joe rogan
Are you thinking about getting a wooden boat or are you just looking at them?
david lee roth
Oh, no.
I grew up in canoes and kayaks and wooden oars and this kind of a thing.
And it's also, you know, the culture of it.
It's East Coast, Mystic Seaport and et cetera, et cetera.
Dial this one up.
I also subscribe to boat, B-O-A-T, and there is nothing in there less than 200 feet deep.
joe rogan
200 foot boat?
david lee roth
There are boats that are as big as a football field.
They're like floating apartment buildings.
And if you want to know the latest, for example, in onboard digital...
joe rogan
Live the dream.
david lee roth
Well, unfortunately, or fortunately...
joe rogan
106 meter, 106 meter, 300 fucking boat.
david lee roth
Can you imagine?
joe rogan
Imagine just...
What if you just decided to live in one of them?
Like, fuck living in a place.
david lee roth
Wait a minute.
Can you imagine parking one?
joe rogan
Well, you wouldn't park it.
You would hire a professional.
david lee roth
I want to back one up.
unidentified
Yeah, I know.
joe rogan
You would hire a professional.
david lee roth
Yeah, you see the tender, the little boat that goes with that is two and a half million dollars.
It looks like a shoe.
joe rogan
That motherfucker has a helicopter on the top of his boat.
That's balling.
david lee roth
However, there's another side to this.
And I didn't do notes, so I'm kind of sprawling here.
For example, the upside...
joe rogan
Wait a minute, you don't have notes for any of the things you've said so far?
david lee roth
No, I have nothing.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
david lee roth
I who have nothing.
Ray Dalio's son.
He's, I guess, in his early 30s, it looks like, somewhere in there.
And it's Explorer X. He took a gigantic ship that is now for where Costeau has left off.
And with submersible submarines and full editing facilities for film.
And it's all about climate change and save the ocean.
Oceanexplorer.org, I think it might be.
He got his data board.
It looks like a billion-dollar ship.
It's as big as a football field, and it's all about saving the ocean and traveling, etc.
unidentified
Whoa.
david lee roth
There you go.
And so this is the upside of...
joe rogan
Wait a minute.
That thing goes underwater?
david lee roth
Oh, no.
It contains the thing that goes underwater.
joe rogan
But it looks like it goes underwater.
david lee roth
You want to do a show from there?
You should do a show from there.
They have full broadcasting facilities, full editing facilities, full everything.
And you can do a submersible.
And you can call me on the phone.
joe rogan
Should we start doing yacht shows?
david lee roth
There you go, Joe.
Show him the whole boat.
Tell me that doesn't look like mixed martial arts sailing to you.
joe rogan
The boat?
Yeah.
That looks like a lot of work.
david lee roth
It goes with the shoes, I'm telling you.
unidentified
It goes with the shoes.
david lee roth
Poetry.
joe rogan
So that's only for conservation.
That entire boat is all for work.
david lee roth
And that's what you'll find in a magazine-like boat.
joe rogan
Oh, I see.
So that's why.
david lee roth
Yeah.
joe rogan
So Ocean X. Yep.
So like SpaceX, but Ocean X. They're going to be the first to find the aliens.
That's what I think.
david lee roth
I want to be the first front man to get into one of those submersibles.
joe rogan
Why don't you become homies with James Cameron?
david lee roth
He's on that boat right now, Eddie.
joe rogan
Just don't tell him you eat meat.
Don't tell him you eat meat and get with him.
david lee roth
Where are you at with vegetarian?
Are you still eating reindeer?
joe rogan
I still eat reindeer.
Okay.
unidentified
I don't want to insult Christmas here.
joe rogan
I'm more of an elk guy, but I like all wild game.
I like healthy animals.
david lee roth
I had reindeer, I think it was in Norway or something, and I had a religious moment.
unidentified
It's supposed to be delicious.
david lee roth
Like Santa Claus, Catholic, something.
The first time I pulled the trigger on a rifle was in Newcastle, Indiana, and I was about six years old.
joe rogan
Really?
david lee roth
Yeah.
As soon as you're old enough to carry it.
That's when you start.
It was a short-lived career.
My pop said, you're the son of a doctor.
You don't shoot it.
Learn to cook it.
So I've taken a few classes.
unidentified
In cooking?
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
You can go ahead and get it, and I know how to quarter it, and I know how to do camp cooking and so forth.
You asked me, where does Laugh to Win stay from?
joe rogan
Laugh to Win stay from?
david lee roth
Where does Laugh to Win, that's the ethic here.
How do you stay?
joe rogan
Right, right, right.
How do you stay hungry?
david lee roth
Where does laugh to win stay from?
Not come from.
It comes from go and try something new.
It doesn't have to be epic.
For me, it's always been education because I've become friends with my teachers and my instructors and my mentors.
joe rogan
Right, like your kendo training and all that.
david lee roth
Because from there, you're going to be hungry.
joe rogan
It's one of my favorite stories.
When you move to Japan just to learn kendo, I'm like, that's a bad motherfucker.
Just decides to go to Japan, brings his dog, learns kendo, and takes kendo four nights a week.
david lee roth
My dog was the best icebreaker ever.
He was a full Australian with a raccoon tail.
So you never see a 50-pound dog in Japan or whatever.
You don't?
No, you see little pocket rockets.
You got little ankle biters, lots and lots of those.
But this looked like a wolf.
People would ask me, is that a wolf?
And I would answer, no, I am.
unidentified
Russ!
david lee roth
And Russ got along with everybody.
joe rogan
How long did you live in Japan for?
david lee roth
Two years.
I based out of there.
I took my dog and my guitar.
I did not know a single word of Japanese.
joe rogan
You just went out there.
You didn't know anybody or anything, right?
unidentified
No.
david lee roth
I didn't know where I was going to go.
And you know where I wound up?
In the Oakwood Garden Apartments.
joe rogan
Ah, they have Oakwoods in Japan?
david lee roth
Are you joking?
unidentified
Yes!
david lee roth
Exactly like the first tour with Van Halen, right, over on Barham.
joe rogan
Want some coffee?
david lee roth
Please.
And from there, my first day traveling through the lobby, this fella's sitting there and I'm not out of line to say, Joe, great to see you again.
joe rogan
Great to see you, sir.
david lee roth
Thanks for calling.
joe rogan
My pleasure.
I'm very excited when you decide to come here.
Last time I saw you, we had dinner together in Vegas.
For people who don't know, David Lee Roth doesn't have a phone.
He has a handler.
You have to contact the handler.
The handler will arrange, pick up and drop off of Mr. Roth.
If there's any problems, you are to contact the handler and the handler will take care of everything.
Mr. Roth has no email.
david lee roth
How many rock stars does it take to put in a light bulb?
One, I hold the bulb and expect the world to revolve around me.
Rock stars don't wear a wristwatch, Joe.
We have somebody way smarter than us go, 10 minutes, Mr. Raw.
joe rogan
Rappers wear some dope wristwatch, though.
Rappers know how to fucking rock a watch.
unidentified
Hello.
joe rogan
Yeah.
david lee roth
So I'm walking through the lobby in Japan, and I'm not out of line to say there is a huge person sitting in a very special chair that was not in that lobby when I left.
joe rogan
So they brought their own chair?
david lee roth
Yeah.
They have a special chair for him.
joe rogan
Oh.
david lee roth
And this was the most famous, arguably most famous, sumotori, rikishi wrestler in the history of sumo, who happens to also be Hawaiian.
unidentified
Oh.
david lee roth
This was Konishiki.
joe rogan
Oh, I know who that guy is.
david lee roth
He's enormous.
unidentified
Konishiki.
david lee roth
You pronounce it Konishiki.
Konishiki.
He was the man, right?
Huh?
joe rogan
He was the man.
david lee roth
Oh, big.
He won 27 national tournaments in a row and caused quite a calamity.
joe rogan
Jesus Christ, look at that picture.
Oh my God, he's huge.
david lee roth
As I walk through, he stops me, and he puts his hand up, and he's got two handlers.
Can you see me if I stand up?
Do you have a camera that'll hit me up if I stand up like this?
I'm on the camera here.
He's got two handlers in white jumpsuits who do like this.
They're not looking.
They're in abeyance.
joe rogan
They're just constantly bowing?
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
Because he can't get up.
He's, at that point, was about 350 pounds.
joe rogan
That's it?
david lee roth
So getting up there.
joe rogan
He looks a lot bigger than that.
david lee roth
Whoa, no, his fighting weight was 600 pounds.
joe rogan
Oh, okay.
So he dropped some weight.
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
And he was retired when I met him.
joe rogan
650 pounds?
david lee roth
600 pounds.
joe rogan
600. Yes.
david lee roth
I asked him once, what was it like trying to fight you?
You want me to do it with the Hawaiian accent?
joe rogan
Sure.
unidentified
Bro.
david lee roth
It was like they were trying to fight a mattress.
He was the sweetest, coolest, calmest guy.
unidentified
And he said, I'll be your senpai.
david lee roth
You're going to need a guide here, bro.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
And right away, you're going to need a veterinarian.
Right?
Right away, you're going to need a doctor for the shoulder, my other shoulder, not the one you have.
joe rogan
You got a shoulder issue?
david lee roth
Right in LA. You're doing kendo and you're doing jiu-jitsu.
You're going to need a dentist.
And he was right.
I'll be your guide and stuff.
He took me to the sumo tournaments.
unidentified
Wow.
david lee roth
And he was like national hero.
That was like Springsteen showing up at a bar in Jersey.
unidentified
Wow.
david lee roth
Talk about parting of the ways.
And we got, I don't know, I'll say it, coarse because it's funny sounding.
I don't know how many white boys have ever sat in a sumo barracks at the table with all the trainees.
Wow, what an honor.
That just clearly is not done.
Yeah.
Coming from an arts background as artist and martial arts.
unidentified
Right.
david lee roth
I'm a lifer.
You can tell.
joe rogan
But you trained under Benny Arquitos, right?
david lee roth
Yeah, you bet.
joe rogan
Benny the Jet.
david lee roth
My first real, real time learning the armbar was in...
I remember...
1983. Wow!
On the floor of the Judd Center.
unidentified
Really?
david lee roth
Yeah, I remember.
joe rogan
They were doing arm bars.
Look at that!
Look at this!
You and him, man.
unidentified
That's amazing.
david lee roth
And we are at these sumo tournaments right now.
joe rogan
When was the year?
2013. Wow.
david lee roth
And that is the same building where we play rock and roll, but they take out All of the chairs and so forth.
And he is a national champion, all right?
It's like an ex-president.
joe rogan
This is awesome.
david lee roth
And we started talking, etc.
And he's the one who explained to me virtually everything that you see here.
These guys are doing judo with each other and using the impact.
It's like taking the frontline guys, your defensive tackle versus defensive tackle.
joe rogan
That guy on the left is, sorry to interrupt, but that guy on the left is a European.
david lee roth
That's right.
joe rogan
Look at the size of that motherfucker.
david lee roth
Jesus Christ.
Don't think of it as a belt.
That's a handle.
That is there that if one of those guys, watch, they're going to try and grab that handle because if he can get hold of it, you could throw his ass out of that circle.
That's what they're trying to deflect there.
One of those 400-pounders gets hold of that belt.
See it?
See it?
joe rogan
Oh, beautiful.
david lee roth
If he grabs that belt, you're done.
And there are famous guys who had the left hand grab.
joe rogan
See, the guy on the left does not look like a regular sumo guy.
He looks like a fucking gorilla.
He's a tank.
david lee roth
They all come in.
joe rogan
Back up to where that guy was?
That guy looks like a wrestler-wrestler.
david lee roth
Okay, Joe.
joe rogan
Doesn't he?
david lee roth
Joe, let's call the fight together.
You're looking at big barrel bombs on the right.
You're talking about the kind of face-changing knuckle-to-knuckle impact on the right.
joe rogan
Yeah, the guy on the right looks like...
david lee roth
The one on the left moves like a mosquito on the water.
He pivots.
He's going to use judo maneuvers.
He's twice as fast.
He's three times as quick on his feet.
He's sprawling.
You know what the sprawl is, Joe?
And the big boy is stymied.
He has stalled.
joe rogan
He gets close there at the edge.
david lee roth
Look how fast he's moving.
See ya!
See ya!
I'll see you in three endorsements.
joe rogan
I always wondered, like, why they have...
david lee roth
See how that's working?
joe rogan
I do.
david lee roth
Okay, now they're allowed to smack each other in the face.
joe rogan
Oh, they are?
david lee roth
With the full hand.
joe rogan
Really?
david lee roth
Okay, oh yeah.
joe rogan
Like a strike?
david lee roth
Yep, a strike into the throat.
They can punch, smack your ears, and they'll spend hundreds of hours working the pole.
joe rogan
Just smack him?
Really?
david lee roth
Like this.
As long as it's not closed fist.
So some guys are going to work your face.
Others are going to take it in the face in order to grab that belt.
See how he's trying to grab that belt?
As soon as he grabs that leverage, you can throw him out like an oil can.
joe rogan
And this is a very old sport, right?
Like how long has...
david lee roth
2,000 years.
joe rogan
Oh my God.
david lee roth
This is rich guys going, I have the biggest, baddest front man in the infantry.
joe rogan
Oh, that's what it is.
david lee roth
And you're going, no, no, no, no.
You see my bodyguard out there?
He was a cavalry guy until he was too heavy for the horse.
I'll go, well, let's see.
We'll have a banquet, Joe.
joe rogan
And it's always been this way with a raised platform and a circle that they have to get out of?
david lee roth
You bet.
Just a big mound of dirt, okay?
And the ceremony is the big deal.
It's all that the actual happens in four seconds.
So it's all about the prep.
joe rogan
Now, did you go to anything else over there?
Did you go to karate tournaments or anything?
david lee roth
I went to kendo tournaments.
I saw a Japanese jiu-jitsu class, okay?
Which is very different than Brazilian jiu-jitsu class.
I've taken Brazilian jiu-jitsu class.
joe rogan
What's the big difference?
david lee roth
Well...
joe rogan
It's more stand-up, right?
david lee roth
Well, no.
It's conducted a lot more like...
It's what we call shugyo, austere training, manners.
A lot more of the character.
A lot more of the dignity.
There's the bowing.
Everybody is kneeling in order the way you might in a taekwondo class.
As opposed to when I did some...
I trained briefly with Matt Serra, for example, or the Silvera brothers down in Florida.
joe rogan
Where'd you train with Matt?
david lee roth
New York.
joe rogan
No shit.
You went off to Long Island or Henzo's?
david lee roth
Uh, Hensos.
Okay, I was there when he got his black belt.
Matt, how are you?
joe rogan
Really?
david lee roth
Yeah, the day he came in, I said, hey, what happened to your eyes?
I got my black belt last night.
Wow.
Like this, a million years ago.
We were young, nothing would have stopped us anyway.
Wow.
And that's a much more informal and a very street, okay?
It's very practical.
So we would sit around the edges of the room and take turns, etc., as opposed to a traditional Taekwondo or karate class where it's...
And everybody is at attention, etc.
I find both of great value, okay?
