California Girls

Now, David Lee Roth took a Beach Boys classic in 1985 and basically gave it a gym membership and a pair of leather pants.

California Girls was Roth's first solo single while he was still in Van Halen, and it hit number three.

Carl Wilson even sang backup, so you got the Beach Boys harmony behind David Lee Roth.

Gotta love it.

Here's Diamond Dave.

This is called California Girls.

Vinyl on Chrome.

Well, East Coast girls, ah, if I really dig those styles they wear.

On January 28th, 1985, David Lee Roth put out a four-track EP of classic covers.

Crazy from the Heat included a seductive rendition of Easy Street, a flamboyant undertaking of Just a Gigolo, I Ain't Got Nobody, a swashbuckling take on California Girls, and an emotive effort of Coconut Grove.

None of the three other Van Halen members would appear on the compilation.

Which was noteworthy, considering the band had a policy that none of the members could produce work outside the confines of the VH insignia.

But Roth’s Crazy from the Heat was not offering a guitar bit as a favor.

This was a well-thought-out musical endeavor that allowed Diamond Dave to scratch an itch Van Halen never allowed him to reach.

The guys loved doing covers, don’t get me wrong, but Dave’s Just a Gigolo and California Girls sounded much different than Van Halen’s takes on The Kinks classics You Really Got Me and Where Have All the Good Times Gone? And another key difference was that Roth benefited from this cover catalog in more ways than one.

With his grinning mug plastered all over MTV without the opposing shadow of Eddie Van Halen blocking the spotlight, mind you, Roth’s star was shining brighter than ever.