Excerpt courtesy of Confidential of the New York Daily News:
Eddie Van Halen is one of the best guitarists of his generation, but he might have trouble passing a sixth grade health test. Former Van Halen manager Noel Monk recounts the time Eddie was hit with a paternity suit while engaged to Valerie Bertinelli.
The fretboard whiz tearfully acknowledged he’d had encounters with the woman — but they were limited to oral sex, mostly administered in his car. “Do you think,” he asked Monk, “I could have gotten her pregnant?”
Monk shares the tale in Runnin’ With the Devil, a forthcoming new book about his years with the band, from 1978 to 1985. You might figure there’d be some sex, drugs and trashed hotel rooms involved, and Monk doesn’t fail to deliver.
There are groupies aplenty — including the Ketchup Queens, a pair of beauties with a condiment fetish, and another pair who serviced the entire road crew in order to get backstage.
Eddie was a prodigy at substance abuse as well as the guitar. Monk says that on the band’s 1984 tour, Eddie had a personal dealer who flew around the world to supply him with drugs, mostly coke.
He was a prodigious drinker as well — which came into play at his wedding to Bertinelli, whose family were devout Catholics. The newlyweds disappeared after the ceremony, and Monk writes that he found them in a bathroom, Eddie throwing up in the toilet while Bertinelli, in her wedding gown with tears streaming down her cheeks, cradled his head.
Meanwhile, his drummer brother Alex was a serious alcoholic, according to Monk. And David Lee Roth could go off the rails: Monk writes that on a 1981 tour he got so drunk, nasty and out of control, tearing up a hotel room, that the crew had to put him in a straitjacket.
Roth was a complex figure, whose behavior reflected that he was “at heart an entitled rich kid,” Monk writes. He once took a shine to a woman he’d had a few encounters with — he thought things could go further, but according to Monk, Roth had VD at the time and had likely given it to her. Feeling bad, the chivalrous front man asked Monk to call the woman and apologize on his behalf. (Monk says he refused, and told him to send flowers.)
Monk was ultimately fired by the band, as it was imploding from Roth’s ego and the brothers’ addictions. His book will be realized on June 13th.
source: nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/confidential
10 Responses
I agree with you, Craig. The Roth era of Van Halen is my favorite period of the band. The band’s first album is one of the best debut rock/metal albums of all time. The trash in this book is the same trash that is included in every other rock and roll lifestyle book. The same stuff…sex, drugs, and rock n roll. Seems like this book is nothing more than Mr. Monk’s weak attempt for a “cash grab”,,,, kinda like Don Dokken and the Japanese live shows :o)
RTunes68 – The Sammy Hagar book is completely different. That is Sammy being honest and telling you his story. For me, that is just like Nikki Sixx’s “Heroin Diaries” book. I can appreciate the artist themselves telling me about his experiences. I still wouldn’t be interested in reading it, but at least it is the artist telling the story. The book in question is from someone else that supposedly observed the artist’s behavior, and is now trying to cash in on it. I happen to think that isn’t cool at all, as the guy was being paid by the band to manage their career at the time. I would think there should be some expectation that you aren’t going to air all of the band’s dirty laundry in order to make a buck! Again, as a pure capitalist, I don’t begrudge the guy his opportunity to cash in on this. I just wont be participating.
Funny that some of you are ok with a band mate doing the betrayal and not the manager…? I would think that would be the other way around….band members share a bond. ….This book has some pertinent information, the order’s in.
KeithG – You make a very fair argument.
BEST ROCK N ROLL BOOKS , KEITH RICHARDS AND SLASH’S BOOK , GREAT READS !