I Found the Simple Life, Ain't So Simple

A few of my friends have a real obsession with David Lee Roth's vocal acrobatics, and I too have a fond place in my heart for DLR-era Van Halen, starting with a dance recital I performed to the song "Jump" when I was 9 years old.

Diamond Dave might be best known for his ebullience and off-the-charts stage presence, but the truth is he is a remarkable vocalist.  Case in point, my friend Chad shared his mp3 with me yesterday (it's making the rounds, originally found on Chunklet Radio) -- it's just the vocal track from the song "Runnin' With The Devil".  You'll hear some long pauses here, but you'll also be able to appreciate Roth's vocal style unencumbered, in all its glory:

Runnin' With The Devil from http://krissy.vox.com/

YOU try to make some of those sounds.  Go ahead, try it.

Here's a live performance of the song from around 1984, courtesy of YouTube.  Notice that DLR is rocking a white hoodie with black bears on it, with a tank top that appears to have been fashioned hastily out of an abandoned volleyball net.  You don't have to be Tim Gunn to know that he makes it work:

For more video and vocal styling fun, please visit my friend Anil Dash's blog to read his multi-part series on the genius of Snoop Dogg's video for "Sensual Seduction".  Bonus:  You'll learn the difference between vocoder, talkbox and Auto-Tune.

• Buy the "Runnin' With The Devil (Album Version)" mp3 from Amazon, or really you ought to own the album Van Halen because it's a classic from start to finish.