Van Halen has always been infamous for their energetic live show. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. And is often credited with ‘restoring hard rock to the front of the music scene.’ Then the most popular band members, Eddie and David. David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen often locked horns during their time in the band.
Despite that, the former frontman recently expressed how much he misses the late guitarist who died in October 2020 at 65. David also talked about how his relationship with Eddie was one of the best of his life. While talking in The Roth Show podcast, the singer reflected on Eddie’s passing and talked about him.
During the discussion, he shared an emotional statement and commented,
“My dear departed Ed. Boy, I miss him. I had a ball with Ed. Walt Disney once said, ‘You know what? My love affair with Mickey Mouse was better than any love affair with a woman I ever had.'”
“I’ve gotta tell ya: playing with Ed, writing songs with Ed, presenting those songs with Ed was better than any love affair I ever had. And some of those songs, I think, might last forever — or until the last syllable of time, like Shakespeare said. They became anthems. Where are they playing ‘Jump’ right now?”
After this, he talked about Van Halen’s classic hit song ‘Jump’. Those days were all about synths, and he disclosed it was Eddie who played the keys on it. The song was released in 1983 and all the members shared writing credits for the song. David explained how it was Eddie who put the keyboard and ultimately made it a hybrid piece. He said,
“I remember when he played it on the keyboard downstairs. I said, ‘No.’ [Laughs] Well, we reflect the times, and the times at that time was guitars, guitars, guitars; and ‘Jump’ was one of those hybrids.”
David was in and out of the band. The last time he played with the band was in 2015. Eddie passed away after a long battle with cancer and his death was announced by his son Wolfgang. David is also unsure if Van Halen would ever tour again. During an interview with The New York Times, he said, “I don’t even want to say I’ve waited — I’ve supported for five years. Because what I do is physical as well as musical and spiritual — you can’t take five years off from the ring. But I did. And I do not regret a second of it. He’s a bandmate. We had a colleague down. And he’s down now for enough time that I don’t know that he’s going to be coming back out on the road. You want to hear the classics? You’re talking to him.”
Earlier last week Roth also shared a solo version of the 1980 Van Halen hit song, ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’.
Watch him talk about Eddie down below.
