“A good producer brings out the best in the artist he's working with. You shouldn't be able to listen to something and say, 'So-and-so produced this album.'”
“When Van Halen started out, there was no path to fame. We just played what we liked. Even today it always comes down to the simplicity of rock and roll.”
“I was trying to take the band in a direction that I thought was appropriate, and Roth was trying to take the band in more of a Las Vegas direction. And there he is.”
“I mean it's funny, playing music, how of course you want it to do well, you want them to like it, but it's not competitive like an election, it's the Olympics, it's not a Formula 1 race. The Billboard charts are just to show you what people like.”
“It comes back to the same old question people are always asking me: 'When are you going to do a solo record?' Well, if I did, it would probably be similar to 'Baluchitherium,' meaning it would be Van Halen music - which I write anyway - but without singing.”
“It's all about sound. It's that simple. Wireless is wireless, and it's digital. Hopefully somewhere along the line somebody will add more ones to the zeros. When digital first started, I swear I could hear the gap between the ones and the zeros.”
“I'll be making music 'til the day I die. I've done all kinds of stuff, and more is coming.”
“Every song is like a kid. How can you have that many kids and have a favorite? Which one do I like to hang most with?”
“I don't really know what inspires me to write the music I do, but usually, the music will set the tone for the lyrics.”
“I grew up on a lot of early Beatles, DC5, Cream, Clapton, Page, Beck and Hendrix.”