"Thats when Diamond Dave is on. I saw them at Madison Square Garden in 82' and he was visibly drunk. They opened with "Light Up the Sky" and he blurts out "I forgot the f'ing words". Eddie made up for his buffoonery"
He did that EVERY show. Every bootleg and official tape or video I've seen from that era, he said that.
It was part of his act. His bottle had iced tea, not whiskey. He himself admitted that his lyrics were subject to change at whim - and usually were. His autobiography is half bs and half truth, and Roth knew his role of frontman - he WAS the party, and it made the crowd happy to think he was as drunk as they were. He was a crappy singer at best, barely bothered to sing in favor of boogying around and flirting with the women in the audience, and generally just had a good time. And people LOVED it.
Never forget, rock and roll is all about illusion. Things you heard, or urban legends you heard, are either wrong, or made up, often by the band to get PR and attention. Some were true, but for reasons you'd never expect: like the brown M&Ms at VH shows. Word was, no brown ones allowed, or the band trashed the place. Whole mythologies about it were made up about why, I heard everything from superstition, to them being aphrodisiacs (and the band wanted them all to themselves), to it being the biggest example of spoiled rock star indulgence.
DLR admitted in his book that they snuck that brown M&M thing in there to make sure the promoter was reading the riders and requirements for the show, as VH shows were complicated monsters that required close attention to detail. (Take a look at the "1984" tour stage. It was a behemoth, even by today's standards.) So, if they saw brown M&Ms, they knew that the promoter was cutting corners and their managment knew they needed a close line-check of everything. And, he admitted, he would throw some drama in for good measure and amusement - that was his job.
DLR is known as an astute businessman and hipper than you carnival clown, his technique and skill always took last place to showmanship and hype. Half of what you've heard about him is false, but he loves every bit of it, and encourages it.
David Lee Roth patterned himself after Jim "Dandy" Mangrum of Black Oak Arkansas.