You don't want to teach deadly maneuvers if somebody doesn't have a little bit of character, a little bit of self-control.
You follow?
joe rogan
Yeah.
david lee roth
And you're going to need that self-control, again, to get through the tough times.
I really don't feel like training today.
First time I ever walked into a karate class was on my birthday in 1966. And I asked him, Ed Parker.
joe rogan
You trained with Ed Parker?
unidentified
Oh yeah.
Wow.
david lee roth
For years.
unidentified
Did you see Elvis when he was there?
david lee roth
No.
Almost.
No, no.
It was at that time period.
joe rogan
That's around that time, yeah.
david lee roth
And Ed used to come to the shows or whatever.
joe rogan
Ed Parker came to see Van Halen?
david lee roth
Oh, many times.
And you know who he brought many times who became a teacher of my now departed father was Judo Gene LaBelle.
joe rogan
Oh, I love Gene.
david lee roth
Judo Gene is part of the laugh-to-win ethic.
joe rogan
I've had Gene on the podcast.
david lee roth
My spirit of how do you stay true to your school, Joe, is part Judo Gene.
It comes from my father.
It comes from that whole spirit.
And if you apply that...
You want to try new things.
Whatever it is, here you are in a new city.
That's how you stay young and skinny and invisible.
You know, other people go, oh no, our parents are here.
No, you know, I'm an Ohioan infantry for life.
Well, my body is a temple, but let's rent it out for parties tonight.
And also, in school, you're not afraid of anything because you have nothing to lose.
So you have no reputation.
You have no money.
You probably don't mean anything to anybody, at least in music school or the very first steps when you're in the clubs or whatever.
So you'll try new things.
Hey, let's go try surfing.
You want to try surfing?
Might kill you.
Oh, that's attractive.
Let's go.
joe rogan
Look at you.
Look at you back then.
david lee roth
There you go.
unidentified
Wow.
david lee roth
And that's one of my teachers over on the left.
That's Frank Trejo.
Okay.
Like this.
joe rogan
And over on the right?
Ed Parker Jr. Yeah.
david lee roth
There you go.
joe rogan
So that's Ed Parker's son?
david lee roth
Yes.
joe rogan
And Charles Gonzalez.
david lee roth
That was when my dad got his black belt.
joe rogan
Look at you, you fucking young handsome bastard with a vest on.
Let me see that picture.
david lee roth
My dad got his black belt when he was 66 years old, something like that, 60 years old.
joe rogan
Wow.
david lee roth
All of his brothers and everybody showed up and they thought we were visiting instructor.
joe rogan
How do you keep from blowing your joints out at that age?
david lee roth
I've had seven surgeries.
I've blown them all out.
joe rogan
What kind of surgeries have you had?
david lee roth
Thanks to Pamela for reminding me.
Fax me an Advil.
What are you, kid?
joe rogan
What surgeries have you had?
david lee roth
Oh, back.
Come on, shoulder, etc.
joe rogan
What'd you have done to your back?
david lee roth
Oh, three in the back, you know, the, uh, scooped out and I had the, uh, the big bitch recently.
Six hours on the spit.
joe rogan
They put the cage around your spine?
david lee roth
Yeah.
Oh no.
Finally get it all.
But, uh, like I said, I've been bouncing around.
joe rogan
What was going on with it?
david lee roth
I'll just wear and tear.
I wore out my brake pads and tore it up.
I've been bouncing around hard since I was a teenager.
I mean, under instructor-level stuff.
joe rogan
How recently under the knife did you get your back done?
david lee roth
Most recently, about four years ago.
After the last Van Halen tour.
joe rogan
So you were having like bulging discs or sciatic pain or that kind of shit?
david lee roth
You bet.
And that is a constant.
How are you going to get through that kind of, you know, when we talk, what is laugh to win?
That'll test your shit.
And I'll tell you how.
joe rogan
How?
david lee roth
You share, you learn to laugh at your misery.
You learn to laugh at your pain.
You learn to, hold on, I'm going to explain this, how to do that.
joe rogan
Please.
david lee roth
First two, three surgeries, you're going to have an Indiana pit crew with you.
joe rogan
Indiana pit crew?
david lee roth
Yeah, like in Indiana.
There's going to be 15 people with you.
unidentified
Okay.
david lee roth
Your wife's going to be there, your daughters, handler, bodyguard, manager.
joe rogan
For your first two surgeries?
david lee roth
First two surgeries.
joe rogan
First two?
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
And then the third one.
joe rogan
They get tired of going?
david lee roth
Ah, honey, you know the grandparents.
They're old.
They'd love to be here, but it is a drive.
Your fourth, fifth surgery, maybe one person goes with you, but mostly they send a car and you go your own.
And this is actual, I'm going to describe to this.
I was sitting at the five o'clock in a morning club getting ready this last time.
And you got to get there at five.
And right across from me is a little cancer kid.
You can tell because he's got the tube and whatever.
He's got the hat on.
He looks at me about nine years old.
And you can tell that he's had more than a couple because he's only got his mom with him now.
That's very unusual.
It means he's been here more than once or twice.
It's just the way of things.
And we have a look.
And I remember looking at him.
And I know how to ask these questions.
I looked at the door and I went like that.
It means how many for you?
unidentified
And he held up four fingers like this.
david lee roth
He goes, like this.
And he looks at me and he goes, looks at the door.
I looked around conspiratorially.
Seven.
And you could see him do the math.
And break into a big fucking smile!
And look at his mom like, shit!
I still got something in front of me.
You share it.
Do you understand?
You make fun of your own misery and your own pain.
And you can share it and get somebody else up that mountain.
Okay?
I've gotten to that space in my life.
joe rogan
How's your back now?
david lee roth
Fucked.
Thanks a diaper load for reminding me.
joe rogan
Did the surgery help at all?
david lee roth
I am a miracle of the Watkins team.
joe rogan
The Watkins team?
david lee roth
The Watkins team is the best spinal surgeons ever, ever, ever.
Their me wall is the biggest you can ever imagine.
You know what a me wall is?
joe rogan
No.
david lee roth
Here's me with the mayor.
Here's me with Joe Wogan.
unidentified
We should get a me wall here.
david lee roth
Here's me with Joe.
Like this, their me wall contains virtually everyone from the Cirque du Soleil, every action hero you can possibly imagine without naming names, It's always back, right?
Yeah, every sports hero, every pitcher, every golfer, every rock and roller who carries a guitar around with them, etc.
And I'm up there three times, three or four times as well.
So I'm moving and grooving.
I'm feeling better than ever.
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
And what did they do exactly?
Exactly.
david lee roth
I had to have a fusion, you know, where you're going to put a little bit of wedge in.
Why, do I seem taller, Joe?
joe rogan
No.
Did they use artificial disks?
david lee roth
I have a little bit of a wedge in there, which means I'm now up.
First two surgeries made me a little smaller.
I was like 5'11", then I was 5'10 1⁄2", then I was 5'10", and now I'm up another quarter inch.
joe rogan
My friend got a titanium articulating disc in his lower back, and he gained an inch.
david lee roth
Yeah.
joe rogan
But he was fucked for a long time.
He was bone on bone for years and years and years, just constantly in a state of inflammation.
david lee roth
Yes.
And there's a point where all of your yoga and all of the Pilates and so forth won't account for it more.
But you're going to play for pain.
The injury rate in rock and roll is just like in gymnastics.
It's 100%.
joe rogan
Yeah.
david lee roth
NFL, you know what that stands for?
Not for long.
The injury rate is 100%.
What's the injury rate in stand-up?
unidentified
100%.
joe rogan
Not really.
Not in stand-up.
No.
It's extracurricular activities.
david lee roth
Oh, everybody ends up on their feet, right?
joe rogan
Well, it's extracurricular activities to get you.
It's not the stand-up itself.
Like rock and roll, especially you.
I mean, you were throwing high kicks and spinning kicks and dancing around and jumping.
You were very physically active.
david lee roth
It's transportation and water and feeding.
You know where the best place to go is Vegas.
joe rogan
Vegas.
david lee roth
Vegas.
You can stabilize everything.
Not unusual for us to get on the bus and say, the bus driver leans out and goes, 10 miles to Houston, Dave.
No, 10 hours.
10 hours to Houston, Dave.
12 hours to Lubbock, Dave.
14 hours to Iowa.
That's how long your bus ride is after the show.
And it's dusboot.
Even though you are slightly sleeping, You're doing this.
You're rocking and rolling the whole time.
joe rogan
So how does Vegas stabilize you?
Because you stay there longer?
david lee roth
Well, you're in a specific place.
You're like Seabiscuit.
joe rogan
So you would be like a residency?
david lee roth
You've got a special stall with your special food, with your special whatever you follow, and everybody's rested.
And that's where you're going to see the best shows, whether it's me or the Eagles.
I don't care if it's Garth Brooks or Aerosmith.
You will see us at our best.
Because, just like an athlete, like when you're calling the fights, they're better when they're rested.
Hey, get in country three weeks in advance.
Jet lag may have been what kicked Tyson's ass in Japan.
What did he get there, two weeks in advance?
joe rogan
Not enough!
david lee roth
Not enough!
joe rogan
I think it was Buster Douglas, and I think it was also partying.
If you ask him.
david lee roth
Well, these are allegations.
But the first thing I would say, if you said, Dave, you're coach for a day, I'd go, you're fighting in Japan, get there three months in advance.
joe rogan
Three months?
david lee roth
Oh yeah.
You want that jet log off, you want your body used to the agua, the water, you want your body used to the humidity, the temperature, because it's all different.
This is a monsoon archipelago, and it's exotic here as it sounds.
Enjoy your sushi.
joe rogan
So what'd they do to your back again?
They fused disc, they put wedges.
Yeah, I'm worried.
I'm worried about the future.
david lee roth
Of course.
joe rogan
I'm worried about surgeries.
unidentified
Of course.
joe rogan
Back surgeries are tricky.
That's why I'm asking.
david lee roth
They are.
But right off the bat, you hear this is an ironic story, is Dr. Watkins Sr., A bit older than me.
Is world famous.
They lecture, they travel, they teach, etc.
His son was about 14 years old.
And collected half a dozen of his friends, Dr. Senior, put them in the back of a pickup truck in the days when you could just sit in the back, and drove them to the Us Festival to watch the mighty Van Halen perform in front of 350,000 people back in 1983. 350,000 people?
Close friends, family, primarily.
350,000 people.
And that kid, when he was about 14, 15 years old, He is now fully grown up in his father's...
He's a spinal surgeon.
And the two of them are the ones who put me back together after the last Van Halen tour.
joe rogan
And so, you said there's a wedge, but there's a cage, too?
unidentified
Yeah, but...
joe rogan
Do they have one of those things around the spine?
david lee roth
Yeah, well, I imagine that, you know what, you're going to be better to look this up academically, okay?
But as I understand it, there is a wedge that goes in there, and then there are screws that will hold it in place.
joe rogan
And does everything move okay?
Like, do you have, like, full movement of your spine?
Yeah, you're looking good.
david lee roth
Hell yeah.
joe rogan
Watch.
No pain, no problems.
david lee roth
I'm going to hold a Sharpie between my butt cheeks and I'm going to write you a Christmas greeting.
joe rogan
Oh my goodness.
david lee roth
Put a little star next to it.
Yeah, I'm moving and grooving and whatever.
I'm very lucky.
But it is a result also of, I don't go for 10 minutes without thinking about it regularly.
At any given time, that is my musical instrument.
You sing from the toes the same way you throw a punch.
You sing from here.
joe rogan
You're still super active on stage, even now.
You move around.
You're not sitting still.
Remember when Axl Rose broke his foot and he was singing from a chair?
david lee roth
I'm not sure how you would even do that in terms of just the singing.
joe rogan
He was doing Sweet Child of Mine from a chair with the rock...
You ever see it?
david lee roth
I have not.
I've seen photos of it.
joe rogan
Yeah, he had a cast on his foot and he was sitting in a chair singing.
david lee roth
And how did it sound?
joe rogan
It was pretty fucking good.
I mean, it's still Axl Rose, it's still Guns N' Roses, he's still, you know, he's still doing the thing.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
He just had a broken foot.
david lee roth
Okay, well, see, I wouldn't have recommended the chair because he's not that terribly active anyway.
Yeah, he does the shape and the shimmy, but he's not like Mick.
joe rogan
Right.
david lee roth
Going from 50-yard line to 50-yard line.
joe rogan
Well, he's a guy I'd love to talk to about how active he is because he's in incredible shape.
david lee roth
As I know it to be, he is a jogger, a runner.
He is routinely around the reservoir.
joe rogan
Is he still running, really?
david lee roth
Oh, sure.
And that's how you're going to maintain that kind of cardio.
joe rogan
Well, he does a lot of things, though.
He does, like, dance.
He does a lot of yoga.
He does a lot.
Like, Google it, because there was an article that showed his body at whatever he is now, 70, whatever he is.
david lee roth
I can tell you what he's doing.
There's no magic to it.
joe rogan
Three hours a day, six days a week.
Mick also performs ballet, weight training, Pilates, jogging, and dynamic stretching, ensuring he maintains maximum flexibility.
But look at him throwing kicks and shit.
Look at that.
At 75, post-heart surgery, wow, so that was two years ago, so he's 77. But see if you can find an image of his body, because there's a photo of him shirtless that was pretty recent.
He's fucking shredded.
david lee roth
As I know it to be.
Show that, because this is- It's primarily that jagging, huh?
joe rogan
Look at this.
This is 75 years old, dancing around.
david lee roth
There but for the grace of God goes us, if he can climb that, then we can too.
joe rogan
Yeah, I mean, it's incredible that he's been able to maintain like this.
david lee roth
You know what I think, Joe?
I think there are artists.
I happen to love the Stones.
unidentified
Love them.
david lee roth
If you said tomorrow, they're down the street, stay over, Dave, let's go, I would.
Okay?
Without a blink.
joe rogan
Yeah.
david lee roth
If you said that about Sting, I love Sting.
But I don't know if I would stay the extra night.
I don't know.
Okay.
But it's very important to me that Sting stay in great shape and that he continue to make records regularly.
I have to know that.
joe rogan
He's all about yoga.
david lee roth
Frankly, same thing for Springsteen, who I love.
He is like a hero.
You can't beat the woods.
Have I heard the new record?
No.
Am I planning to?
unidentified
No.
david lee roth
But it's very important to me that he and the E Street Band make that goddamn record.
And if you say to him, Dave, you have to pay for a price of a ticket even if you don't go here.
That quick?
I have to know that like the church, he's there day after tomorrow because that means I might be too.
And that means in my quest, in my search, that I might climb a mountain just as high as he's climbing at his age.
And when you say, Mick, same thing.
joe rogan
That's the Mick Jagger thing.
If you could do that at 75 years old, post-heart surgery.
david lee roth
Maybe I can do what I do at 75. Says an entire generation or two or three.
And that's a part that we occupy here.
That's part of where we are.
Now, here, if you just pulled your plug at making your fortune, I made mine decades ago.
But what you represent, that's why classic rock, for example, is more popular than it ever was before, because of the longevity of it.
joe rogan
Well, classic rock has a feel to it.
