David Lee Roth — Goin' Crazy! HD

JUL 01 1986 · 12:00

David Lee Roth — Goin' Crazy! HD (1986) Director: Pete Angelus Era: MTV Golden Era (1986) - Peak of music video as art form; mid-decade hard rock and pop-metal crossover on Warner Bros. Records, coinciding with the height of Roth's post-Van Halen solo ascent and the *Eat 'Em and Smile* campaign. High. 'Goin' Crazy!' is a multiply significant artifact: it documents the apex of Roth's post-Van Halen commercial peak, preserves a rare instance of director and artist appearing in dual on-screen roles within the same clip, and embeds a satirical commentary on the music industry within the industry's own promotional medium. Its theatrical structure, behind-the-scenes production mythology (the unproduced *Crazy From the Heat* film), and MTV saturation record make it essential for any archive covering 1980s rock video culture, artist-manager creative collaboration, or the pop-metal genre. Context: Released October 25, 1986 as the second single from David Lee Roth's debut solo LP *Eat 'Em and Smile* (Warner Bros.), 'Goin' Crazy!' arrived during the peak commercial moment of post-Van Halen Roth mythology. The single charted at No. 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 12 on the rock chart, riding heavy MTV rotation. The video's satirical record-executive conceit — with Roth and Angelus in character as the 'Fabulous Picasso Brothers' — doubled as industry self-parody at a moment when music video had become the dominant promotional medium, and MTV's gatekeeper role was culturally legible enough to be mocked within the very format it gatekept. The visual and costume concepts were originally developed for Roth's shelved *Crazy From the Heat* film, giving the video an additional layer of salvaged creative mythology. Director notes: Angelus directed 'Goin' Crazy!' for Warner Bros. Records as part of the *Eat 'Em and Smile* promotional campaign. The video employs a dual-narrative theatrical structure: Roth and his band perform on an illuminated soundstage while two record executives — the 'Fabulous Picasso Brothers' — observe from a control room. Roth himself played the 'Fat Picasso Brother' in a full fat suit and gold chains (a disguise so effective that producer Ted Templeman did not recognize him on set), while Angelus appeared on-screen as the 'Slick Picasso Brother,' per IMDb cast credits. The costumes and conceptual framework were repurposed from ideas originally developed for Roth's unproduced film *Crazy From the Heat*. Angelus also made on-screen cameos in Roth's 'Just a Gigolo' and 'Yankee Rose' videos, establishing a recurring creative-partnership dynamic between the two. The video received heavy MTV rotation and helped push 'Goin' Crazy!' to No. 12 on the rock chart.