Light up the Sky

My opinion is when the PMRC started their shit, Edward wanted to "tone it down a bit", Dave didn't want too. Ed kept up with becoming the nice boy act, so Dave bailed.


Whats your opinion?

Where do you get that idea from, A.J.? Eddie never wanted to tone nothin' down. He never did. Diamond Dave wanted to do a solo record; Only it became two and then three. It seems to me that it was more like Diamond Dave that toned it down a bit.

I blame MTV.

It offered Dave what he wanted, what he's always wanted - the Spotlight. 'Pretty Woman' was a huge initial success, and the music mattered less than the presentation, which suited him. That was the beginning of the end for VH. Ed and Al were locked in the 5150 studio producing the music, while Dave was having dreams of Movies and Solo EP's.

Dave started to tone it down around the time of Diver Down, actually AJ. Dave went from prowling Sex-Offender to circus Ring-Leader as each Video progressed. He wanted to become MTV's own One-Man-Show... and that was exactly what he became for about 2 years. By the time Skyscraper was released people had already gotten sick of eating popcorn, hotdogs and ice cream.

Dave's ego got the better of him. He went from Frontman to Showman. It turned him into a Rock 'n' Roll version of Liberace - which he still is, I'm afraid. He has no edge.

Don't believe the crap the Roth Boards throw out about this subject either - "Dave got fed up with waiting for new music". Dave was impatient to "Jump" on the MTV bandwagon... It's as simple as that. That was the end of the Mighty Van Halen.

What you say is true about Dave losing his edge with the advent of MTV---he became less and less bad-boy sexy and more and more smarmy with each video---I found myself at the shows last year wishing he'd stop with all the manic grinning and "aw shucks, ya still like me" attitude and that he'd turn on a little of the animal he had back then....his demeanor was at odds with the song at times....

Then there was the whole "Dave wanted to be an actor" thing.

Wasn't that stuff created by Alex?

IF Dave (or CBS) ever released that CFTH movie, Van Halen was supposed to create the soundtrack.