You know, like Allman Brothers, like classic Allman Brothers.
There's a feel to it.
It's like you feel the time in which it was created.
It comes through in the music.
That's what I like about it the most.
david lee roth
Does it remind you of your past?
Does it remind you of who you were?
joe rogan
No, not really.
I think more about them.
david lee roth
Like, if I'm listening to classic Hendrix, I just think about what it must have been like for him to be Jimi Hendrix in 67. See, some people always say, yeah, the music reminds me of when I was young, and I think like you do.
No, I think about Jimi.
joe rogan
Yeah, I think about Jimi.
david lee roth
I think about what the guy looked like who's singing it.
joe rogan
I was listening to Layla last night.
I haven't listened to that song.
david lee roth
And you're thinking of Eric playing it.
You're not imagining anybody named Layla, right?
The same thing with a tattoo.
We always tell the viewer, no, this represents my grandpa who used to drink martinis.
But in fact, when I look at my tattoo, I think of the guy who gave it to me and where it was.
So I've gone out of my way to make sure I'm somewhere very cool and representative when I get that tattoo.
You know I'm covered.
I got the full Japanese tuxedo here.
joe rogan
No one's ever seen that though, right?
You don't have photos of it anywhere, do you?
david lee roth
Allegedly.
joe rogan
But I mean, it's not out there online or anything like that.
You had the tap tap done, right?
david lee roth
Yeah.
joe rogan
You had it old school style.
david lee roth
It took me three years to get it all the way.
But I made very sure.
Because when you look at your tattoo, for all of you who are just pondering, remember that you're going to think of where you got it and who put it on you and what the music was that you heard and then who you were at the time.
So I went out of my way and I made sure I went to Yokohama and had Sting do it, so to speak.
Hot Dozo on the high desert.
No, I had Horiyoshi 3rd doing this.
joe rogan
Can you show us some of it?
david lee roth
It's like this.
Oh, Jesus.
I don't know.
joe rogan
Show us some of it.
I want to see some of that.
david lee roth
Is this the right place?
joe rogan
Yeah, fuck yeah.
david lee roth
Let me see.
joe rogan
It's absolutely the right place.
It's very hot in Texas.
david lee roth
I'm sorry?
joe rogan
It's very hot in Texas, and you have a jumpsuit and a sweatshirt underneath it.
Oh, wow.
That's beautiful.
Wow, that's nice.
Pull that shirt off.
Show us the whole fucking thing.
Whoa!
Dude!
That's wild!
Oh my god, that's incredible.
And that was all done tap style?
david lee roth
Almost all of it.
unidentified
Wow!
joe rogan
Let me see the back again.
That's crazy!
Where's the head of the dragon?
david lee roth
Right in the middle.
joe rogan
Oh shit!
There it is.
Wow!
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Totally.
It's just there's so much going on.
It's hard to like...
That's amazing work.
Amazing work.
So one guy did all that?
david lee roth
Oh, we had one guy do the back and one guy do all the front.
joe rogan
Wow.
david lee roth
It's all done in Japan.
joe rogan
Is the tap-tap style more painful?
Is it slower?
david lee roth
You know what?
It's not that it's so much one hurts more.
It all hurts the same, and how much can you take?
Okay?
So the needle hurts a certain amount, and if it's just a little dime-sized thing, eh, your threshold wasn't reached.
You're going to work your way up.
And the same thing for tapping.
That hurts a little bit less than an electric, okay?
But that being said, you may reach your threshold within 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how often you're going.
Now, I'm not going to kid you.
I learned to fear that needle.
I had to get ready, like getting ready for a fistfight, man.
I had to get on the bike, get my heart rate up with 45 minutes.
I had to make sure.
Look at you.
I had to make sure.
There you go.
joe rogan
In the tattoo studio, rocking out.
david lee roth
That's what Yoshi III, and he's really famous, you know.
joe rogan
Is there any video you getting tap, tap, tapped?
david lee roth
Ah, there may be some in there.
joe rogan
Yeah, I want to see it.
It's a bizarre and beautiful style of tattooing, the way they do it with the stick and the tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.
david lee roth
I pursued a whole art approach there.
You know, I paint and draw every day.
joe rogan
Do you?
david lee roth
Yeah.
And on my Instagram, you can see a lot of my artwork and stuff like this.
So...
joe rogan
I want to see some.
david lee roth
When I wasn't doing my training, I went to an academy for Sumie, which is ink painting.
I had a sensei for that.
I went twice a week, sometimes three times.
I was the only Anglo there.
And what I did, Joe, is I created a liberal arts education that I never had because I went on the road with Van Halen and never looked back.
High dozo on the high desert.
So I said, what would you do if you went to college in the 1500s?
You would learn language, which I learned every morning.
You would learn kendo.
You would learn go.
And you would learn how to handle the end of that paintbrush so that when you handle the end of that sword and it's surgically sharp, you have that finesse in your hands.
Do you follow my reasoning?
joe rogan
Sure.
david lee roth
If you can make a perfectly straight line with your breath...
You're more liable to be able to manage that surgically sharp five-pound sushi knife that's in your hand here because your eye has been trained to where to position a fine point.
This is the thinking.
Also, how do you develop...
joe rogan
That's all your art?
david lee roth
Yeah.
joe rogan
Oh, wow.
david lee roth
So I went to art class the way you would in the 1500s, and I spent two years learning how to handle four shades of gray and one shade of black.
joe rogan
Wow.
Yeah, that was one of Miyamoto Musashi's rules of life, that you had to be balanced.
You had to do everything.
You had to learn calligraphy.
You had to learn art, painting, poetry.
david lee roth
If you don't have a real fine touch with the brush, the first thing that you're going to do is you're going to grip that blade with all of your fingers, okay?
And you're going to end up tearing all of your tendons like that.
You're going to get surfer knots.
Like this, that are right there on top of your, like that.
You follow?
joe rogan
What's that from?
david lee roth
It's from gripping the blade wrong for the first four years of training.
joe rogan
You have to learn how to relax the hand?
david lee roth
Yep, and you'll use a paintbrush to do that.
You'll use a paintbrush so that you only are using that middle finger and that thumb here.
If you had a sword here, I can balance a full blast, you know, live blade.
And you only use this.
You're not doing this.
Not baseball.
It's just here.
It's a little closer to golf.
joe rogan
That's the thing you learn when you play pool.
david lee roth
Yes.
joe rogan
When you play pool, you use these fingers.
david lee roth
Bingo.
joe rogan
When I hold the cue, I cradle the cue.
david lee roth
You see you have that feather touch to it.
And it's all right here.
You'll see frequently in the woodblock prints when you're holding a sword, your fingers are like this in the print, like this.
And use the paintbrush to teach that.
Also, there's an appreciation that comes into, there's a balance.
Because if it's all combat and it's all life or death, there's no finesse to that.
It just becomes brutal.
You follow?
joe rogan
I do follow.
So you learned all those things to balance out.
You did it on purpose.
You wanted to give yourself a balanced education.
david lee roth
I knew I was going to come out a different person after two years in Japan.
I had no idea how or what that would be, but I was very intrigued on what it might turn out, so let's go.
joe rogan
Where do you think you gained that perspective to have the foresight to know that you would get great benefit out of just doing this very unusual thing, moving to Japan, learning kendo, learning to play Go, learning to paint, learning the language?
That this education would be very beneficial to you.
I mean, that's a very rare thing to do for a rock star, right?
david lee roth
Yeah.
The first thing you would learn is what I learned, which is don't expect to be great in any of it.
joe rogan
Right.
Just try to learn.
Enjoy the process.
unidentified
It's the process.
joe rogan
Yeah.
david lee roth
That's what we'll change.
joe rogan
That's what we'll say at the same time.
david lee roth
Okay?
joe rogan
That's it.
david lee roth
Joe, I could probably teach you go in 30 minutes and you'd whip my ass in two days.
I know that about you already.
unidentified
I bet I wouldn't.
I bet I wouldn't.
david lee roth
But I bet you I'm a better teacher four years from now.
Just because I've had more class instruction in so many things.
joe rogan
And when they teach you Go, I've never played Go.
david lee roth
Well, hold on.
You asked me, how do I know to make an adventure?
What was the first job that you ever wanted to have as a kid, a little kid?
Six years old, nine years old, ten years old.
joe rogan
I wanted to be an artist.
david lee roth
What kind of artist?
joe rogan
Comic book.
Comic book illustrator.
david lee roth
Fascinating.
joe rogan
Yeah.
david lee roth
I wanted to join the Peace Corps.
And I announced it.
It was about seven.
joe rogan
Really?
david lee roth
Oh yeah.
And that was when they invented it.
And then, to add fury to the fire, a next-door neighbor actually did join the Peace Corps.
Chick Lewis was his name.
This was in 1963, somewhere in there.
And he went to West Africa and taught them how to dig, you know, crop rotation and everything.
And an inter-tribe squabble got shot with an arrow.
joe rogan
Fuck!
david lee roth
I couldn't wait.
The idea...
Did he live?
Oh, yeah.
And when my parents...
When I told my parents...
My father's a doctor.
When I told my parents, I want to join the Peace Corps, it was supported.
joe rogan
So the...
david lee roth
Oh, that'll turn...
That'll make you...
That'll build your character.
Now you'll become...
Now you will make a contribution.
Every dinner started.
Every dinner of my life, until my dad was dead and I was 60 years old, we'll start off with, okay, children, he called us that in our 60s.
Okay, children, what did we do today that was constructive?
Or, okay, children, what did we do today that's worth putting in the book?
As if you were writing a great book.
And the best was, okay, children, what did we do today that's going to benefit the rest of us?
And my solution to that early on was the Peace Corps.
We're going to pitch in.
joe rogan
Hold on a second.
david lee roth
We're going to pitch in, and we're going to come back with some adventure stories.
joe rogan
This guy got shot with an arrow?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But he lived.
david lee roth
Oh, yeah, yeah.
They air vac him out and fly him back to California.
But, you know, fellas, fellas, we're all family.
Jesus.
unidentified
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
joe rogan
Where'd he get hit?
david lee roth
That I don't remember.
But, you know, he's in West Africa in the 60s, and they're learning how to dig trenches and teaching health and building infirmaries.
And I learned early on from that that you could pitch in.
You know what that means.
That means help out.
But you could combine some adventure with it, too.
And that that can take you some really interesting places.
And that it was okay to seek out adventure.
As long as you're pitching in.
joe rogan
And so you went to the Peace Corps?
david lee roth
No.
No, no.
joe rogan
But you wanted to.
david lee roth
I made up for it.
You thought about it.
Later on, I went back to school when I was 48, and I became an EMT. Oh, I remember that.
In New York City, of all things.
I had no idea that I was actually going to put on a uniform.
I thought to myself, where can I get civilian first aid training that's the most extreme?
I thought, ah, an ambulance driver in New York City or Chicago or Miami.
I hired a school.
I joined a school.
Paid for it.
Took me about six months.
I thought at the end of it, I'll take my exams, make my teacher proud.
And now I am...
That much smarter.
I travel a lot.
I travel a lot alone.
I just increase my education.
Be of value.
All right.
And at the end of it, my instructor, senior instructor, says, so you're going to go do your ambulance time?
I was stunned.
What do you mean ambulance time?
She says, you got great practical scores.
She says, I know you were just planning to, you know, graduate and move on, but you can get a uniform and we'll get you in an ambulance and you can go do your 200 hours or whatever it is to an artist like us, to a poet like us, a storyteller.
We're going to go walk into more apartments in the Mercy Projects than Jay-Z, who's from there.
So to speak.
We're gonna go crawl under the train at the Fulton Street Station.
We're gonna go up onto the rooftops, 13 floors up, being led by a nine-year-old kid yelling, she's this way, she's this way.
And you're actually gonna save her fucking life?
joe rogan
That's wild.
david lee roth
Not only that, but we're gonna learn how to open a fire hydrant.
unidentified
Yeah.
david lee roth
1930s style.
The one with the big deep keyhole.
I know you always wondered.
I'm not saying it on the radio.
But I learned.
I can teach you all kinds of great things.
It's endless.
And walking into somebody's place and the stories.
My favorite was the old folks.
My favorite was 70 and up, because they got the stories.
They're the most stoic.
They'd be the most calm, you follow.
Right now, for example, I'll give you one of my favorites, Coney Island.
This is a far reach here.
Many of you who work in EMT services, fire, law enforcement, etc., in the Coney Island area, I'm going to change his last name a little bit, but you're going to remember exactly who I'm talking about.
It's Donnie Sheckler.
I changed his last name just enough.
Donnie was the most famous homeless person in the whole Coney Island area.
I met Donnie the first time in a rainstorm in the middle of the winter parked next to the Ferris wheel on Stilwell Avenue, the wooden one.
He asked if he could come and sit in the back of the bus.
We call it an ambulance box, because he was soaking wet.
And the fellows, my teachers at the time, my instructors, they knew him right away.
Donnie, how are you?
Donnie, what is he?
Sure, man, get in there.
Donnie had newspaper for insulation and whatever like this.
We let him warm up.
Come on, Donnie, get in here.
We got heat.
Saw him again that summer.
Sure, Donnie, get in here.
We got air conditioning.
Donnie would call himself in to the ambulance, and we would have to go get him.
We always acted like we knew him, but we treated him like we'd never heard this before.
And we would drive him to Coney Island Hospital, where they would give him a meal, warm him up or cool him down, and release him, say four to six hours later.
On a day like today, when we would get on shift, we would all ask fondly, Has Donnie checked in yet?
Because Donnie would call himself into the hospital four times in one day.
He would be released and you'd get another call and we'd have to drive back down to the liquor store and pick Donnie up as if we hadn't seen him that morning.
joe rogan
So was that his like socializing?
david lee roth
That was his thing, is he had figured out the system.
The last time I lifted Donnie up into the ambulance, I noticed he had on a brand new pair of Payless wingtips.
The fellas down at Payless helped him out.
We routinely bought him something to drink.
Donnie was kind of eyes and ears for us.
What happened?
I'll tell you what happened, boys, because I saw it.
First time I dealt with a gunshot.
The fella got, I think, seven times all in the back of his ass.
It was Donnie from across the street who saw what happened.
What happened, Donnie?
Well, you know the way these kids hold the gun?
You know, hip-hop guys hold the gun and they kind of droop it sideways?
Well, the first guy came walking out of the liquor store and the second guy was holding that gun, like drooping it.
The first guy turned around and tried to run away and all the bullets went in his ass.
It's too dark, Joe?
joe rogan
What did his ass look like with seven bullets?
There's not a lot of ass meat there.
david lee roth
He bent over and tried to run back into the store because of that hip-hop shit with the gun.
All the bullets went down instead of straight.
And he survived.
We patched him up.
By the way, insider's tip, you know the gauze sterile pack that has cellophane?
It's sterile inside.
You don't use the gauze because that gets soaked up.
Just put the plastic right on the hole.
joe rogan
Okay.
david lee roth
Boom.
We would routinely, when it starts getting summer, and I bring it up now, when we get on shift, we would wonder, what time do you think Donnie's going to call it?
