David Lee Roth Looks Back At Van Halen's Debut Album

Bruce Henne | 05-11-2023

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(hennemusic) David Lee Roth is sharing stories about the recording of Van Halen's legendary debut album and his love of radio on the latest episode of The Roth Show.

As part of giving listeners a deep dive on his lifelong obsession with the media, Roth runs down an impressive list of disc jockeys that caught his attention growing up, as well as Van Halen's inspiration for performing and recording cover songs and a behind the scenes look at the making of the band's 1978 self-titled record, among other topics.

After securing a deal with Warner Brothers in 1977, Van Halen teamed up with producer Ted Templeman to record the group's first album at Hollywood's Sunset Sound Recorders.

The band would go on to release a cover of The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" as their first single from the project, which featured instant classics like "Runnin' With The Devil", "Ain't 'Talkin' 'Bout Love" and "Atomic Punk."

"Van Halen" peaked at No. 19 on the US Billboard 200 while eventually delivering the rare feat of earning Diamond status for US sales of more than 10 million copies.

Stream the latest episode of The Roth Show here.