Van Halen - Van Halen (1978)

Ideated from: In a way, the 80s started in 1978. A lot of huge 80s artists and their signature sounds were just debuting or just getting up to speed in 1978.

Van Halen, from this very first record, sounded like everything you’d heard before and yet also sounded like nothing else.

Bands that had this much up-front riffing were usually hyped up blues bands, but VH didn’t really have a trace of the blues.

Bands that had this much guitar shredding were much more in the metal arena, but VH was never really a metal band even if they occasionally sounded a bit like it.

Bands this intentionally showy and trashy were often glam rock or the glam metal that would soon take over the radio, partially inspired by Van Halen’s showmanship if not their music. But that wasn’t really VH either.

Eddie Van Halen had his own idea of what music should sound like, and he and the band did that and turned it up to 11. They made room for the outrageousness of David Lee Roth’s massive presence, and let the whole thing cook like the laws of physics didn’t apply.

Van Halen didn’t really create 80s rock, but they set the vocabulary of what was possible.

Tracks I Liked

Runnin With The Devil - a classic all the way round.

Jamie’s Cryin - a great pop tune even before Ton Loc sampled it.

Ice Cream Man - the one exception to the “VH doesn’t sound bluesy” thing.