Oh, fuck, it's 95 degrees today.
joe rogan
How long did you do this for?
david lee roth
Four and a half years.
joe rogan
Jesus Christ.
Four and a half years as an EMT. Well...
How many days a week?
david lee roth
Oh, on and off.
It was, you know, it's a continuum.
joe rogan
Right.
david lee roth
And for me, it was primarily education, too.
I took every possible course you could imagine.
Did a lot of people recognize you?
International School for Tactical Medicine, Explosive Incident Command, History, Treatment, Mechanism, and Future Prospects and everything.
If nothing else...
You're a little luckier if I'm in the room if there's an earthquake, Joe Rogan.
joe rogan
I think they get many of them out here, but...
david lee roth
You know what I'm saying.
We're back in L.A. Be of value.
joe rogan
Be of value.
david lee roth
And it's an old approach, again, that you know who has this is Israel.
Okay?
Israeli approach is if you're good with dogs...
I'm going to drop my dogs off with you in case there's an earthquake, in case there's a hurricane, in case there's a flood.
I hear it's going to flood around here pretty soon, like tomorrow.
unidentified
Is it?
david lee roth
Yeah.
Well, if I'm wearing a blue uniform, I'm going to drop my dogs off with you, if you're a dog man.
Who knows how to cook for 80 people?
Good.
You're going to make pancakes for tomorrow's breakfast because I've got to go work the fucking flood.
Where's my dog?
Where's my dog?
I know how to take care of the take-carer-overs.
I've been trained in how to take care of first responders.
It's a different protocol.
Things that you might get sued for if you handle civilians like tourniquets.
If it's somebody who went down from heat prostration and opened up a big-time wound, I'm carrying five tourniquets, if that's tactical.
Do you follow the reasoning?
Yes.
It's a different kind of first responders will wear themselves out way quick.
You've got to make sure everybody's drinking water.
You've got to make sure that everybody's warm enough or cold enough.
joe rogan
Did people recognize you when you were doing this?
david lee roth
Never.
unidentified
Really?
david lee roth
Not ever.
Not ever.
joe rogan
Because they just didn't expect it?
david lee roth
No.
And I shaved off all my hair.
I weighed probably 15 more pounds of bench press, everything.
They never used my name.
I was Dero.
You could yell my name across.
The field.
joe rogan
But they all knew who you were, and I'm sure their friends knew who you were.
david lee roth
They were tickled.
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
How did it be so strange for them to do real calls?
david lee roth
Well, if you're genuinely enthusiastic, and I said it to you before, and I meant it true.
I say it funny, but I mean it money.
I wasn't somebody until I put on that blue uniform, as in, somebody make some coffee!
And I knew it and I accepted it and loved it.
I wasn't someone.
I said, someone make some fucking coffee!
And I was that someone.
So I have no illusions about, you know, again, was I good at chess?
No.
Have I taken a million lessons?
You bet.
And that has given me a strength of patience and an enthusiasm for everything that we're talking about here.
joe rogan
And do you still carry this approach to education and experience now?
Are you still doing new things now?
david lee roth
I take guitar lessons every week, and we just learned Al Green's Let's Stay Together, and Jesus Just Left Chicago by ZZ Top.
unidentified
Oh.
joe rogan
When did you start taking guitar lessons?
david lee roth
I never stopped.
joe rogan
Oh, your whole life?
david lee roth
Yes.
Acoustic, I play...
Well, the way I said to the guitar teacher, and she says, imagine that I'm sitting at a beach bar somewhere like, say, Florida.
And there's all kinds of interesting people.
You have Jimmy Buffet types, and hey, there's some fashion models on a shoot, and Joey's there, and some of the guys from the gym, etc., like this, and somebody hands me a guitar.
I gotta be able to do an hour.
What can I play?
That tone.
So I don't play rock and roll.
I play Django Reinhardt.
joe rogan
Django Reinhardt?
What's that?
david lee roth
Gypsy.
I play jazz.
I play 1930s style sort of a thing.
I play Brazilian samba.
It's kind of like happy hour at Diamond Dave's Tiki Bunker where the debris meets the sea.
Happy hour from 5 till February, Joe.
And that's the repartee.
And, you know, next is...
A Brazilian version of I Can't Go For That.
Because I can't, Joe.
joe rogan
No, no.
No can do.
david lee roth
We laugh.
It's like sideburns, but we all had them.
joe rogan
So, guitar.
What else are you learning?
Can we take a break?
Yeah, you got to take a leak or something?
david lee roth
Yes.
joe rogan
Go ahead.
Go do that.
We'll be right here.
We'll be right back, ladies and gentlemen, with more Diamond Dave.
Diamond Dave's gonna refuel.
I guarantee you.
david lee roth
We're not live, are we?
joe rogan
No.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
Don't worry about it.
unidentified
We're good.
david lee roth
Because if we're live, I'll hold it.
joe rogan
No, no, no, no.
unidentified
We're not live.
joe rogan
Go ahead.
We want you to be comfortable.
Even if we were live, Jamie and I would just talk.
We're good.
unidentified
That's some strong weed.
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
Get some of that.
Jesus.
He's, uh...
He's different.
Than the last time he was here.
Not in a bad way.
But, like, even more...
What's the word?
Exaggerated?
Like, bigger than...
Like, he's just more of a character.
Do you think that people...
This is not disrespectful because he can hear this because he's in the other room.
Broadcast out there.
Do you think as people get older they become more eccentric on purpose?
Almost as like...
It's kind of like a bit of a shield.
Right?
You're constantly performative.
More and more...
To be a guy like that, to be a rock star for most of your life, he almost has to fake reality.
You know what I'm saying?
He almost has to do...
A simulation of reality.
Because his reality is so weird.
Like, for him to, like, take an EMT classes and all these different things going to Japan, he's almost got to, like, insert himself into, like, a struggle.
Like, make a struggle.
You know what I'm saying?
unidentified
Yeah.
jamie vernon
There's also, like...
joe rogan
Simulate reality.
There's also what?
unidentified
Trying to think how to...
joe rogan
Words.
Like the not giving a fuck.
Yeah, there's that too.
jamie vernon
Where it's just rubbed off enough where there's none left.
joe rogan
And you just live life.
Yeah.
Really not caring.
Well, he's definitely got a lot of that.
But it's also, whenever someone's so eccentric, I always wonder if some of that eccentricity...
Is that a word?
Seems like it is.
It is, definitely.
Yeah.
Eccentric?
Eccentricity?
I don't think I've ever used that word.
What am I talking about?
I'm sure I've used that word.
But it's almost like that becomes sort of like a coat of armor that you wear.
Like, You're just eccentric.
jamie vernon
Yeah, the only person that's come to my head is like Prince.
joe rogan
Oh, he was super eccentric, yeah.
jamie vernon
I was watching a video I took at a concert that I went, well, the only time I saw Prince live, but that's what he was doing.
He kept coming in front of the stage, performing a little, backing off, turning the lights down, and full control of like the whole venue from the mic.
It was very different.
joe rogan
Yeah.
jamie vernon
And he has a full band with him playing a bunch of music I'm not super familiar with because it wasn't like popular Prince songs.
joe rogan
Well, he did his own thing across the board.
I mean, he like stayed in Minneapolis.
Want to shut all those doors?
Show that one too.
Thank you.
david lee roth
You want me back, right?
joe rogan
I love you.
Of course I want you back.
david lee roth
Making an assumption here.
joe rogan
Did you make that paint on purpose or is that paint from painting?
david lee roth
No, this is actual, real deal.
unidentified
Come sit down so people can hear you.
joe rogan
Come sit down so people can hear you.
david lee roth
No, this is actually You took a course on painting?
It was issued to me during an actual tactical course, but I'm a combat hippie.
Peace, love, and heavy weapons here, yo.
joe rogan
So do you get that paint from painting?
david lee roth
Yeah.
Everything that you saw on the screen there, on my Instagram and so forth, I paint giant size and little size and, you know, there you go.
And that's me.
And everything I do is in that size exactly that way.
I do it the way I learned, which is on my knees on a Tommy mat there.
Can you dig?
It's all done in a little corner, just like that.
It's all done there, just like that.
Boom!
That's my lesson.
We'll spend about four hours there.
Just like that.
And my whole drawing space is about, it's just a mat that's about three feet wide by three feet wide.
That's my office.
Everything I do is done.
In that position, bent over like when you first started reading the Sunday comics on the floor, you would lay on your belly or on your knees.
Well, there you go.
joe rogan
Well, you just have such a remarkably un-rockstar-like existence.
While simultaneously being very much a rock star.
You know, you do your own thing.
Like, you have a very...
It's a very unusual...
There's no other people I know like you that are you.
You know what I mean?
That are in your category.
david lee roth
Why do you think that might be, if it's true?
joe rogan
I don't know, man.
It's you.
It's part of what makes you unusual.
david lee roth
Rock and roll is kind of where the debris means to sea.
If you tilt the map...
Like Los Angeles.
Everything loose and unscrewed down rolls into L.A. or everybody.
And in rock and roll is that wonderful collecting point where you can combine sea salt with caramel.
At first it might not seem right.
You can combine peanut butter with chocolate.
What are you doing?
And voila!
joe rogan
I don't know if you just answered me or not.
david lee roth
If you were a chef, you can take chances in rock and roll.
You dig?
Other types of music, not so much.
Orchestra, that's Shakespeare.
You don't change a note.
joe rogan
Right.
david lee roth
You follow?
But in rock and roll, we learned from all of our heroes.
And this is our 50th year coming up.
Al Van Halen and I, 48, I think, for Mike and the two of us, all right?
And we come from backgrounds of different kinds of music and I played saxophone in the marching band.
I learned to play saxophone starting when I was 4th, 5th grade, all the way up until I was a teenager.
So I think in terms of brass.
On my walls when I was growing up was Leonard Bernstein, Bob Dylan, and Bobby Fischer.
Later was Jimi Hendrix and James Brown.
joe rogan
So you were always in a jazz, even back then?
david lee roth
Oh yeah.
It was part of.
joe rogan
Do you play it on a computer ever?
david lee roth
No.
Computers came after me.
I got as far...
I played up until the little pieces that fit in, and then switched to Go.
I've been playing Go for a lot of years.
I grew up in a Japanese community up in Altadena.
Come on, that game was always there, like woodblock prints with these kinds of prints.
joe rogan
And do you find people to play with?
Like, how do you organize Go games?
david lee roth
Well, COVID knocked me out, but I have a visiting instructor.
Mr. Kim, Professor Kim, who would come over to the house regularly.
joe rogan
Really?
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
And, geez, that got me through recovery on my back.
joe rogan
Playing go.
david lee roth
Yeah, I would stand up for my two-hour lesson because I couldn't sit down.
And he felt initially that I was not playing like a Korean would, which felt I was weak.
And he felt that even though it was unorthodox that I would stand up to play the game, that it increased my aggression, and that I was playing more like a Korean, and that was of value.
joe rogan
So what was your style?
Your style was not...
It was defensive.
david lee roth
Yes, I was playing according to a different approach.
And now with AlphaGo and artificial intelligence coming after us, it's a much more aggressive form of play.
It's like prison boxing versus pugilism.
You of all people know that technical boxing...
Is something very different than in prison.
You just start throwing and throwing and throwing until the one round is over.
As opposed to defend, counter punch, counter punch, counter punch.
And with artificial intelligence now, we have to form teams.
Of professional-level, tournament-level players of four and six now to put your minds together to battle that computer, all right?
And it is decisive because it has no human fear.
It's not afraid of anything.
So you have to adapt some of that mindset in the new approaches to how we play.
joe rogan
So human fear factors into the game?
david lee roth
Always.
unidentified
Really?
david lee roth
Human fear factors into everything.
You lose 80 pieces in one sweep, that'll test your shit.
Now, that's not a Korean expression, but it could be.
And this is played, by the way, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Indonesian.
It's huge.
joe rogan
Don't they sometimes play it on multiple levels?
Isn't there a Go game that has more than one 3D Go?
david lee roth
I'm sure there are computerized games that resemble this.
But the original is so wildly complex, the amount of memory.
For example, what you're seeing now in terms of politics is guided by go versus chess.
joe rogan
How so?
unidentified
Well...
joe rogan
Chinese versus American?
david lee roth
Sure.
Let's go there.
In the middle of the chessboard is what Westerners always struggle to control.
Control those center four squares.
You follow?
unidentified
Okay.
david lee roth
Asian approach to go is...
No, no.
Corner work.
You want to work the four corners and surround.
And that's what's happening when we start seeing colonial You follow?
Well, suppose, you know, when you hear that, and it's not just Chinese, it could be any country, but when you hear, for example, so-and-so is buying up all the water in Africa, all the oil in Ecuador, and all of the ice in the south of it, whatever, they're thinking in four corners.
They are surrounding You follow?
Westerners love to think in terms of heavy infantry.
You make a line, I'll make a line, and like the Civil War, we'll march right into each other.
It's kind of like chess.
Go is, no, no, no.
I'm going to hide in a tree over here in this corner.
I'm going to hide under the water down in this corner.
And I'm going to hide behind a rock in this corner.
I'm going to let you wander down in the middle.
Trick or treat.
joe rogan
You think that's what's going on right now?
david lee roth
Absolutely.
It's a whole different mindset.
And you're trained in this from the time you were West Point.
joe rogan
Are you concerned?
david lee roth
I'm pissed.
People say, what are you pissed about?
What have you got to be pissed about?
unidentified
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
david lee roth
I can make a lot of jokes about being egocentric.
But I stopped being pissed on my own behalf a long time ago.
I'm pissed on your behalf.
Pissed on your kids' behalf.
What kind of fuck-shit world are we leaving behind where they don't get to go to Florida because it's underwater?
What kind of place are we going where, yeah, there used to be some really great giant trees now, but they're dead.
What kind of place do we leave behind?
I have a house that has trees on it that are 100 years old and more.
And my opening statement to the gardeners is, I don't give a fuck what you think of me.
I'm showbiz and I already know.
I catch you messing with these trees.
We're going to have a real bad day.
I used to chase the coyotes down in Arroyo Seco in Pasadena.
Now I'm old and I protect them.
joe rogan
You protect the coyotes?
david lee roth
You bet.
In so many senses of the world, I'll vote your ass right out of that town I catch you chasing.
joe rogan
Chasing coyotes?
david lee roth
You know what I'm saying, Joe.
I'm speaking poetically.
Don't pee in the ocean either.
joe rogan
Don't pee in the ocean?
david lee roth
Don't fuck the ocean up.
joe rogan
You don't pee in it?
david lee roth
I know people who have kids.
Don't fuck the ocean up.
joe rogan
Well, yeah, but that's not peeing.
david lee roth
I enjoyed my ocean.
I've had my ocean time.
joe rogan
Ocean's amazing.
david lee roth
Okay.
Now, on behalf of everybody else who depends on the ocean, don't pee in it.
joe rogan
You don't mean real pee.
david lee roth
You'll piss me off.
joe rogan
You mean like pollution.
david lee roth
Everything I say is poetry.
Come on.
joe rogan
I understand.
david lee roth
Come on.
joe rogan
I'm trying to decipher.
But what are you pissed off about?
