MTV VJs' book dishes on doing coke with David Lee Roth

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This topic has 8 voices, contains 12 replies, and was last updated by  Gilligan 3913 days ago.

April 26, 2013 at 9:06 am Quote #24664

ron
(11513)

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/vjs-coke-david-lee-roth-article-1.1321877

MTV VJs’ book dishes on doing coke with David Lee Roth
Backstage Van Halen had girls do headstands over toilets; motto was ‘Just f—— do it’
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Sunday, April 21, 2013, 12:01 AM

Together, Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, Martha Quinn and the late J.J. Jackson invented the role of VJ and worked it on MTV from 1981 to 1985. The four survivors tell all in “VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV’s First Wave,” an oral history with Gavin Edwards. They were in business with the gods of rock. Sometimes it was a party. Sometimes it was something else. In the following excerpts, the VJs take turns dishing on David Lee Roth, Ron Wood and Eric Clapton.

ALAN:

I went to a rock festival in New Jersey; Van Halen and a bunch of other people were playing. Daryl Hall and John Oates were onstage, but I was hunting around for Mark. I walked around backstage, going from trailer to trailer. I knocked on a door, opened it up, and Mark was in there with David Lee Roth. “Hey, come on in, close the door.” I walked in and they were sitting at a little table — Dave had a big vial of coke. They invited me to join them.

We partook of the coke and had a grand time. And then people started knocking on the door: a producer or a friend or something. And one by one, they came in and sat in another part of the trailer while the three of us stayed seated, chatting, having a beer, doing another line. Before we knew it, the trailer was packed. No one was sitting with us, because they didn’t know David — we did. And they were all just watching us do blow. It was like we were royalty; we were completely nonchalant about fifty other people watching us do blow. People in the TV world, publicists, people we didn’t know. Any of them could have gone out and said, “Man, we’re watching two VJs sit there with David Lee Roth doing blow.” It was like people at orgies watching other people have sex.

MARK:

David Lee Roth was convinced that he was the hottest rock star in creation. Dave was the funniest guy on the planet — to him. He laughed at all his own jokes. But his mind worked at three hundred miles an hour. These phrases would just fall out of his face — he’d be talking about people who were idiots, and he’d say, “You know, speed-limit IQ.” Or regarding other bands that weren’t as amazing as Van Halen: “Here today . . . gone later today.”

When things started to go really badly with my wife (DJ Carol Miller), I needed to get away. Roth was on his first solo tour, and I was friends with Pete Angelus, who had become Dave’s manager. They invited me out on the road — I flew out to meet them in Detroit and rode the bus with them for a week or so.

Dave wanted to cheer me up. So in Buffalo or someplace, whatever hockey arena we were in, Pete sent me into the locker room. I thought Dave was going to be there and we were going to do some blow. I walked in and this girl came out of the showers. She was hot, in a slutty rock ‘n’ roll kind of way, and she started chatting with me. After a short time, she got onto her knees and started to unzip my pants. And I felt weird about it — I had to tell her, “I can’t.” I think that may have negatively affected my friendship with Dave; he just wanted to make me feel better.

When Dave was touring, both with Van Halen and solo, he had the barriers in front of the stage painted different colors on the side that faced him: red, blue, and green, to denote the different areas of the audience. He’d look for hot girls in the crowd, and between songs, go to his assistant Eddie on the side of the stage, and say, “Green, right, fourteen rows back, three seats in.” The assistant would go out into the audience and stick a pass on her (breasts). So after the show, there’d be twenty-five girls in the dressing room who all thought they’d been singled out to be with Dave that night. In fact, a number of them would be. The others would end up with other band members — or, if necessary, the crew.

I would hear stories from these guys about the stuff they would do on the road. Pete told me about overhearing a band member with a girl on the back of the bus. She was saying, “I don’t want to b— you.” His line to her became a catchphrase with the band and the crew for the rest of the tour: “Just f—ing do it.” They thought that was hysterical, and I couldn’t handle it. They would have girls do headstands in toilets — they thought it was the funniest thing ever, but it was just gross and sad. It wasn’t lost on me that these girls were there by choice and at any time could have said, “F— off, I’m not doing that!” Still, I couldn’t treat another human being like that. I wish I could have gotten it together for that girl who came out of the showers, though.

One night in Los Angeles, we went to a place called the 0-1 Gallery on Melrose … Around four in the morning, Dave and I were in the bathroom doing a bump or two, when all of a sudden, we heard screaming. Somebody came running into the bathroom saying, “The cops are here! The cops are here!”

