Crazy from the Heat

Crazy from the Heat was David Lee Roth's first record under his own name, a four-song EP that Warner Bros. released on 28 January 1985, while he was still Van Halen's singer. Ted Templeman, who had produced all six of Roth's albums with Van Halen, produced it. Templeman later explained that Van Halen were in a holding pattern and a bored Roth suggested making an EP for fun; during the sessions, he recalled, Roth kept asking to avoid heavy guitars because he meant to go back for the next Van Halen record. It was recorded at the Power Station in New York and Lion Share Recording Studio in Los Angeles, with extra recording at Amigo Studios in North Hollywood. All four songs are covers: "Easy Street", written by Dan Hartman for the Edgar Winter Group's album Shock Treatment; a medley of "Just a Gigolo" and "I Ain't Got Nobody" modeled on the way Louis Prima joined the two old songs in 1956; the Beach Boys' "California Girls"; and the Lovin' Spoonful's "Coconut Grove". Edgar Winter plays on the first three, on keyboards, saxophone and backing vocals, and the sleeve thanks him for his help and inspiration. Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys and Christopher Cross sing backing vocals on "California Girls". Willie Weeks plays bass and John Robinson drums, while "Coconut Grove" is accompanied only by Dean Parks's guitars and James Newton Howard's synthesizers. "California Girls" entered the Billboard Hot 100 before the EP was out and climbed to No. 3 in March, the same peak as the Beach Boys' original. The medley followed it to No. 12, its lavish video a staple of MTV, and "Easy Street" reached No. 14 on Billboard's rock radio chart. The EP peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the RIAA on 2 April and platinum on 11 June 1985; in the UK it reached No. 91. Roth left Van Halen later that year. The title was also given to a film he had written and was to star in, which collapsed when CBS closed its film division in November 1985, and in 1997 to his autobiography.