We went from China to environmental concerns.
david lee roth
I'm pissed about everything.
Don't you watch the documentaries?
joe rogan
I watch some of them.
david lee roth
Pick any subject.
joe rogan
Yeah.
david lee roth
Any subject.
joe rogan
But, like, are you pissed off about, like, what are you pissed off about?
Commerce?
International commerce with China?
david lee roth
Are we still arguing over women's rights?
joe rogan
I think in some states, yes.
In some states, particularly with abortion rights, it's still a giant issue.
david lee roth
Are we still struggling over Roe versus Wade?
Really?
joe rogan
Yeah.
david lee roth
Okay.
I have the simplest solution.
Let's move around the subject board here a little bit.
Law enforcement.
There's a great subject, okay?
And we talk about sweeping reforms and defunding police and whatever.
Okay.
The only one who listens to both sides of any argument is the neighbors.
And I am your friendly neighbor, Dave.
joe rogan
Okay.
david lee roth
Alright.
joe rogan
Hi, Dave.
david lee roth
Anytime things spill out of control, I don't care if you got a cowboy hat or dreadlocks.
I don't care if you're a skinhead or you are rock and roll.
I have seen the party spill out of control.
I have been a major component in that party spilling out of control.
Me and my music.
You're going to need some law enforcement.
And whenever you talk about sweeping reforms, well, you ask me, Dave, I want you to reform your show a little bit.
My first thought is, let's see the money.
If you say, no, Dave, I'm going to pay you less and I'd like to see you change your show.
Well, so why would you expect anywhere else, okay?
Now, I grew up around law enforcement.
I grew up around military.
I was the only guy who wasn't law enforcement in my first karate class.
They were all four feet taller than me.
It's a natural thing, okay?
The idea that we're going to defund the police and expect what?
You gotta be crazy.
So here's your solution.
And that we haven't gotten to it, it's starting to fucking piss me off.
You gotta triple the paychecks.
And then you'll start getting the genius-level, combat-proof, full-blast, industrial-strength brains, because you're going to have to be a psychiatrist, a social worker, a Delta team member, a SWAT team fellow.
You're all in one.
I can get you that.
Let's start with $3,500 a week for patrol.
Wait a second.
Police chiefs should be making what that grubby fuck-shit lawyer down the street makes, which is $300 an hour.
Yeah, an hour.
And now, once you've established some proper, thoughtful paychecks, I have some reforms.
And I'll bet you we have an atmosphere that's a little bit more elastic.
Instead of this, well, I'm going to take away your lunch hour.
I don't know how to say fuck you in nine languages now.
On the other hand, I don't have any particular love for the uniform.
Well, I do.
5'11 uniform looks good.
But don't think for a second that I am all the way over on one side or another.
I am a left-wing liberal.
Rights, rights, rights, rights, rights.
Can you dig it?
joe rogan
Yeah.
david lee roth
Alright.
I'm with you.
I have no problem with shaving my head and joining a military force to defend those rights if I am called upon to do it.
I'm too old to do that, but I'm not too old for first aid.
Can you dig it?
joe rogan
I can dig it.
david lee roth
So I'm right down the middle.
Before my daddy died, he was in the wheelchair.
He waited until my sisters were out the door.
He says, go in the drawer.
I got some papers.
I says, what do you got?
We were co-conspirators, me and my dad.
He's gonna join Doctors Without Borders.
He's gonna go to Africa, do eye exams.
I says, how does that work with a wheelchair?
He says, I don't have to stand up to do eye exams.
Don't tell your sisters.
He died three months later.
unidentified
Okay?
david lee roth
This is a good interview.
joe rogan
Yeah, we're all over the place.
So I'm with you on the police thing.
The defunding the police thing is idealistically, I see what they're thinking.
They're thinking that there's too much police brutality, there's too many rogue cops, too many people that are unqualified to handle the job, and then they over-escalate situations, and we see those viral videos, and they're infuriating.
david lee roth
I can solve it with the color of America, which is green.
It's not black.
It's not white.
It's not whatever.
If you paycheck appropriately for people, then you can make your request.
Like, responsible.
joe rogan
Paycheck is one thing.
david lee roth
You want me to be responsible for the bullets in my gun?
Pay me to do it.
joe rogan
They need training.
They need much, much, much more training.
unidentified
You want me to train?
david lee roth
You pay me to do it.
joe rogan
For sure.
But they also need training.
I mean, the money should, look, it should be a very valuable position.
It's very difficult to attain.
Same as a teacher.
It's incredibly valuable for our culture, for our human beings that we're protecting and that we educate.
It should be a very high prestige job, but unfortunately it's not, whether it's school teacher or police officer.
It's the same kind of thing.
And I think police officers in particular are woefully under-trained.
And if you talk to people like Jocko Willink, who's a former Navy SEAL commander, he'll tell you that they should be spending somewhere in the neighborhood of like 60% of their time training.
So when they go into situations, they know exactly what to do, how to handle it, and they do it with discipline, the type of discipline that you get with special forces groups.
david lee roth
I completely agree with you.
joe rogan
That's how it should be.
david lee roth
Read my comic strip.
I have no particular love for the police.
I just understand human chemistry.
joe rogan
I have no love for abusive police, but I have all the love in the world for police that are doing their job and risking their life to help people and keep people safe.
I think that's what most of them are doing.
And most of them are infuriated by bad police work.
Most of them see guys being abusive and see horrible things that get escalated unnecessarily by insecure cops.
david lee roth
You know what?
Unfortunately, I think I'm the first one coming out of my bracket of entertainment to even talk like this.
I'll lose friends for even speaking like this.
What friends?
joe rogan
I don't think so.
david lee roth
Oh, no.
The left wing wants nothing to do with this.
The left wing routinely embarks on punishment.
joe rogan
Of the police.
david lee roth
Oh yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, but I don't think they understand what they're talking about when they're saying defund the police.
You're seeing that now in Minneapolis.
You're seeing it in New York City.
You're seeing it in a lot of these places that have defunded the police or at least taken the teeth out of the police.
Then you have radically escalating violence, radically escalating murder rates, break-ins.
It's horrific shit, and it's not the way to handle things.
You're just going to make people less safe, you're going to make it more dangerous, and you're going to make the cops less likely to engage.
Cops now are scared to go on calls because they don't want to wind up in a viral video.
They don't want to get sued.
david lee roth
I see it.
joe rogan
In New York City, they can civil sue cops now.
Civil suits are back.
david lee roth
I think...
That used to be kind of one-sided and it's not anymore.
You see the Democratic riots and you had a lot of long hairs and Mayor Daley, which was, you know, a real extreme lopsided event.
And today, I think we have an equal.
You say, what pisses you off?
joe rogan
Yeah.
david lee roth
I don't care if you got a man bun or a skin hit.
unidentified
Yeah.
david lee roth
I don't care if you're wearing camo on the dance floor.
We got both in this room.
I don't care if you're wearing camo on the dance floor or you are metro whatever.
I don't care who you're fucking or how hard.
But both sides are scaring each other's horses now.
And that's an anger moment for me.
Really, we're still arguing over these basics.
Voter rights?
Really?
Come on.
There are some real givens here.
Civil rights.
Really?
We haven't really advanced from my memory in the 60s, really, in terms of actual civil rights?
We're arguing over statues?
Really?
That pisses me off.
Seems small.
Seems like there's bigger issues.
We've explored some of them here.
And it's way easier to focus on a statue.
Then it is, what's going on with the climate?
Really?
We're still arguing if that's for real?
That pisses me off, because I love the ocean.
joe rogan
Well, the statues are right in front of you.
You know, something like the ocean is an enormous problem that requires international cooperation that's very difficult to attain.
That's an almost insurmountable problem.
But that statue is right there, and that guy was a slave owner.
And so they're like, take it down.
And I get that.
I get that they're trying to shape the world in a better place.
And I think a lot of the statues that they're taking down, here's the rub with a lot of the statues that they were taking down that were put up during the Civil Rights Movement of Confederate soldiers and stuff like that.
Those were put up in protest of the civil rights movement and they were really cheap.
They're really shitty statues.
They were put up at a time where there's people resisting the civil rights movement.
So the people that want to take down those statues, there's probably some real good arguments for that.
david lee roth
I fully support that.
joe rogan
But when you get back to, like, taking down statues of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, like, now you're getting a little crazy.
And I understand that a lot of those people were slave owners.
They were.
david lee roth
Wait, wait, let's go even crazier.
joe rogan
Yeah.
david lee roth
If you don't draw...
I don't want to walk past a statue of a Nazi.
unidentified
Right.
david lee roth
Okay.
I read a book, Lost Victories, by Mannheim, tank commander.
He's a brilliant tank commander.
He's a Nazi.
And I don't really want to walk past his statue, even though he's got some pretty good lessons in terms of combat.
joe rogan
You read his book?
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
What is it about?
david lee roth
Tank warfare.
joe rogan
About tank strategies?
david lee roth
Armored strategy, okay, and so forth.
joe rogan
Why did you read a book on armored tank strategy?
david lee roth
It's all connected, all right?
You could play that out on the board.
joe rogan
Right.
david lee roth
Do you play chess at all?
Have you ever played chess?
joe rogan
I have played chess, but I don't.
david lee roth
What do you imagine when you play chess?
joe rogan
I'm not very good at it.
david lee roth
Just pieces?
joe rogan
I imagine what it would be like to be that chick from Queen's Gambit and kicking everybody's ass.
david lee roth
There you go.
joe rogan
I don't really know how to play.
david lee roth
I hear horses.
When I play Go, it's cavalry.
joe rogan
Oh, really?
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
I imagine that it's cavalry and I'm going to work your flank.
I'm going to crush your middle.
I'm going to buckle that left first because you're right-handed, right?
yeah yeah so I'm giving you Yeah, that's okay.
joe rogan
I don't have enough time to learn to go.
david lee roth
But where were we?
joe rogan
We were a strategy.
We were...
Your tank book.
Oh, Nazis.
Statues.
Statues of bad people.
david lee roth
Don't draw a line.
Okay.
The statues...
If you're gonna start to argue about it and it becomes a huge contention, then it virally will expand to something ugly, like Hamilton, which was the play that got made in a movie, got disincluded from winning an award because Hamilton owned slaves.
Now, the individuals who wrote that play probably never even conceived of that, and it's a play That is heavily black Spanish speaking, ethnic hood, whatever you want to call it.
It's a whole new approach to that moment in history.
And they're disincluded from awards because the hero of the play, which if I'm not mistaken is not played by a Caucasian, in real life owned slaves.
Look this up.
This is a real thing.
joe rogan
I'm not a big fan of awards, so it doesn't really bother me that much.
david lee roth
I loved award shows until they became an opportunity.
I was watching TV when the very first one showed.
It was Marlon Brando had an Indian Little Feather come up and that was...
joe rogan
Accept his award.
david lee roth
It was unbelievable.
Oh my God!
What happened there?
You dig?
Then you also started to run into, I'm going to say, an endless list of names as acceptance speeches.
And that's ass-kissing.
Now, most people, if they have nothing clear to say, will sit up there and go, oh my god, oh my god, I don't believe I'm up here.
Joe, I don't believe I'm up here.
I want to thank Ray and Stu and Carl and Louise and Bobby and Noah and Joshua and Tina.
Acceptance speeches used to be an opportunity for those of us in the audience who may be behind you.
Show me your footsteps.
joe rogan
Yes.
david lee roth
When Kurosawa, the great director, you know, you would know it from Sanjuro, Seven Samurai, etc., you had a one-sentence acceptance speech.
I might as well have it tattooed on my leg and read it every day.
To be an artist means you can never turn away your eyes.
unidentified
Hmm.
david lee roth
That's worth the whole show.
unidentified
No.
david lee roth
You walk away from that changed, especially if your parents can explain it to you.
joe rogan
Show me your footsteps is a great way to describe the best benefit that you get out of listening to artists talk about things.
david lee roth
You just won?
joe rogan
Yeah.
david lee roth
Tell me, how did you climb this mountain?
joe rogan
What did you use to get?
david lee roth
Why would you even think of it?
joe rogan
But isn't that the special part?
And then instead of letting them talk, they get like 90 seconds and they're standing on a podium and it's all completely unnatural and it's all very quick.
They have to have, if you're going to be an artist, you can never turn your eyes.
They have to have something succinct.
It has to be something quick.
david lee roth
Then, like Grandma used to say, get in front of it, Joe.
joe rogan
Get in front of it.
unidentified
I mean, practice.
joe rogan
Think of what you're going to say in case you win.
david lee roth
Yes.
And it's what will you share with those behind you?
joe rogan
The problem is now there's too many people that are deeply invested in saying things that they think people want to hear rather than saying things that express their true feelings or their true thoughts or their true emotions.
david lee roth
I think we're using opportunities frequently as an artist.
It's tempting.
This lack of box of chocolates is so tempting.
These broad-based generalizations and being able to go, wow, they love my music, therefore they'll love my children, my choice of car, my third wife, and this Broadway play I wrote.
No.
We love your music.
They love my voice.
Therefore, they'll love my acting and my clothing line.
Watch out.
You follow?
So...
When we win something for our acting or our music, sometimes we'll fall prey to that tempting generalization.
We'll go, well, then they're going to love my political mindset, my medical mindset, my social mindset, and I'm going to share that now.
No, no.
Elected or voted for you because of excellence in an area.
I know I'm up here for acting, but I want to talk about animal rights.
joe rogan
Honestly, though, I don't...
Honestly, most of the time, what's infuriating to me is that it doesn't resonate as being genuine.
I don't really think that that's what they're thinking about.
I think they want you to think that they're deep and profound, that they're thinking about these things.
And that's what drives people the most crazy.
That virtue signaling, the clear and obvious virtue signaling, where you know they're doing it because they think it'll be good for their career to say the things they're saying.
They think that it'll endear them with the people that cast films and write films and produce films or whatever the fuck else they're doing, television shows.
Because they want to be accepted.
They want to be a part of the chosen ones.
And the best way to do that is to use that time in a performative way instead of like an honest, genuine method of expression or time of expression where they're on that stage and they speak from the heart and they have something that is like really deeply moving.
david lee roth
You see how your hands are moving?
joe rogan
Yeah.
david lee roth
This is called tactical humility.
joe rogan
Tactical humility?
david lee roth
I just want to thank all of you.
joe rogan
Is it fake?
david lee roth
No, no, no.
It's like you would use that hand.
It's the first sign that something's coming.
When you see tactical humility, it's an act.
You know, I just like this and that.
joe rogan
It can't be real with some folks?
david lee roth
Sorry?
joe rogan
Can it be real with some folks?
When some folks are doing it, that's how they really feel.
It depends entirely on the person and what they're expressing.
Because someone can do almost the exact same thing and it seems like horseshit.
And then someone else would do it, and it's so genuine and so true, and it resonates with you.
We can tell.
We can tell.
Most people can tell.
Some people can tell.
That's probably better to describe.
Some people can't tell.
Some people just, they buy the nonsense.
Maybe people that are like full all in with the ideology, you know, full woke.
They just, oh, he's saying the right things.
She's doing the right things.