Dave immediately sprang into action. He tied his hair back and tucked in his shirt. He had a big vial that he dropped out the bath- room window. I threw my vial out and we casually strolled out into the club. The LAPD came in with their guns drawn. They were really over the top. There was a lot of shouting and pushing and gun waving as we tried to get out of the club without being noticed. That wasn’t happening: They had all of us go out on the street. They lined us up on Melrose and were looking at us, literally shining flashlights in our faces. This was a rare moment where I saw Dave not trying to be David Lee Roth; he just wanted to blend. But nobody recognized him — the cops didn’t, anyway. They made us disperse, meaning that they yelled, “Get the f— out of here.” I looked the other way for a second, and Dave had already taken off.

Book links:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1451678126/
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/vj-nina-blackwood/1112033119
http://www.walmart.com/ip/21277558
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781451678123
http://books.simonandschuster.com/VJ/Nina-Blackwood/9781451678123



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April 26, 2013 at 10:09 am Quote #24666

King Edward
(1945)

Cool stories…..I might have to check that book out. Thanks for the tip.


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April 26, 2013 at 8:53 pm Quote #24683

Gilligan
(1518)

Ha, those 5 were my heroes when I was growing up. I thought they were all so cool and awesome and funny and had the best job in the whole world.

Apparently they did!


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April 27, 2013 at 10:39 am Quote #24697

ks34vh
(2126)

Looks like this would be a good read too, thanks for posting the parts you did.


Laughing at the Days Garbage Through Loud Volume, This is “Laughing At Reality”..

VHT Member since 2001


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April 27, 2013 at 11:15 am Quote #24699

mikeyV
(335)

Another good read is I Want My MTV….the book is written by interviewing over 400 people written by quotes only, no narrative. Starts at the begining and goes to the end. Everybody is interviewed from the people who came up with the concepts to directors, VJ’s, entertainers. Some of the best chapters were, The worst video ever–Billy Squier. The lost weekend chapter with Van Halen. They even interviewed the contest winner—very interesting. Dave hired strippers and yes cocaine was everywhere. Actually there is alot in this book about Van Halen and Pete Angelus. Very very good book and informitive for anyone that grew up during that time period.
One of my favorites was when Tupac was on YO MTV RAPS and was showing off his new tatoo THUG LIFE. When he opened his shirt they forgot he had a gun in his waist band and it made to TV.

MikeyV


The Ultimate in Van Halen Vinyl

Proud Member Since the First Year– Both VHTrading and the Band


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April 27, 2013 at 11:55 am Quote #24700

JasonA
(1105)

mikeyV:
Another good read is I Want My MTV….the book is written by interviewing over 400 people written by quotes only, no narrative.Starts at the begining and goes to the end.Everybody is interviewed from the people who came up with the concepts to directors, VJ’s, entertainers.Some of the best chapters were, The worst video ever–Billy Squier.The lost weekend chapter with Van Halen.They even interviewed the contest winner—very interesting.Dave hired strippers and yes cocaine was everywhere.Actually there is alot in this book about Van Halen and Pete Angelus.Very very good book and informitive for anyone that grew up during that time period.
One of my favorites was when Tupac was on YO MTV RAPS and was showing off his new tatoo THUG LIFE.When he opened his shirt they forgot he had a gun in his waist band and it made to TV.

MikeyV

I read that book last year, it is a good read. As a result of reading it, now my iPod is all contaminated with Wall of Voodoo, Men Without Hats, Falco and other assorted bad 80s music.


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April 27, 2013 at 12:29 pm Quote #24701

ron
(11513)

mikeyV:
Another good read is I Want My MTV….the book is written by interviewing over 400 people written by quotes only, no narrative.

MikeyV

Wasn’t aware of that one. I have the “MTV Ruled the World: The Early Years of Music Video” one though.


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April 27, 2013 at 4:14 pm Quote #24704

Gilligan
(1518)

mikeyV:
Another good read is I Want My MTV….the book is written by interviewing over 400 people written by quotes only, no narrative.Starts at the begining and goes to the end.

The end is right. MTV was replaying the San Francisco Real World a few weeks back (from 1991 or 1992?). I liked that season at the time, but it really signalled the end of MTV.


