10 Most Embarrassing Onstage Moments In Rock
8. Van Halen at US Festival
The 2nd iteration of the US Festival will probably go down in history as a changing of the guard for hard rock. While the first version of Steve Wozniak's vision featured bands from both the punk and new wave genres of music, the arrival of heavy metal from the Sunset Strip made the entire tide of hard rock music shift its focus to the sunny side of California rather than England. However, there's a difference between a good show and a bad performance.
At this point, Van Halen were in fine form, coming off of some of the greatest albums they would ever create with David Lee Roth at the helm. Though every show from them was known to be a spectacle, the ongoing shenanigans happening backstage started to take a toll on Roth's memory when it came time to play. In the middle of one of their tunes, Roth completely blanks out on the lyrics for one of the songs in the middle of his performance.
Rather than continue on like nothing happened, Roth doubles down when the song goes to a vocal break, where he screams "I FORGOT THE F**KIN WORDS!" as the rest of the band play circles around him. For as much as Van Halen's live act was amazing for its time, that doesn't mean that every single moment they took the stage was memorable for the right reasons.