They're on the right page.
david lee roth
So you're kind of joining a club.
joe rogan
Yes.
david lee roth
You're sort of joining with...
joe rogan
Instead of it being genuine.
Like, when someone is genuine, when someone's authentic, it resonates.
But it's not common.
david lee roth
My mother's 90 years old.
She's in and out.
She's in the home.
Time before last, she mentioned that my socks were horrible.
Pronounced, you're not mine.
Told me go.
Get out of the room.
joe rogan
Your socks were horrible?
david lee roth
Yeah.
What did you have on?
That's her sense of humor.
joe rogan
What kind of socks you had?
david lee roth
They didn't match my belt or some shit.
joe rogan
And she got upset?
david lee roth
She pretended to be upset.
joe rogan
Oh.
david lee roth
Your socks are horrible.
You're not mine.
And then she drifts.
That's her sense of humor.
joe rogan
Right.
david lee roth
Mom taught me, jeez, I was probably a teenager the first time I heard it, that only mediocre talents are complementary of each other.
The real talents are competing with each other.
Now go do your socks.
joe rogan
Only mediocre talents are complementary of each other.
david lee roth
Yeah, the real deal is competing with each other.
joe rogan
Yeah, but can't you be both?
david lee roth
No.
joe rogan
Why not?
david lee roth
Because I'm trying to be controversial.
unidentified
You're trying to be controversial.
david lee roth
Can you join the club and transcend it?
I grew up in summer camp going, table number nine rules.
The rest of you are number one.
And all the other tables were our cousins and our brothers and looked just like us.
joe rogan
Well, you need some competition, correct?
david lee roth
You need fear.
joe rogan
Right.
david lee roth
You need fear.
You better put it in your breakfast cereal and you better put it in your vodka before you go to sleep.
You dig?
You need to have the fear that you're not going to get...
What they're getting.
Even if it's totally imagined.
Do you follow?
joe rogan
That's the pro with seeing another act.
david lee roth
And if you're not competing with somebody else, you should have the fear that you're not maximizing your talent and you're wasting your time.
joe rogan
So, but that's what I'm saying is that's the pro.
Like, say, if you went to a concert and you saw Hendrix live, it would scare you.
You'd be like, Jesus Christ, we gotta get on the ball.
That was what Eric Clapton said, right?
He saw Hendrix play, and he was like, what am I doing?
david lee roth
It would compel me...
joe rogan
To get going.
david lee roth
To get going and say to myself...
Well, okay, I'm not a guitar player per se.
Let's think of a vocalist.
joe rogan
Okay.
david lee roth
Who's one of the best solo artists ever, time not specific?
Tina Turner or Rod Stewart?
joe rogan
There you go.
david lee roth
Watch one or both?
You're gonna walk away going, okay, whatever talent I have, I'm not putting in enough time.
10,000 hours is for sissies.
That's the white boy version.
The Asian version is 10 hours a day every day for 10 years.
That's closer to 30,000-40,000 hours.
Have I done my 40,000 hours?
I have.
Alex Van Halen has.
The dentist who's building my tooth is a 50,000-hour instructor.
joe rogan
Do you and him talk?
Does he send you images?
david lee roth
Who?
joe rogan
The dentist that's building your tooth?
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
You just told him what you want.
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
I want a gold frame.
david lee roth
Yeah, and today it requires a 50,000-hour surgeon to duplicate a trip to a downtown $15 visit of a dentist in 1926. Yeah, but it'll probably fit better.
It's the same fellas who do the movie teeth.
When you see, like, Johnny Depp with the pirate teeth with the sapphires and the gold and stuff, it's showbiz city.
So, of course, they're building...
Come on, how many vampire movies are there?
No teeth, no vampire, Joey!
unidentified
That's true.
joe rogan
Fake teeth for a vampire movie.
david lee roth
Hello!
You have to have it.
It's so...
In showbiz city.
But it's curious that to, you know, move to that...
Anyways, it is a mindset, and I am continually thrilled, even now, especially with YouTube, you know, being able to access the past at a moment.
It used to be, go look it up at the Encyclopedia Britannica.
How many times did I get up from the dinner table and start rifling through that thin paper?
joe rogan
Right, and you had to make sure that that was real, that what the encyclopedia was saying was real.
You couldn't cross-reference it with other online sources.
david lee roth
If it was even in the encyclopedia.
And now, literally as we speak here, we can rev it up.
I used to have to sit in front of the television at the million dollar movie and hope that that thing is going to come on at a certain time.
I'm going to get to see this one routine quickly and then it's gone.
Whether that was a dance scene or a fight scene or whatever.
You follow?
Um...
You can dial up, for example, dial up going down to Argentina, the Nicholas Brothers, okay?
This is a flash team from the 30s and the 40s of tap dancing, but gymnastic shit, you know, flying through each other and, you know, this kind of thing.
If you knew that movie was coming on at 11 o'clock on Channel 5 on Thursday, that was the only time it was there for two years, and you better make sure you're in front of that TV. To watch it once.
Okay?
Look up the Hell's a Poppin' Jitterbug scene with...
joe rogan
Oh, we've seen this before.
Yeah, it's amazing.
david lee roth
You dig?
I'll talk as the fellas go on here.
They're going to break into a dance kind of a thing.
If you even knew these guys existed, then, hey...
Now, some of the stuff that they're using, you see on the floor there?
They salted the floor.
That's called billiards chalk.
It's not meant for traction, alright?
It's meant to do slides and stuff.
And it's what you put on your hand to make sure the billiard cue slides through your hand.
It makes it slippery.
Here you go.
Now watch.
These guys are the most famous tap dancers in history, arguably, and there's no taps on the bottoms of their shoes.
joe rogan
Oh, really?
They're just tapping with regular shoes?
david lee roth
Yep.
joe rogan
Can we hear it?
david lee roth
Okay.
It's just the band is playing off to the side live, actually.
It's not place recorded.
Watch how they spin.
Watch how they slide.
Okay?
joe rogan
Yeah, it's very impressive stuff.
I mean, just the athleticism involved in this kind of dancing is incredible.
david lee roth
It's crazy flexibility.
It would come on Channel 13 with Cal Worthington at 2 in the morning, and I would have to position myself, okay?
joe rogan
Keep the music going, Jamie.
david lee roth
Look up the Berry Brothers cane routine.
joe rogan
But look at this guy's movement.
That's amazing.
david lee roth
Yep.
And this is the stuff that I was positioned in when I was a little kid.
joe rogan
That is not something you can do with meniscus tears.
david lee roth
There you go.
Watch.
They're going to really start sliding around too.
These are the Uptown fellas.
Okay?
And they go in class.
They're always wearing tuxedos.
Look at that.
joe rogan
Look at that.
That is amazing.
david lee roth
And when you combine this spirit with rock and roll.
No, you don't do these moves in rock.
No, that looks like Diamond Dave.
joe rogan
They're dropping down to the splits and everything.
david lee roth
See how the floor is all slipped up and everything?
joe rogan
That's incredible.
Oh my god.
david lee roth
Okay, it is in this spirit that I've always carried out what I do for a living.
I knew about these guys before I was a teenager.
Can you dig it?
joe rogan
Look at that.
david lee roth
That's insane.
And it's all done with a smile.
It's all done with finesse.
And there's no taps on the bottoms of those shoes, huh?
See that?
See the slide?
Boom!
joe rogan
I mean, where does one even go to learn that?
david lee roth
I can take you exactly where to go to learn it.
I learned it from the short one on the left, his protege, Jimmy Z. Can you still do the splits?
I can.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
That's awesome.
david lee roth
Put up the Barry Brothers Kane routine.
Now is the downtown hip-hop version of what those guys were doing.
And these aren't moves that you do on stage.
This is the savvy.
See, these guys are more ghetto.
These guys are more a little bit rough around the edges.
Yo, bam!
Bam, homie!
unidentified
Bam!
david lee roth
Whack, whack, whack!
Look familiar?
Soothed.
Oh yeah, look at that shit.
Savvy.
unidentified
Smokin'.
joe rogan
It's got nunchucks.
david lee roth
This is the Mike Tyson version of tap dancing.
Yo!
See how it's got knees and elbows to it?
It's not so specific.
Like life, dawg!
unidentified
Bah!
david lee roth
Boom!
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Wow.
david lee roth
Now, which one are you, Joe?
joe rogan
What year is this?
david lee roth
Are you the Nicholas Brothers or the Berry Brothers?
joe rogan
I'm neither one of those.
Oh, what is his 40s?
1940s?
david lee roth
Yeah.
30s and 40s.
These are flash teams, they're called.
joe rogan
Flash teams?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's what they would call dancing teams like this?
david lee roth
Yeah.
joe rogan
What's weird is that this doesn't exist anymore.
david lee roth
Not like this.
joe rogan
Yeah, right?
I mean...
david lee roth
And it is in this spirit.
You see the difference now between the Barry brothers and Nicholas.
Nicholas brothers were educated.
They have their elbows up, classy.
They're putting that bandana.
These guys, these are street corner, dog.
Yeah, fuck it.
Who cares?
It's the spirits that drive.
Laugh to win, homie.
Whoa!
joe rogan
Whoa, that guy did a flying triangle.
david lee roth
Oh, you just saw that in your last fight.
Look at that.
joe rogan
That is wild.
david lee roth
Yeah, see, that's street corner.
And in that spirit is Van Halen.
In this very spirit is laugh to win.
In this very spirit is lead with your face.
And I've been places with mine you wouldn't go with a loaded pistol.
Mm-mm.
Nothing but yeah.
unidentified
It is amazing that that art form doesn't exist anymore.
david lee roth
Same kind of a thing.
And you wonder, where does the drive come from?
The Spirit is...
I want to learn that.
I still do.
joe rogan
You still do?
david lee roth
Yeah.
joe rogan
How are your knees?
david lee roth
Great.
joe rogan
Really?
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
From years and years of stretch and stretch.
Stretch and stretch.
I can still do all of my stuff, just not as much of it.
joe rogan
Oh.
david lee roth
You bet.
Now, I am not a healthy guy, okay?
The best part of yoga is when you're done.
joe rogan
You're not healthy?
david lee roth
The best part of Pilates is when it's over.
The best part of the weight stack is finishing.
joe rogan
What do you mean by you're not a healthy guy, though?
david lee roth
By nature, no.
By nature, I was not raised to healthy food.
I was not raised to healthy practices.
joe rogan
But I would imagine you eat healthy food now.
david lee roth
Yes.
joe rogan
So you're healthy.
david lee roth
I eat a croco diet, what a crocodile would have, you know, catch a bird, some foliage.
unidentified
What'd you have today, Ray?
david lee roth
I caught a chicken.
That sounds like a crocodile, right?
joe rogan
I would imagine a crocodile would have a similar sounding voice.
david lee roth
Yes.
But I was raised when McDonald's was special.
Going to McDonald's was a special night.
That wasn't convenience food.
It was like...
joe rogan
A rare treat.
Yeah.
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
What do you eat now?
Do you just meat and vegetables?
david lee roth
No, I try to stay away from the meat first things, probably about four days out of the week, okay?
And it's oatmeal, rice, beans...
You know, the usual veg.
But I can't go too long without eating meat.
About every four days.
joe rogan
Why do you try to stay away?
Do you try to stay away from it?
david lee roth
I gotta keep my weight down.
I do everything a little better.
joe rogan
It seems slim.
david lee roth
Well, I have that gene that Labrador retrievers had where I'm always hungry and I'll eat until I'm sick.
That's why Labradors train so well.
They've got that C4 gene or whatever it is where they're always hungry.
So if you've got a treat, he's going to learn real quick.
If I do this, I get another treat.
You're working his appetite.
I have the same thing.
A lot of people do.
Where I learned from my parents, try everything, and most of it's going to be pretty good with an open mind.
So there's really no kind of food that I have ever had that I haven't enjoyed.
joe rogan
But is it meat that makes you put on weight?
unidentified
Yeah.
david lee roth
Primarily, it's meat that puts...
Yeah, absolutely.
It's the fat from the meats and dairy that really sock it to me.
Carbs, the beans, the rest of it, no, the weight just comes right off.
But the meat really socks it to me.
joe rogan
That's interesting.
david lee roth
And the fat content is the big deal.
I always say that you can't outrun the french fry.
You may stay real skinny, but you're still running all that fat through your heart valves.
The same thing with red meats of whatever kind.
And If we sit down, I'll always be the last one at dinner, I'll always eat the slowest, and I'll eat more than anybody twice my weight.
It's just the way I'm wired.
So I've really had to, like, buckle into that and be real careful.
What I do, I do better if I'm staying tight and ready for flight.
I'm still the same size as I was in college.
joe rogan
What do you do for exercise?
Just riding your bike or other stuff?
david lee roth
Depends on what we're doing and where.
joe rogan
Do you still do martial arts?
david lee roth
Oh yeah, every day.
Every day, some element of it.
Forms have come in real, real handy.
And especially forms with the different swords.
Kendo is one division of this.
Aido.
You can draw that.
Aido.
A-I-D-O. It's a drawing way, okay?
Is easily half the battle here.
And that we do with wooden swords.
Do it without a sword.
Do it with a live blade as well.
And...
Oh, you know what?
On my Instagram...
I believe there is a picture in my stories, Instagram stories, David Lee Roth.
There's a picture of me with a sword on the stories.
You can dial that up.
It's forms done with a live blade in this case.
And, you know, somebody my age, I'm not taking impact.
You're not going to hit me ever again.
I'm not throwing punches.
I just had an operation on one of my thumbs, you know, that finally gave up on me.
You're on my big toe.
Just had an operation on my big toe.
Operation big toe?
This is all from contact.
joe rogan
What's wrong with your big toe?
david lee roth
Kicking the heavy bag for how many years?
joe rogan
Yeah?
david lee roth
Yeah, that started it.
And then, and then...
joe rogan
The toe joint?
unidentified
Uh-huh.
joe rogan
Corrosion of the joint or something?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Would they have done?
david lee roth
We call it wearing out the brake pads.
joe rogan
Yeah, what'd they do?
What do they do for that?
david lee roth
Clean it out.
Scrape.
Scrape and clean.
If it's real bad, then you can put in an artificial joint.
joe rogan
In your toe.
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
Well, you know how important a big toe is.
joe rogan
Big.
david lee roth
But, you know, after how many years of hitting heavy bag and or light pad work, etc., it's impact.
And it may well be impact that you're not designed for, like walking and running, and even walking and running competitively.
I mean, did God build us to go, okay, now he's right here to run 100 miles?
No, I think not.
Yeah.
You know, he built us, you know, there you go.
Oh, that's my teacher.
joe rogan
Is it?
david lee roth
Yep.
joe rogan
And this is, uh, this is Idaho?
david lee roth
That's, uh, no, no, he's, uh...
joe rogan
What is he doing with that stick?
What form is this?
Form of martial art?
david lee roth
Um, he's...
Let me see what he's actually doing.
joe rogan
This is Ido?
david lee roth
Okay, this is all the same kind of stuff that you're going to do with your sword.
And this is...
unidentified
You know...
david lee roth
Yeah, see he's doing all the same stuff that he's doing with his sword.
joe rogan
And the idea behind all these flowery movements is what?
