Album Essentials: Van Halen - "1984"
By Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor
When Van Halen first exploded, back in 1978, with their self-titled debut LP, they took the rock world hostage, in a manner of speaking. Though it was incorrect, heavy metal had long been associated with doom and gloom, downers and volume, lengthy guitar solos, drum solos, witches, dragons, you name it. It was, for many, a fantasy world and the bands played it to the hilt. There were exceptions, bands like UFO, AC/DC, and Thin Lizzy, though arguably none of them were actually 'heavy metal,' metal fans liked those bands despite not having any of the readily adopted, aforementioned cliches.
Enter Van Halen who presented a different twist on what 'heavy' meant. Yes, the guitars were loud and slashing, but never sludge laden doom, and the lyrics were about more teenage concerns like, girls, partying, and hanging out. In addition, there were harmonies, and there was energy. When Van Halen opened for a lethargic Black Sabbath, in 1978, the line was drawn, as many a concert goer noted how Sabbath seemed like yesterday’s news, while Van Halen sounded exciting and fresh. The formula of Eddie Van Halen's guitar style, David Lee Roth's ringleader persona, and Ted Templeman's crisp, sharp production, all added up to a hard rocking band with a crossed audience appeal, as fans and radio fully embraced the four man band from Los Angeles.
Fast forward through 'II,' ' Women And Children First,' and 'Fair Warning,' all classic VH albums, formula intact with slight variations here and there, but by the release of 'Diver Down,' in 1982, it seemed the band were running out of steam. Five of the album's 12 tracks were cover songs, there were three instrumentals, and a general lack of gusto. Some new twist was needed to inject life back into the band. For a band so tied to guitar hero stature, it seemed odd that this new twist would be significant use of keyboards, but when 'Jump' was released as a single, at the tail end of 1983, it caught everyone off-guard.
Driven by a dynamic keyboard riff, the guitars took a backseat as the song propelled forward. Though die-hard rockers may have initially been confused, fans, critics, and radio all nodded and smiled, driving the song to the top slot on the Billboard charts. Say what you will about it, but it was nothing if not incredibly catchy, and made for a bright spot on the radio playlists of the world. There was still one hot shot guitar solo to be included, but the synth, played by Eddie, was the star of the song.
For those who feared Van Halen had traded in guitars for keyboards in an attempt to modernize things, they only needed the next song on the album to prove otherwise as 'Panama' would prove, these guys were still masters of the shiny guitar riff. Fun poured out of the speakers, as the volume knob was nudged upward. 'Elsewhere, 'Hot For Teacher,' and 'I'll Wait,' would also become radio hits and classic rock staples. Essential? You bet it is! The album hit No. 2 on the charts and would go on to sell a massive 10 million copies, ultimately the success of '1984' would also cause an irreparable rift in the band, as David Lee Roth's persona and ego kept getting larger ultimately leading him to leave the band for a solo career. "Money can't buy you happiness,' Roth noted in an interview from the period, "but it can buy you a boat big enough to sail right up next to it!"