According to the 24-minute documentary titled ‘The Road to the US Festival‘ shared by David Lee Roth on his official YouTube channel, the former Van Halen frontman engaged in a feud with the Clash.
It is revealed in the film that when Van Halen and David Bowie were rumored to be making substantial amounts of money for their shows at the US Festival, it caused dissatisfaction among other bands, notably the Clash. Then, it explained the feud between Van Halen and the Clash members with the following words:
“For a week before the festival and throughout the event itself — right up to the moment before they went on — the confrontational Brits kept demanding one press conference after another to spout vitriol, particularly toward Van Halen, or else they wouldn’t perform.”
DLR didn’t stay back and slammed the band, Joe Strummer, and their manager Cosmo Vinyl, as the documentary disclosed:
“Roth, who was never afraid of a good back-and-forth, engaged in verbal jousting with the Clash’s manager Cosmo Vinyl and frontman Joe Strummer many times over the weekend.
In one instance, Roth implied the Clash’s song ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’ was a rip-off of an older track. Roth said: ‘I love the Clash. I love ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go,’ mostly because I loved Mitch Ryder’s ‘Little Latin Lupe Lu’ all those years ago.'”
In later parts of the film, it is also revealed that in his press conference before Van Halen’s performance, Diamond Dave aimed to outdo the Clash. When asked about the band, Roth remarked that they were too serious and preferred sharing jokes with the world, saying:
“[The Clash] is too serious. I mean, no one gets out of here alive anyway, do they, sugar? Life is a game with winners and losers. But it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, as long as you look good.”
When Van Halen took the stage, DLR again took a playful jab at the Clash, as he stated:
“I wanna take the time to say that this is real whiskey here. The only people who put iced tea in Jack Daniels bottles is the Clash, baby!”
In addition to the Clash and Van Halen, the US Festival included performances by other bands like Quiet Riot, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Triumph, and the Scorpions.
You can watch the documentary below.
