Van Halen: How The 1984 Toured Destroyed David Lee Roth & Eddie Van Halen's Relationship

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Today we take a look at Van Halen's infamous 1984 Tour following the death of guitarist Eddie Van Halen at the age of 65 from his long battle with cancer.

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1984 was supposed to be a massive year for Van Halen. They just released their 6th album appropriately titled 1984, and they were weeks away from getting their first number 1 single of their career with the song Jump, The band was also finally making some real money including being paid a record breaking $1.5 million to appear at the US Festival the year prior. Everything was looking up right? Well no, The band’s 1984 tour would serve as the catalyst for the demise of the David Lee Roth Era of the band. On top of that the band made no money on the tour itself. Stay tuned to find out the full story.

Tensions between the members of Van Halen had been around for some time as there were two camps. In one camp was guitarist Eddie Van Halen and in the other was frontman David Lee Roth in the other. One of the best examples of the tensions between the camps was the 1982 cover of Dancing in the Street that appeared on their previous record Diver Down.

Guitarist Eddie Van Halen had come up with a synth riff he wanted to use for an original composition while Roth wanted to use it for a cover, which turned into Dancing In the Street. It was the final straw for the guitarist who refused to budge anymore. The group’s follow up album 1984 was mostly created on Eddie’s terms in his own 5150 studio. The end result was that the record would have a more pop rock sound with songs like ‘Jump’ that he admitted no one else in the band wanted to record.

Roth would tell the LA Times in 2012 the source of the band’s motivation and eventual downfall would be that they were bonded together by “immigrant energy,” which came from each members background claiming they “desperate people seeking desperate fortune – with a smile.”

The wheels wouldn’t come off over night as the band soldiered through a 101 date tour to support 1984 that became so big and bloated. Eddie Van Halen admitted that the band made no money. The guitarist would remember “Our live show for the 1984 tour could not get any bigger,” “but it was so over the top that we never made any money from it. We had 18 trucks hauling the stage and equipment. That was unheard of. The standard lighting rig had 500 to 700 lights, and we had over 2,000. We could never have topped that. … Great memories.” he'd say

For drummer Alex Van Halen he saw the end was near as the band members had drifted apart, Roth was traveling separate from the rest of the group and the tour was becoming this behemoth monster that was forcing the band to just break even with the drummer telling a fan newsletter "We were in the middle of this thing and it was getting bigger and bigger," Individually, we were so far apart that it was like night and day. We were never together, although it looked like we were from the public's standpoint. That's why in 1984 it was very natural for it to fall apart. We saw it coming, even though when it actually materialized, it was a surprise" he'd say

Only adding to the tension was that the band was growing tired of Roth’s antics both onstage and offstage. Bassist MIchael Anthony recalled how ridiculous Roth’s behavior had gotten during live shows telling Billboard Magzine "[Roth would] do something to piss off a male fan, and then he’d say, ‘Hey buddy, after the show I’m going to f your girl,’ and point right at them. And boy, sometimes some guys would get heated up for that. … Some nights you want to just laugh, and other nights you want to go, ‘Oh, I don't want to stand near this.’”

Eddie would also reveal how tensions were growing between him and Dave over how they conducted themselves on stage remembering All my solos end with a nod to Al, so I just keep going until I turn around. I have no idea what's the longest I've gone – about 20 minutes, probably. That's when I started getting ragged on by a certain person: 'Your solo's gettin' too long!' I'd say, F you. Your raps are getting longer!' It used to be nothing but talk, man. It was three-fourths talk. But as soon as I got up there to do my solo… he couldn't stop me anyway" he'd say.

During the tour Roth wasn’t immune from mouthing off in the press making it known that he may not be in van Halen much longer and was prepared to make an exit if it came to that telling the Sunday Times in 1984 "I've "

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