Just to get more competent?
unidentified
Cross training.
joe rogan
There you are.
david lee roth
Cross training.
Isometrics, plyometrics.
joe rogan
Look at you.
david lee roth
You follow?
joe rogan
Yeah.
unidentified
Anyways...
david lee roth
It's everything that you would do recuperating, for example.
Lunges are all included in that.
Everything that you might do in your yoga class and in all of that that takes place in the gym is in forms.
But forms are something that you're going to get a little better at.
If you spend all of your time simply making impact, then you've developed one branch of the martial arts.
Actual combat, actual fighting is part of it.
Are you going to be doing that when you're 80?
I plan on turning 96 like my uncle.
There is a slow version of it is Tai Chi, and it's slow because they charge by the hour.
The faster it moves, sure.
But think of it as cross-training.
Is it actual fighting?
No.
joe rogan
No, I'm more aware.
david lee roth
But it is, like, if you have shoulder or, you know, that kind of a thing, it may be because of a repetitive motion.
And forms are way more fun to do, way more entertaining and engaging than just, let's do 20 more lunges.
Let's do 50 burpees.
All of your burpees are included in the forms, but a form is something that you can get better and better at, and you can do it in a very small space without a class, without a teacher, without a bag, without gloves, and without So do you do any striking anymore?
joe rogan
Do you hit bags or anything like that anymore?
david lee roth
No, I don't.
unidentified
You're done?
david lee roth
No.
The closest I get to that is with, you know, bow training, a sword, wooden sword, okay?
But I'm a result of impact.
You know, my thumbs, my feet, my back, etc.
I started in 1966. Hitting the heavy bag and kicking the heavy bag and getting, you know, hitting and making contact.
And I loved it.
And I miss it dearly.
Frankly, I'd love to get back out on the mats.
Kills me that, you know, I've reached that point now where I can't do it anymore.
joe rogan
Yeah, I'm scared to reach that point.
That's one of the reasons why I train so hard, to make sure my body is resilient enough so that I can keep training.
unidentified
A lot of maintenance stuff, you know?
david lee roth
It's really maintenance.
It's like taking care of a boat.
Most of it isn't going anywhere.
Most of it is taking care of the boat before it goes anywhere.
Right?
Two hours of maintenance versus one hour of sailing, I think.
joe rogan
Probably, yeah.
david lee roth
So why keep the weight down?
It's easier on my back.
Why do I go on the bike?
It's easier on me than the weight stack.
joe rogan
Why, you know, But you're still jamming, still doing music, and you just released a song.
david lee roth
Well, I got a song out.
Why put out a record in these days if you're going to have 14 songs, unless you have devout fans?
That's great.
And when you're flavor of the week for the first two, three times, great.
Your fans are devout.
You become...
It's like a Bible.
Oh my God, I'm a Drake fan.
I'm going to buy everything that Drake buys, puts out, and consume it as if it were nutrition, right?
At my point...
Jesus, Paul McCartney puts out 14 songs.
The human thing is to pick your favorite and your worst and skip the rest because there's nine other records available right here in my shoe phone.
I don't have to go to Canterbury Records anymore, buy one record at a time, go home, sit and listen just to that record.
Your wristwatch contains all of the music ever recorded.
The new one.
The new Series 12 wristwatch contains your iPod.
You follow my reasoning.
The human condition is, I get it, forget it.
It's like monkey.
joe rogan
How do you consume music now?
david lee roth
Short burst, short dose.
If I'm listening to a specific artist...
joe rogan
Do you do it digitally?
Like, how do you do it?
david lee roth
Most of what I do is Sirius XM, okay?
And that has a wild diversity to it.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
So you just pick a channel and just...
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
My favorite channels are...
Yeah, just about this order.
The Bluegrass Channel...
Outlaw Country, Hip Hop Nation, Rock the Bells, Groove Channel, then the two BPM and Aria, and then I listen to Fox and MSNBC. You listen to Fox and MSNBC just to get a balanced perspective of propaganda?
Oh, you bet.
joe rogan
From both sides of the polls.
david lee roth
Oh, I've been on Cavuto's show a couple of times, and I agree with Rachel.
unidentified
Yeah.
david lee roth
I'm a concern.
joe rogan
Well, I think that's probably healthy.
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
I get concerned with people that are on one side of the ideology 100%.
I don't think that's realistic, and I think it's more in line with tribal thinking than it is with real objective, discerned reasoning.
Someone who's like really looked at the issues and thought about it from a balanced perspective and really looked at the pros and cons of each individual aspect of whatever problem we're trying to address as a culture.
david lee roth
Pop used to say to me, I don't choose my patients, whoever walks through the door.
And we used that in Van Halen.
We played to every different kind of neighborhood.
There's four kinds of Mexican.
You have Tejano, you have Lowrider, you have Progressive UCLA.
In the 70s, and they all required a different kind of music.
joe rogan
Yeah.
david lee roth
Okay?
The Van Halens listened to Pomp and Circumstance at their graduation.
At my graduation, they played Samba Pati by Santana on something called A Loop in 1972. Hey, that shit's repeating.
Somebody better fix the record.
No, no, it's supposed to do that essay.
joe rogan
A loop was real back then on purpose?
david lee roth
Oh yeah!
joe rogan
On a record player?
How would you do that on a loop?
david lee roth
Oh they just put it on a tape with reel to reel and played it.
But the Van Halen audience We're good to go.
It's Harleys and Ferraris.
You've got the whole left-wing contingent of the arts and letters community.
What's happening in terms of liberal arts, because you can tell we put a lot of work into everything we did.
The genius in Van Halen is in the composition.
We did our 10,000 hours before we made our first record.
That's old school training.
It's closer to martial arts.
We never took around a demo tape.
We made the assertion that if we're as good as we think we are, we'll get discovered.
And if we don't get discovered, it's because we suck.
joe rogan
But were there demo tapes back then?
People have demo tapes?
david lee roth
Oh, sure.
joe rogan
Yeah?
david lee roth
Oh, you bet.
joe rogan
And that was a big thing?
david lee roth
Oh, yeah.
But you made them on a reel-to-reel on a TEAC. When did you guys realize it was happening?
joe rogan
Like, when did you really realize, like, holy shit, it's taken off?
david lee roth
Right away.
joe rogan
Right away.
david lee roth
Oh yeah.
There was no development period for us.
The only thing that remains exactly the same from the beginning of its life, from the beginning to the very end, is a sea urchin.
It looks exactly the same.
And maybe Bruce Springsteen.
joe rogan
You know what?
I was listening to Bruce Springsteen the other day.
I was listening to I'm on Fire.
Imagine playing that song today.
Hey, little girl, is your daddy home?
Did he go and leave you all alone?
Mm-hmm.
I got a bad desire.
david lee roth
I know.
joe rogan
And she's 16. She's sweet 16. But that song in particular, that is a crazy song.
I heard a cover of it by some country music star who was singing a cover of that, like a recent cover.
I'm like, hey man, you probably might not want to sing that fucking song anymore.
david lee roth
Senses of humor change.
joe rogan
Well, that's not a sense of humor.
That's not about humor.
It's a weird song.
Hey, little girl, is your daddy home?
Did he go and leave you all alone?
Mm-hmm.
I got a bad desire.
david lee roth
Okay, is that a teenage kid singing to a teenage kid?
Because Bruce will tell you I'm a liar.
He says it right in the first pages of his autobiography.
joe rogan
I don't know what it is.
david lee roth
He goes on, I was never a cowboy.
I never worked in the steam yards.
So if that's a teenager singing to a teenager...
That's the way you think as a teenager.
joe rogan
A teenager doesn't call other teenagers a little girl.
david lee roth
I'm being Alan Dershowitz on behalf of Mr. Springsteen here.
joe rogan
I wonder what it is.
david lee roth
He was simply emulating the thinking of a mutually aged individual, but you're looking at him as a 70-year-old looking at your daughter, and I would concur.
joe rogan
What the fuck?
Yeah, I'm looking at him as like a creepy 40-year-old.
david lee roth
I'm sorry?
joe rogan
I'm looking at it like a creepy 40-year-old talking to an 11-year-old or something.
unidentified
Exactly.
david lee roth
Exactly.
joe rogan
I'm looking at the worst possible charitable example.
david lee roth
You've got to get back to where your streets are full of heroes on a last chance power slide show.
joe rogan
I'd love that too.
I'm always curious as to why someone writes what they write and where it's coming from and what they're trying to channel.
He's got some amazing fucking songs.
david lee roth
He becomes the character.
I don't do that.
He becomes the character.
He becomes the soldier who sings Born in the USA. He becomes the kid sitting next to his dad in my brand new used car.
joe rogan
I think he might have been the guy singing Brilliant Disguise, though.
Because that was right after he got out of a bad divorce.
I think that might have been him.
david lee roth
But it's a character.
For example, in contrast, my songs, lyrically, I wrote all of the lyrics in anything that you sing.
To be perfectly honest, it was all run through Alex Van Halen's brain seven times before it was approved.
So you have a mutuality here, okay?
I saw it coming from professional orchestral training, all right?
Two of my mentors on reeds, I played saxophone, were Peter and Pearl Sikofsky, first and second, chair clarinet, and the LA Philharmonic.
These are my cousins, okay?
And I learned a great deal from them in terms of formative music.
Emotional content can be utilized lyrically or melodically if you even know it exists.
So for example, we can sing about jumping.
I ran down the street and I jumped and my tennis shoes hit the street first and I'm wearing Converse.
Okay.
Or we can create somehow, lyrically, the feeling of jumping.
So when we jump, unless it's in slow motion, jump!
That's drinking that purple scissor or whatever.
joe rogan
Scissor?
david lee roth
If you're drinking scissor, that may be what it feels like to jump.
But in fact, now, in your world of MMA, you jump!
And that's how we sing it.
Now, when we dance, we want to dance all night.
So we dance.
And you don't have to speak English to understand the subtext of how this works.
joe rogan
What is it like to make a song like that and know that it affected millions of people?
Millions of people would hear Dance the Night Away.
david lee roth
Well, children, what did we do today that's going to benefit the rest of us?
We're going to jump, Dad.
We're going to dance.
And what else are we going to do?
These are all verbs, by the way.
That's not a coincidence either.
Now, in retrospect, I can look back.
But, you know, we don't jog.
We run.
And who are we running with?
joe rogan
The devil.
david lee roth
Do you follow?
So...
What is the sound of jogging?
Have you ever done road work to accommodate fighting and so forth?
It sounds like this.
That's endless.
So many miles I remember.
Years and years I ran and ran and ran.
But we need a mean part to that.
And it started off mean.
unidentified
Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh.
david lee roth
And I asked, what does it sound like to run?
What does it feel like to run?
What will you remember if you've run the marathon?
You know what you're going to remember?
T-t-t.
I swear to God.
If you're going to Panama, who even fucking knows where that is?
But it sounds a lot like, and I've said that 10 million times.
Debbie Sierra took me to the prom, put $20 in my pocket, and said, we're going to the prom in high school.
And it was right in your head.
Do you follow?
So how do you feel like Panama?
What's tropical?
What's exotic?
What's a little bit dangerous?
joe rogan
I understand what you're trying to convey in your songs, but I'm saying, what does it feel like to know that your songs have impacted millions and millions of people?
Like, is it a satisfying feeling?
Do you feel like a life well lived?
Like, what does it feel like?
david lee roth
I feel like we've made a contribution.
I think we add it.
unidentified
I feel like, ah, yeah!
david lee roth
Contribution is my word.
If you have to choose a word, pick a word.
What is your word?
If we have to put one on your gravestone, what's your word?
joe rogan
I don't know.
david lee roth
Pick one.
joe rogan
I have to think about that for a while.
david lee roth
You're on the spot now.
Mine's contribution.
joe rogan
Yeah, I don't think I would pick a spot.
I'd have to think.
david lee roth
Contribution.
What's yours?
joe rogan
I don't know.
david lee roth
What is your law?
joe rogan
Do you have one?
david lee roth
On Thermopylae, where the Spartans gave it up.
And remember, they lost that last fight.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, let's not rub that in.
david lee roth
There's one of the most famous poems in history.
It's only two sentences long.
And it's a little sarcastic.
It was carved into the wall right after the battle.
It says, tell the Spartans.
Stranger passing by.
Here, obedient to their laws, we lie.
It means that's the law.
We're forever.
And when you have a law or a word, it doesn't matter if you win or lose.
This is what I mean by the Jamaican bobsled team.
They came in dead last, flipped the sled, and almost killed themselves.
And it's the most valuable t-shirt of the entire Olympics.
Why?
Same spirit.
It's not novelty.
Because they came back three times and won the Nationals again.
joe rogan
Well, it was novelty because, holy shit, Jamaica has a bobsled team.
Everybody was fascinated because everybody knows there's no ice in Jamaica.
david lee roth
Yes, but they took it dead serious.
I interviewed the coach.
unidentified
Of course they did.
joe rogan
They're in the Olympics.
david lee roth
I interviewed Devin, the coach.
He was British SAS. Their strength and training coach was British SAS. He was a no-fuck-around guy.
Serious.
I was in radio for four and a half months when Stern went.
unidentified
I remember.
joe rogan
I remember.
david lee roth
What have you been fired from?
joe rogan
How fucked was that?
david lee roth
What have you ever been fired from?
unidentified
Walmart?
joe rogan
Was that devastating?
Getting fired from that gig?
david lee roth
Are you kidding?
What have you been fired from?
McDonald's?
I got fired from playing too much ethnic music.
I got fired for having too much of a view like we're doing right now.
joe rogan
Well, the problem was you were taking over a time slot that had been clearly established by arguably the greatest radio broadcaster in the history of the world.
david lee roth
I agree with that, and I still agree with it.
I listen to Howard regularly.
joe rogan
But when you take over that time slot, you can't win.
david lee roth
No, no.
No one wins.
You can't win if they expect you to be the same thing.
joe rogan
You should have taken over it after somebody else got fired.
david lee roth
My shit, my ratings were going up.
The Arbitrons, everything was zooming, man.
We were booming.
And what they wanted was a repeat thing.
Of what Howard was doing, and I just refused to do that.
joe rogan
But wait a minute.
If your ratings were going up, I thought that's all they care about.
david lee roth
Nope.
I was untenable.
joe rogan
My God.
david lee roth
I was playing black music in the background.
I was bringing in guests that had nothing to do with rock and roll.
joe rogan
What were you supposed to do?
Like when they hired you, what did they say to you?
david lee roth
Well, what they said was, be yourself.
But I think what they expected was a duplication of a hero.
And I'm not a duplication.
Even when I try to duplicate...
joe rogan
But did you have these conversations with them?
Where you said, listen, I'm just going to be free.
I want to play my own music.
What did they expect?
Did they expect you were going to do all talking...
david lee roth
Yes, and they expected that I was going to duplicate what would have come before because it seems to be a tradition.
joe rogan
But you had done Stern a few times.
You knew what it was like.
david lee roth
Nevertheless, when you put me in charge, it's a lot closer to what we're doing here.
joe rogan
Right.
david lee roth
And the kind of...
Do you know the term wabasabi?
