Eat 'Em and Smile - History

History

After parting ways with Van Halen under disputed circumstances in 1985, David Lee Roth returned with his first solo LP a year later. Roth had previously released a solo EP of covers called Crazy from the Heat in 1985. However, for the new album, Roth rejected a set of all lounge covers and returned to a rock sound similar to his style with Van Halen. Roth hired as his new backing band three powerhouse musicians, bassist Billy Sheehan (later of Mr. Big), drummer Gregg Bissonette and guitarist Steve Vai who had worked previously with Frank Zappa, PiL and Alcatrazz, and would soon become a successful solo artist in his own right.

The album was a straightforward hard rock album and was a critical and commercial success, with Rolling Stone, among others, saying nothing on the album was as slick as any of the singles from Van Halen's 5150 album and much more "trashy fun". In a nod to his previous solo effort, there are two lounge songs included, "That's Life" and "I'm Easy". Roth also included a cover of the popular hit "Tobacco Road". The album's first single, "Yankee Rose", was a staple of both MTV and radio, although "Goin' Crazy!" also saw limited radio play.

A version of "Kids in Action", originally by Kim Mitchell (of Max Webster), was also recorded for this album. However, due to time constraints, the song was not included on the release. Billy Sheehan was briefly a member of Max Webster, according to Kim Mitchell: "He was in the band for about three weeks. He was in a band called Talas out of Buffalo and they would come to Toronto and he’d freak us out, he’s just an insane bass player. He loved our music and was a fan of Max Webster, we sort of became friends and when he’d come to town we’d hang out. I said 'Bill, do you want to join the band?' because Mike was leaving the group, and he agreed. So for about three weeks in was in the band and I’ll tell you "High Class in Borrowed Shoes" and "Battle Scar" never sounded better but "Diamonds, Diamonds", you couldn’t have made it sound any worse. He just didn't know how to lay back and be a real soft, sensitive bass player. It was all about this thing that he had which was absolutely incredible, so it didn’t work out. There were no hard feelings and he went on and did really well. I got a call from him one day and he goes 'Hey man I'm in the studio with David Lee Roth, Ted Templeman and Steve Vai and we're covering your tune "Kids in Action" and we need the words to the second verse'. I was shaking on the phone; this was right after Roth left Van Halen. Then at the last minute it got bumped off the record for "Tobacco Road", they thought they needed a cover. See there's those darn covers again." There is no known studio version of Roth's cover available to the public.

This is the first of two Roth albums to feature the duo of Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan on guitar and bass. Throughout the album the two would often sync complicated bass lines together with the lead guitar parts, as on tracks such as "Shyboy" and "Elephant Gun". The album brought Steve Vai into the public eye as a contender with Edward Van Halen, the previous guitarist who worked with Roth. This album features some of Steve Vai's most prominent guitar work.