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April 27, 2013 at 5:59 pm Quote #24710

mikeyV
(335)

The name of the book is I Want My MTV (The uncensored story of the Music Video Revolution) by Rob Tannenbaum and Craig Marks revised with new interviews
528 pages with some photos.Black and white
53 chapters
The book covers 1981–1992

From the introduction:

“This book incorporates interviews with more than four hundred people who were significant, even if only briefly, in MTV’s Golden Era. Its been more than thirty years since the network signed on with with a few videos and a flurry of technical mishaps. Memories change over the years and agendas can conflict, so two people might recall an incident in different ways–when this occurs, we’ve let each side tell the story his or her own way. MTV lent assistance to us; however, this is not an MTV book. No one from the network had any say in its content or read the book prior to publication. We thank them.”

Again if you are a fan of this era of any type of Music I would highly recommend this book. The behind the scences stories are amazing and well told. From Guns n Roses to Cher (remember the Navy video with her riding the those huge guns with pretty much nothing on, funny) from Michael Jackson to Madonna from Culture Club to Van Halen (lots of Van Halen although only some quips from Michael Anthony, Hagar and Pete Angelus). If you can find it get it.

MikeyV


The Ultimate in Van Halen Vinyl

Proud Member Since the First Year– Both VHTrading and the Band


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April 29, 2013 at 1:26 pm Quote #24764

frankm
(4888)

Could be an interesting read.

One of my favorite MTV stories from the beginning was from Martha Quinn. She told a story about how she found out she was fired. She said MTV executives sent a taxi to pick her up every day she worked. How did she find out she was fired? One day the taxi did not show up. When I saw an interview where she told that story I just started laughing. Not that I care that much whether she gets fired or not but I just find it classic that the executives would just stop sending a car for her.


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May 1, 2013 at 4:13 pm Quote #24864

VOODOO
(2374)

frankm:
Could be an interesting read.

One of my favorite MTV stories from the beginning was from Martha Quinn. She told a story about how she found out she was fired. She said MTV executives sent a taxi to pick her up every day she worked. How did she find out she was fired? One day the taxi did not show up. When I saw an interview where she told that story I just started laughing. Not that I care that much whether she gets fired or not but I just find it classic that the executives would just stop sending a car for her.

“We took care of it.”
“You fired her?”
“No, no. We just….took care of it.”


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May 11, 2013 at 10:55 pm Quote #25390

ron
(11513)

For those that bought the book (VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV’s First Wave ), what did you think?


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August 11, 2013 at 2:40 am Quote #28886

Gilligan
(1518)

ron: For those that bought the book (VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV’s First Wave ), what did you think?

I just finished reading it and thought it was great. It wasn’t, however, what I was expecting. It’s really an oral history of the personal and career journeys of the 4 living VJs. Oddly, the book starts right off with the David Lee Roth stories posted at the top of this thread. It’s a whole chapter, and I don’t know if they thought that might be the most interesting chapter or the most provacative or what, but it’s really the only chapter like that. After that, they begin their tales of how they got involved in MTV. Obviously, the VJs have lots of stories about the beginnings of MTV, but it’s mostly personal stories about what they did, who they met, relationships, etc. ending up with where they are today. They do all come across (in the book) kind of the same way they did on the air so many years ago. Alan is silly, Mark is pompous, JJ (according to all) was “the man”, and Martha is the quirky indie girl next door. The lone exeption was Nina, who I always thought of as the hot rocker chick. That WAS her “role” but she really is a timid nerdy girl who plays the harp, cries a lot and isn’t into rock. Although she did pose in Playboy… Alan was my favorite VJ at the time, and I guess he’s still my favorite after reading the book.

The chapter titles are all lyrics taken from 80′s tunes. If I think of it, I’ll post them as a sort of trivia item. I was pretty happy with how many of the lyrics I could identify.

PERHAPS MORE INTERESTINGLY… I also just started the I Want My MTV book and it has an interesting part about Van Halen’s “Unchained” video. I’m surprised others haven’t jumped on it – or maybe I just missed it? The gist of it is that a guy named Robert Lombard says VH was NOT into making videos. However, their label hired a guy named Bruce Gowers to shoot a concert. Because the band was uncooperative, the lighting for the shoot was not good (“no augmented lighting onstage”) so the footage was bad. Robert Lombards production company was then given the footage and he hashed out the Unchained video. He said “it was hard to cut things together and I worked with an editor”. Anyway, it must have been Oakland 1981, right? And it sound like there must be the whole concert footage out there somewhere. Or maybe they just dumped it because it was bad? Does anyone know Robert Lombard…
Oh, there is a page about the Pretty Woman video shoot, too. Midgets, trannys and drugs, oh my!


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