Eat 'Em and Smile
| Eat 'Em and Smile | ||||
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| Studio album by David Lee Roth | ||||
| Released | July 7, 1986 | |||
| Studio | The Power Station, New York City, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California, Can-Am Recorders, Tarzana, California | |||
| Genre | Hard rock | |||
| Length | 30:39 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Ted Templeman | |||
| David Lee Roth chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Eat 'Em and Smile | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Robert Christgau | B+ |
| Rolling Stone | (favorable) |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  |
| Kerrang! | |
Eat 'Em and Smile is the debut full-length solo album by original Van Halen vocalist David Lee Roth, released on July 7, 1986.
After releasing Crazy from the Heat, an EP of lounge standards that became a surprise hit during early 1985, and subsequently parting ways with Van Halen while the band was at its commercial zenith, Roth assembled a new backing band: bassist Billy Sheehan (later of Mr. Big); drummer Gregg Bissonette (later of Ringo Starr and Elton John, among others); and guitarist Steve Vai, who had worked previously with Frank Zappa, PiL and Alcatrazz.
On Eat 'Em and Smile, Roth returned to a hard rock sound, comparable with that of early Van Halen, albeit featuring eclectic forays into lounge, jazz, and speed metal. Both a critical and commercial success, Rolling Stone wrote that no song on Eat 'Em and Smile was as slick as any of the singles from Van Halen's 5150 album, (which featured Roth's replacement Sammy Hagar) and also opined that Eat 'Em and Smile was much more "trashy fun". Indeed, many of the reviews of Eat 'Em and Smile compared it directly with Van Halen's synth-heavy 5150, often favorably.
The extensive North American Eat 'Em and Smile Tour ran from mid-1986 through early 1987.
In a nod to his hit solo EP, Roth included two lounge songs on Eat 'Em And Smile, "That's Life" and "I'm Easy". Roth also included a cover of the '60s garage band classic, "Tobacco Road". Two of the album's original songs, however, became its biggest hits. "Yankee Rose", a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Statue of Liberty, became an MTV and radio hit, rising into the Billboard Top 20. The would-be theme to Roth's then-planned movie, "Goin' Crazy!" also became an MTV staple while hovering near the middle of Billboard's Hot 100 during the early autumn of 1986.
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