A few months back, a vocal-only take of Van Halen’s “Runnin’ With The Devil” made the Internet rounds, and as you might imagine, listening to David Lee Roth’s exclamations and interjections without the counterpoint of Eddie Van Halen’s guitar was a surreal experience, one that made you wonder just what sort of karate moves he was contorting himself into in order to hit the perfect “WAUUU!” Well, some nice person has decided to gift the Internet with another vocal-only Roth track—and this time it’s “Hot For Teacher,” which means that if you ever felt the urge to try and make out the mumbly conversation underneath Roth’s between-verses jeering, today is your lucky day. Oh, and if you missed “Runnin’” when it was all the rage, it’s after the jump. (Hell, even if you didn’t miss it, it’s still worth listening to again.)
Class dis-missed!
Got it bad, got it bad, got it bad… [Chunklet via offnotesnotes]
David Lee Roth “Runnin’ With The Devil” Vocal Track [YouTube]
A lot of people mock these, but I think they prove he’s a great rock singer.
These are really awesome. Thanks, internet.
So much echo! But yeah, DLR is both a punchline and a legend. His contradictions define him!
A great RAWK singer? Maybe. But it definitely demonstrates just how bad the songs are minus the pyrotechnics. Jaw-droppingly hollow and absent of melody.
@uptonking: What?! By pyrotechnics, do you mean the blistering guitar work of Eddie Van Halen [which was at its peak here btw], or perhaps the infusion of Michael Anthony’s backing vocals that made even the worst VH tracks pure sonic gold?
It’s absolutely ridiculous to pass judgment like that on an echo-filled VOCAL track.
Amen to that. Keep leaking.
So this is what it sounds like inside David Lee Roth’s head 24-7?
I’d seriously consider buying a box set of DLR-era VH albums with vocals-only and instrumental tracks, like that Pet Sounds box of a few years back.
@Thierry: Yeah, to hell with the vocal track of “Runnin’ With the Devil” — I want to hear the bass track.
DOONK
DOONK
DOONK
DOONK
DOONK
DOONK
etc. x100
Kinda reminds me of “Sister Mary Elephant”
Silly me. When you mentioned ‘a vocal-only take of Van Halen’s “Runnin’ With The Devil” (that) made the Internet rounds’, I thought you were talking about:
+ Watch video
This is good, but the Bonham tracks from “In Through the Out Door” are hard to beat.