DIAMOND DAVE Asked Jogging Bud to Open for Van Halen-He Didn't Even Have a Band! | Professor Of Rock

One of the coolest and lesser known stories in rock history. Drummer Keni Richards used to be David Lee Roth’s jogging buddy One day Diamond Dave asked him what he was up to and Keni showed him a demo of the band he was in. DLR wasn’t impressed. Keni then showed him a demo tape of a bunch of his drinking buddies who jammed together on the weekends.. They weren’t even a band.. Diamond Dave love the sound that offered the non existent band a slot to open for Van Halen on their 1984 tour. Keni was ecstatic. So they put together the band officially and decided to name it Autograph comprised of lead singer Steve Plunkett and tapping genius guitarist Steve Lynch. But Lynch was told that he could use his tapping style while on tour with Van Halen because that was Eddie Van Halen’s thing. As the make shift band came together and played they got better and better and ended up getting a record deal which lead to writing one of the 80s best hard rock songs.. Turn up the Radio. Only Autograph had to fight to get it released as the label didn’t believe in it. Then they had to sell out a little without he music video which was sponsored by paper mate and one of the most obvious product placement videos ever. The song was a smash as Autograph had a built in pedigree for radio with it’s call to action and recorded version for stations… This was a band on fire and then they never had another hit. They are now remembered as a one hit wonder but they deserved better. We find out where the band is now. Hint: the band is still going but does’ have any original members.

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#1980s #rock #vanhalen

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Diamond Dave Gave his Jogging Buddy Big Break…Paid Off with Huge 1984 Rock Hit! It’s time for another edition of our series Bottled Lightening where we celebrate a song or album that was king for a day. Here we honor artists and bands and that rocketed up the charts… but for reasons unknown weren’t able to sustain that success. Called by some ‘one hit wonders’, we celebrate them instead as lightening in a bottle. Today we are breaking down a classic staple from the spandex era… Autograph’s great 80s rocker Turn Up the Radio.

The classic 80s lineup of Autograph consisted of guitar virtuoso Steve Lynch, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Steve Plunkett, bassist Randy Rand, keyboardist Steve Isham [Eye-sham], and drummer Keni Richards. In 1983, when Autograph came together, these California musicians actually had no intention of forming a band. At the time Lynch and Isham were already playing with Holly Penfield, Plunkett was in a group called Silver Condor, Richards was in a band called ‘The Coup’, and Rand was playing with Lita Ford.

Said Lynch, “We were just guys who got together [that] had played in different incarnations of bands. We’d get together on the weekends to just jam out, drink beer, have fun and play AC/DC and Thin Lizzy songs.