Eat 'Em and Smile | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | July 7, 1986 | |||
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Genre | ||||
Length | 31:04 | |||
Label | Warner Bros. | |||
Producer | Ted Templeman | |||
David Lee Roth chronology | ||||
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Singles from Eat 'Em and Smile | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Robert Christgau | B+ [7] |
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 7/10 [8] |
Kerrang! | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Rolling Stone | (favorable) [10] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Eat 'Em and Smile is the debut studio album by former Van Halen singer David Lee Roth, released on July 7, 1986, after his unpredicted successful debut EP Crazy from the Heat (1985).
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. [10]
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. [12]
Both a critical and commercial success, Eat 'Em and Smile was praised by Rolling Stone : "No song on the album was as slick as any of the singles from Van Halen's '5150' album" (which featured Roth's replacement, Sammy Hagar) and also opined that Eat 'Em and Smile was much more "trashy fun". [10] Indeed, many of the reviews of Eat 'Em and Smile compared it directly with Van Halen's synth-heavy 5150, often favorably. [13]
The extensive North American Eat 'Em and Smile Tour ran from mid-1986 through early 1987.
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. [14]
In 2015, a live concert for the 30th anniversary reunion was planned featuring Vai, Sheehan, Bissonette, and keyboardist Brett Tuggle. Initially Michael Starr was going to sing, but at the last minute David Lee Roth arrived at the venue. Due to safety measures and the overwhelmed capacity of the venue, the fire marshals shut down the show. [15] [16] [17] [18]
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. [19] The would-be theme to Roth's then-planned movie, "Goin' Crazy!", also became an MTV staple [20] that reached #66 on Billboard's Hot 100 in October 1986. [21]
Similar to his preceding EP, Roth included two lounge song covers on Eat 'Em and Smile: "That's Life," which was a minor hit at the end of 1986, with a video featuring clips of previous Roth & Van Halen videos being in heavy rotation on MTV, [22] and "I'm Easy." A third cover was John D. Loudermilk's folk-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.
A version of "Kids in Action," originally by Kim Mitchell (of Max Webster), was also recorded for the album. Billy Sheehan was briefly a member of Max Webster, and according to Kim Mitchell: "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.'" There is no known studio version of Roth's cover available to the public.
This was 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 would often sync complicated basslines 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. [21]
Sonrisa Salvaje (literally "Wild Smile") is the Spanish-language version of Eat 'Em and Smile. According to the Van Halen Encyclopedia, the idea to re-record the album in Spanish was the idea of bassist Billy Sheehan, who had read an article in a magazine which reported that over half the Mexican population was between the ages of 18 and 27, a prime record buying market. [23] Roth re-cut all his vocals with the help of a Spanish tutor in the studio. He edited some of the risqué lyrics, so as not to offend the more conservative Spanish-speaking population. With the exception of the vocals, the basic music tracks are the same as the Eat 'Em and Smile version, with the only exception being "Big Trouble", which ends abruptly as opposed to fading out on the English version.
According to Sheehan, the album was not well received, with many people considering it "gringo Spanish". Any future Spanish-version ideas were dropped. Sonrisa Salvaje was originally released on vinyl and cassette, but deleted almost immediately; a CD version did not appear until 2007. All of the liner notes on the original release were written in Spanish, except for the copyright notice and the Dolby noise reduction information on the cassette version.
Daniel Brogan of the Chicago Tribune found the album to be a "manic spree" where Steve Vai's "stinging guitar work" is the most appealing component. [24] Terry Atkinson of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "And the Ted Templeman-produced "Eat 'Em," which stands up well alongside the best Van Halen albums, features the Roth you know: rock's answer to those pop-eyed libidinous wolves of the old Tex Avery cartoons." [25] Eat 'Em and Smile was named "album of the year" by Kerrang! for 1986. [26]
Bryan Rolli of Ultimate Classic Rock described “Ladies’ Nite in Buffalo?” as “the best and boldest song to come from any Van Halen alum since 1984." [27]
Instead of the typical "A Side" and "B Side", the vinyl artwork showed the track listing on one side of the disc, as the A Side had a photograph of Roth in-costume. [28]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Sonrisa Salvaje Title | Length |
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1. | "Yankee Rose" | David Lee Roth, Steve Vai | "Yankee Rose" | 3:55 |
2. | "Shyboy" | Billy Sheehan | "Tímido" | 3:24 |
3. | "I'm Easy" | Billy Field, Tom Price | "Soy Fácil" | 2:11 |
4. | "Ladies' Nite in Buffalo?" | Roth, Vai | "Noche de Ronda en la Ciudad" | 4:08 |
5. | "Goin' Crazy!" | Roth, Vai | "¡Loco del calor!" | 3:10 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Sonrisa Salvaje Title | Length |
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6. | "Tobacco Road" | John D. Loudermilk | "La Calle del Tabaco" | 2:29 |
7. | "Elephant Gun" | Roth, Vai | "Arma de Caza Mayor" | 2:26 |
8. | "Big Trouble" | Roth, Vai | "En busca de pleito" | 3:59 |
9. | "Bump and Grind" | Roth, Vai | "Cuánto Frenesí" | 2:32 |
10. | "That's Life" | Dean Kay, Kelly Gordon | "Así es la Vida" | 2:45 |
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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United Kingdom (BPI) [42] | Gold | 100,000^ |
United States (RIAA) [43] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Van Halen II is the second studio album by American rock band Van Halen. Released by Warner Bros Records on March 23, 1979, it peaked at number six on the U.S. Billboard 200 and yielded hit singles "Dance the Night Away" and "Beautiful Girls." As of 2004, it's sold almost six million copies in the United States. Critical reaction to the album has been positive, with The Rolling Stone Album Guide praising the "feel-good, party atmosphere" of the songs.
David Lee Roth is an American rock singer. Known for his wild and energetic stage persona, he was the lead vocalist of the hard rock band Van Halen for three stints: from 1974 to 1985, during 1996, and from 2006 to when they disbanded in 2020. He has also had a successful solo career, releasing numerous RIAA-certified Gold and Platinum albums. After more than two decades apart, Roth re-joined Van Halen in 2006 for a North American tour that became the highest-grossing in the band's history, and one of the highest-grossing of that year. In 2007, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Van Halen.
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rolling stone david lee roth album guide.
Templeman, Ted; Renoff, Greg (2020). Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer's Life In Music. Toronto: ECW Press. pp. 409–12. ISBN 9781770414839. OCLC 1121143123.