
Eat 'Em and Smile
is the debut
studio album
by former
Van Halen
singer
released on
July 7, 1986.
It follows his
successful
debut EP
Crazy from the Heat
(1985).
The album was
certified platinum
in the U.S.,
selling over
a million copies.
History
Background
After releasing
Crazy from the Heat,
an EP
of lounge standards
that became a
surprise hit
during early 1985,
and subsequently
parting ways with
Van Halen
while the band
was at
its commercial zenith,
Roth assembled
a new backing band:
bassist
Billy Sheehan
(later of Mr. Big);
drummer
Gregg Bissonette
(later of Ringo Starr's All-Star Band);
and virtuoso
guitarist
Steve Vai,
who had played
with
Frank Zappa,
PiL,
and
Alcatrazz.
Roth later said that
the songs written
for the album were
originally intended
to form
the soundtrack
to a film,
Crazy from the Heat,
which was never made.
The phrase
"Eat 'Em and Smile"
was part of a
trademark registered
in 1928
by the now-defunct
Ward-Owsley Co
candy company
in Aberdeen,
South Dakota.
Production
Two of the album's
original songs
became its biggest hits.
"Yankee Rose",
a tongue-in-cheek tribute
to the Statue of Liberty,
became an MTV
and radio hit,
rising into
the Billboard Top 20.
The would-be theme
to Roth's
then-planned movie,
"Goin' Crazy!",
also became an
MTV staple
that reached #66
on Billboard's
Hot 100
in October 1986.
Similar to his preceding EP,
Roth included two
lounge song covers
on
Eat 'Em and Smile:
"That's Life",
which became a minor hit
at the end of 1986,
with a
video featuring clips
of previous
Roth and Van Halen videos
being in heavy rotation
on MTV,
and
"I'm Easy".
A third cover is
John D. Loudermilk's f
olk-blues song
"Tobacco Road",
and
Billy Sheehan
brought in
"Shy Boy",
a composition from
his previous band
Talas.
The remainder
of the songs
were written by
Roth and Vai.
This is the first of two
Roth albums
to feature the duo
of Steve Vai
and Billy Sheehan
on guitar
and bass respectively.
Throughout the album
the two often
synced complicated
bass lines
and 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
Eddie Van Halen,
the previous guitarist
who worked with Roth.
This album features
some of Steve Vai's
most renowned
guitar work.
No comments:
Post a Comment