It means that which is a little roughed up at the edges.
joe rogan
Well, you've done a lot of stuff like this, right?
You've done your own version.
You were doing your own version of a podcast for a while.
david lee roth
Nevertheless, before that show?
No, this was 15 years ago.
joe rogan
No, but I mean recently.
So you have been able to kind of do your own thing, what you actually enjoy doing.
david lee roth
Yes.
joe rogan
But then there was executives involved.
There was a bunch of other people that were poking and prodding.
And despite the fact that the ratings were going up, They were still not happy with what you were doing.
david lee roth
We were changing audience.
I have no problem.
I would play Bob Marley.
And they would say, you can't play this.
You have a rock and roll audience.
And I'd go, this is what rock and rollers listen to on vacation.
And they'd go, no, no, no serious quote.
They would say, no, no, we want you to play Nickelback.
What?
Yes, yes.
These were the two.
We want you to play, it was Nickelback and Skinner.
And I said, I have news for you.
When Leonard Skinner goes to the Bahamas on vacation, They listen to Bob.
joe rogan
So was the show music?
david lee roth
Bob Marley is the sound of vacation.
joe rogan
Was the show music?
david lee roth
To rock and rollers.
Oh, I was playing background music throughout my talking.
Like right now, I would be having...
Music congruent in the backgrounds to what we would be discussing.
joe rogan
What I'm trying to get at is, how did this show get established?
Did you have test shows that you did where they said, I like what you're doing?
Did they just let you wing it live?
Did they hit the switch at 6 a.m.
Monday morning and say, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome David Lee Roth and let you just go wild?
david lee roth
Yeah, and I'd have an intro from a Wilson Pickett tune, or I'd loop the musical intro from Cool and the Gang, or I'd loop the musical intro from some Arabian Nights something or other, and no, no, no, no, this is classic rock.
We want to stay in the classic rock mode.
We want to stay with classic rock type guests in the approach.
joe rogan
So that was because Stern on terrestrial radio before he went over to XM Sirius was on a classic rock station.
david lee roth
Yes.
joe rogan
So they wanted you to do the same thing in the morning.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But what if you had just talked?
Would they have been okay with that or did they want you to play music?
Was that established before you started doing it?
david lee roth
Even just talking.
I'm not...
joe rogan
They didn't even like that?
david lee roth
Hold on.
There are as many people...
You either love Roth or you hate him.
I'm speaking the third person.
joe rogan
Right.
david lee roth
You're either entertained or you really have no taste for me.
You follow?
unidentified
Like sushi.
joe rogan
Isn't what's important though in that business the ratings?
That's what's so confusing to me.
I don't understand if the ratings were going up.
david lee roth
But I was not controllable.
My subject matter was not controllable.
joe rogan
What was the problem with the subject matter?
david lee roth
Exactly what we're talking about here.
And I was not afraid to upset people.
How did you upset people?
joe rogan
Like what kind of subject matter was upsetting?
david lee roth
For example, 9-11, okay, the buildings down there, Trade Center, World Trade, the EPA director, Christy, I think, Whitman perhaps, I might be wrong with the name, I'm in error, at the time was declaring, this is 15 summers ago, that it was okay to breathe down there.
And I maintained under no circumstances Was it okay to breathe down there, having been involved in some version of healthcare training and so forth?
First time I got walked into the hospital, I was eight years old.
I remember my father saying, Sybil, it's time he sees what his father really does for a living, and he showed me everything in that hospital.
I was a Massachusetts general when he was a resident, okay?
And I went on record, and they got calls from the mayor's office to shut up, because I was saying, it is under no circumstances is it safe to breathe down at that site.
Everything was incinerated.
It's airborne.
Our health care workers are in danger.
If you're not masked up and gloved up and eyed up, etc., we are endangering our responders.
Oh, they didn't want to hear that shit.
And the EPA director, whatever, was online saying, no, no, it's breathable, it's safe.
Well, today, I was right.
joe rogan
You were dead right.
david lee roth
Bad choice of word, but maybe it's right.
And I was threatened with getting fired, and the mayor's office called, and you're going to cause a big problem and big trouble, et cetera, like that.
And I refused to back down.
unidentified
Fuck y'all.
joe rogan
A lot of the people that lived in that area.
david lee roth
Fuck y'all.
joe rogan
That stayed in that area after.
david lee roth
Exactly.
joe rogan
They got very, very sick.
david lee roth
I called it right away.
joe rogan
So this was something that you were calling on the air?
david lee roth
Yes.
joe rogan
And what did they say to you?
david lee roth
Shut up.
Knock it off.
joe rogan
They really said that to you?
david lee roth
You're causing big-time problems.
joe rogan
They said knock it off.
Don't tell the truth about the...
david lee roth
It wasn't considered truth.
This is just your opinion.
You're here for entertainment.
You're here to play some music.
You're here to talk, keep them light and lively local news, etc.
joe rogan
Sounds like they owe you an apology.
david lee roth
Well, I took your approach, which is, it was what I was doing then, and you can tell I'm still irate, is much closer to what you're doing here.
And I would bring people on who were extreme right-wing and extreme left-wing and extreme everything.
And you guys decide.
I would have...
Well, on the lighter side of things, I would have...
Jesus, we had an actual pimp call.
joe rogan
Really?
david lee roth
Yeah.
We had actual prostitutes.
joe rogan
I would feel like you want to have the pimp in studio.
unidentified
Call in.
joe rogan
You want to see what he's dressed like.
david lee roth
No, he's not coming anywhere near us.
But?
Cetera.
I wouldn't hesitate to engage with law enforcement.
I put out the call, having the DMT, and say, David Hasselhoff got busted.
I know that you're in my listening voice down in Palm Beach, Florida.
If you're law enforcement, give us a call.
Tell us what happened.
Cop called in.
Yeah, yeah.
Here's what happened.
Wait a minute.
You follow even having that connection?
Right.
Well, no, this is drum circle.
It's rock and roll, man.
This is like, you know...
joe rogan
Drum circle?
david lee roth
You follow.
Peace and...
I make the joke, which is peace, love, and heavy weapons.
What do you think's protecting the drum circle?
And then, of course, my friends or teachers and what in law enforcement make total fun of our showbiz community.
joe rogan
Yeah, of course.
david lee roth
It's frivolous.
Oh, you bunch of sissies.
joe rogan
Yeah, very frivolous.
david lee roth
That ain't working.
joe rogan
That's why they call it play.
Time went on.
Tensions built, right?
On that radio show.
david lee roth
Built instantly.
joe rogan
Instantly.
david lee roth
Yeah.
And in reading commercials, of course.
I would have fun with that, but...
What else?
What else was a source of major contention?
We would talk about...
unidentified
Oh, I would go long.
david lee roth
Okay.
Kids, when they go to school, there's a big problem with bling.
The kids who can afford bling are getting nice tennis shoes and swatch watches and interesting clothes.
And the kids who have no money are dressed like I am right now.
And there's a problem with that.
If they're both in the same classroom, there occurs a division.
I said, why don't we take the martial arts approach?
And up until, I don't know, maybe eight years old, everybody wear a gi.
So nobody has bling.
And everybody shave your head so you're not wearing an $80 haircut.
Yeah, I know about that too.
There are kids out there with $120 haircuts in Beverly Hills.
I can tell the difference.
I'm in showbiz.
So, if you tell the kids this is the way of it, Everybody kind of looks the same.
joe rogan
You're saying this on the radio?
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
Is that what you're doing?
unidentified
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
So you're telling people to shave their heads and wear a gi?
david lee roth
Yeah.
joe rogan
How about just do whatever the fuck you want to do?
david lee roth
Well, because then there's competition because doing whatever you want to do is informed by your parents.
And your parents may be putting bling on you.
You may be wearing diamonds to grade school.
You may be wearing $120 hair cutting some brand new New Balance where my kid can barely afford some slaps.
My kid might be wearing camo, because that's all I can wear, because I can't afford to wash a fucking thing, so it doesn't show the dirt, like I wore when I was a kid.
And the bling kid is liable to think they're somehow superior to my kid.
joe rogan
So is this an actual conversation, or are you just being poetic now?
Did you have this actual conversation on the air?
david lee roth
I talked just like this, but I was way rougher.
I respect you, Joe.
joe rogan
And this show, when you were doing it, then after the show was over, they would pull you aside?
Oh yeah.
david lee roth
You're pissing parents off.
We're getting calls.
You can't say that about people's children.
They can't deal with these kinds of subjects.
joe rogan
The show was obviously live, so they couldn't control you while you were actually on the air.
It was great.
david lee roth
It was wonderful.
Then I suggested, you know, there's combat issues.
I would go deep.
I would, well, for example, what do you think about my kids' idea?
joe rogan
I don't like it.
LAUGHTER I don't think anybody should be able to tell people they have to shave their head or wear a gi.
david lee roth
No, no, no.
It's not telling people.
joe rogan
I understand what you're saying.
I understand what you're saying.
But I think there's benefit and disparity in that it makes kids want to work harder to achieve things.
It makes other kids appreciate that they're fortunate they have things that other kids don't.
There's a balance.
I think what's more important than anything is compassion.
And there's always going to be people that have more, and there's always going to be people that have less.
The real problem is when that becomes everything, when that becomes your defining characteristic, when that becomes your personality, when that becomes the thing that everyone's aspiring to.
david lee roth
I agree.
I guess what this harkens back to is the specific episode of The Little Rascals.
When the rich kid next door has a very expensive soapbox racer made of metal that's painted red.
And Darla mistakenly falls in love with him because of his possessions.
And Spanky, Buck, and Alfalfa have to build their shitty little soapbox racer out of spare parts.
joe rogan
I kind of vaguely remember that episode.
Now that you're saying that.
david lee roth
So there's competition.
There's competition.
joe rogan
But they won.
david lee roth
Well, that was by accident because, if you remember, Buckwheat tries to hit the stick to do the brakes and it breaks off.
And Spanky says to him, hit the brakes, and he goes, brakes is gone.
We freewheeling.
And they just happen to win.
joe rogan
Yeah, but they won.
But the whole idea is the overcoming adversity, the ingenuity, the whole creativity.
david lee roth
The whole idea is fuck you and your little fire engine.
joe rogan
Fuck you and your little store-bought fire engine.
david lee roth
Get your mind right.
joe rogan
Get it together, Darla.
david lee roth
It's all about spirit, drive, personality, whimsicalness, and sense of humor here.
joe rogan
Yes.
david lee roth
Okay, so do I really think all little kids should shave their heads?
No.
Do I think all little kids should be in gis?
I had a ball in karate class, and then in judo class, and then in taekwondo class, and everybody was even.
Everybody was the same.
And in the times when my pop was just getting started in medicine and we didn't have money in the house, I was equal to the kids from La Cunada when I was in my gi.
And now that I am a millionaire several times over, When I was in kindle class, then the kid who has nothing.
I'm no better than him.
My gi looks way older.
It's a distinction.
It's got a lot of miles on it, and you got a ways to go, kid.
That's the subtext.
There's no belt there.
We're wearing the same thing.
joe rogan
Yeah, well I think there's definitely a benefit in kids learning martial arts for sure.
And learning martial arts in the same uniform, there's a real benefit in that too because you realize it's not about the uniform, it's not about what you look like, it's about getting things done.
Then as you learn and grow and become more accomplished, then you receive these belts.
And so then you have goal attainment.
And goal attainment is an amazing thing for kids, an amazing thing for adults.
There's a real benefit in knowing that you put in the hard work and now there's something that signifies it.
Oh my god, I have a blue belt.
And they tie that blue belt around your waist and you're not a white belt anymore and you feel proud.
You put that thing on and you feel like, I have done work.
And then it elevates your perspective in terms of the way you look at yourself and you look at your abilities.
It gives you more confidence.
And it also gives you this goal, one day I want to be a black belt.
And you just think about it like one day I'm going to attain a rank of proficiency where I'm going to be someone who's actually, to whatever level, mastered a very specific style of martial art that's incredibly difficult to learn.
And that's good for everybody.
david lee roth
You apply that now to the arts that we do for a living.
McCartney can't get through an interview without telling you about his six years in the red light district in Germany.
He wears it like a general's badge.
Can you dig it?
He's proud of it.
Alex Van Eelen and I, same thing.
We put in five years compared to year three.
The average is two and a half, maybe.
joe rogan
Just constantly jamming, doing multiple shows, constantly.
Isn't that...
It's detailed in the book The Outliers, right?
Is it The Outliers?
I think it is.
There's a book...
david lee roth
Outliers.
joe rogan
Yeah.
They talk about how when the Beatles emerged, people don't realize they had so many hours of playing, and it's one of the reasons why they're so good.
They were playing so often, constantly.
david lee roth
It is...
Really hardcore training, and that's when you build who you are.
That's where you develop your ingredients.
When I was coming up in music, that was the regular because there were bands at every club.
Every bar had to have a live band.
To afford the speakers and the turntable and the music, you had to have a live band.
And you would tear off the left-hand side of the billboard chart and learn it.
Alex and I went through a list just recently that we found of 120 songs that we could play at the drop of a hat by everybody you could imagine.
From Smoke on the Water to Get Down Tonight.
That's where we learned to sing.
Get down tonight.
Get down tonight.
We didn't have a keyboard, so you better sing.
You better sing a cover off that fucking ball.
That's why Mike Anthony...
Was so unique.
His bass playing?
Yeah, we could find bass players.
But nobody sounds like that.
That's Garfunkel.
Simon's good.
But Simon and Garfunkel.
Where do you think you built that?
Thousands and thousands of vocal training hours.
So that when Mike and I sing, you recognize it like Hendrix's guitar.
You may never have heard the song before and you go, that's Hendrix.
Signature sound.
Like Rod Stewart's voice.
You may never have heard the song before.
You go, that's right.
Yeah, it is.
And in our backgrounds, like Motown, that only comes from thousands of hours.
Where do you learn to have the temetry to stick with that?
I learned it at the dojo.
I learned it in my first singing lessons.
You dig it?
My first singing coach Jesus, that was also my first real experience with tattoos.
We started off talking about tattoos.
My first singing coach had two tattoos.
He had a number right here, and he had another number right there.
And he would say at least once a year, this is my camp number, and this is the number why I was still alive.
He played piano and he sang in Auschwitz.
unidentified
Jesus.
david lee roth
He was there for three years.
Kurt Blumenthal, okay?
And he used to tell me, Mr. Roth, sing as if your life depended on it.
Can you imagine a gig where one bad review literally puts you up the chimneys?
And that was another expression he would use.
It's in the music.
It's in my voice.
It's in every Van Halen song you hear.
Mr. Van Halen taught it to his sons.
Jan Van Halen and I were very good friends.
And he would tell his sons about when the bombing would start, and they would all move into the subway tunnels, and he would play saxophone for everybody hiding during World War II. Every time I sing, I sing as if my life depended on it.
Does that make sense?
joe rogan
It does.
I think there's a good way to wrap this up.
That's a perfect way to wrap it up.
Dave, it's always a pleasure, my friend.
david lee roth
More than ever, Joe.
joe rogan
It is.
More than ever.
Thank you very much.
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