Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love

Have you been runnin' with the devil on weekday mornings?

No?

Neither has anyone else.

Dismal reviews for "Diamond" David Lee Roth, Howard Sterns replacement on CBS Radio East Coast, along with a ratings free fall, have led many newspapers and media analysts to suggest Roth will be hard pressed to make it through the winter on morning radio.

Billboard Magazine, not exactly a bastion of mainstream media criticism, published this decidedly negative article only a day after Roth's first show: http://billboardradiomonitor.com/radiomonitor/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001804439

In it, Michael Clancy, a writer for AM New York (You know, the free morning newspaper all the homeless people on the subway are covered with.) is quoted as saying, "If Diamond Daves first show is any hint, start the death watch for Roth's dalliance in morning talk radio."

Only four days ago, in a "Critic's Notebook" piece for the Arts section of the New York Times, Virginia Heffernan praised Howard Stern's "maestro skills", while somehow also managing to convey her detest for his subject matter. Though her enjoyment of the new, unedited version of the Howard Stern Show on Sirius Satellite Radio seems up for debate, she leaves no grey areas when it comes to her opinion of the former spandex-clad Van Halen front man.

"A doctor's son who worked recently as an emergency medical technician, Mr. Roth is far too square for the morning slot. His stories about his drunken antics of the late 1970's - or, worse, about the 50's in crazy Greenwich Village, where his uncle Murray owned the Caf Wha? - ring obsolete. And he won't reveal much about his life now, refusing to answer even routine questions from fans about his love life. As a result, his sanctimony on subjects from drugs to plastic surgery to celebrity misdeeds, is unearned."

"David Lee Roth's new morning radio show has made one thing clear: Howard Stern is one ingenious pervert."

Full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/12/arts/12roth.html

It seems the only question left for adoring Van Halen fans (Besides "Why the hell do you adore Van Halen?!?") is "What was the biggest let down of the post-80s era?"

Short-lived Van Halen 3 w/ Gary Cherone
Short-lived Van Halen reunion w/ single "Me Wise Magic"
Short-lived reunion tour with Red Rocker Sammy Hagar
Short-lived radio talk show with former front man David Lee Roth

(That's all I can think of. Did Van Halen do anything else in the past 16 years? God I hope not.)