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Van Halen

Van Halen

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iTunes Editors’ Notes

Van Halen’s 1978 self-titled debut album is one of those rare debut albums—think The Doors, Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced,  Ramones—that simply announces itself. Eddie Van Halen’s lightning-fast guitar leads are everywhere (especially the under two-minute instrumental explosion of “Eruption”), Michael Anthony’s swinging-yet-thunderous bass matches up perfectly with drummer Alex Van Halen’s intricate beats, and singer David Lee Roth is simply on fire from the onset. “Runnin’ With the Devil” sets the tone. Roth screeches, cajoles, and croons with the assurance of a veteran pitchman hawking his product to any sucker who dares to pause. He introduces Van Halen’s guitar solos with genuine anticipatory glee. Add a rambunctious cover of the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me,” the inescapably catchy chorus of “Jamie’s Cryin’,” the crash and burn dynamic of “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,” and the bluesy yawp of “Ice Cream Man,” and there isn’t anything these four men can’t touch and turn into pure Van Halen. For that, they have made one of the all-time finest party albums.

Customer Reviews

Amazing album...

No reviews on this yet? Crazy! Van Halen is absolutely one of the best rock bands of all time. Whether you are a Roth or Hagar fan (cast my vote for DLR!), you cannot deny their influence on the excess of bands that came out of the 1980's. David Lee Roth was the quintessential rock star, and Eddie Van Halen was the reason a lot of teenagers picked up their first guitar. This album has so many classics on it... "Runnin' With The Devil", "Eruption" (one of the greatest guitar solos ever), "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love", "Jamie's Cryin'", and "Little Dreamer". This is one of the few albums (five total) that I never get tired of listening to from beginning to end. There is no filler on this disc. Whether David Lee Roth and Van Halen have another (final?) go-around, this album is a testament to how much they rocked!

Nobody disrespects this album when I'm around!

This album is awesome. Okay, my friend that's totally into rap and usually HATES rock likes and has bought songs off this album! What does that tell you? I'm also proud to say that the first song I downloaded on my iPod was Runnin' With The Devil! I've seen Van Halen (with Diamond Dave, not Van Hagar). These guys are flippin' awesome!

Still the Greatest!

I just saw Van Halen in concert TWENTY FIVE years after watching them rock the Oakland Coliseum Arena and subsequently the US Festival back in 1982. Whereas the former was a spectacular and joyous mess (complete with DLR chugging Southern Comfort, JD, and smoking joints thrown on the stage), the latter showed them to be a tight, mature unit, still cranking away all these years later. And make no mistake, they friggin' KILLED it. Hometown crowd, great venue, and musicians showing who's boss once and for all. I saw Neil Young three weeks earler and he sucked in comparison. But what was most noteworthy about today's VH? That their debut album is STILL their seminal work, Eddy's STILL the greatest guitarist who ever lived, and DLR is the ONLY man who can front this band. EVERYONE in the crowd - who stood for the entire 2 1/2 hours - knew the words to EVERY song on VH(1). Fists pumping, it was as if 12,000 voices sang every tune from "Jamie's Cryin'" to "Atomic Punk" to "Aint Talkin' 'Bout Love." They played the whole thing, too! Sure, we dined on steak and lobster this time round and the tix were a bit more than the 12 bucks we paid back in the day; but the party still raged and the sweet smell of pot could be detected everywhere, while the real masters of rock blew the lid of their 80's impersonators (and I include that stint with Hagar in that category), 90's imitators, and today's pansy bands. Sure, Dave ain't jumping off any speaker columns, but as far as I'm concerned, he's proven his credentials as history's greatest front man just as Eddy's emerged again to take his place among the immortals.

Biography

Formed: 1974 in Pasadena, CA

Genre: Rock

Years Active: '70s, '80s, '90s, '00s, '10s

With their 1978 eponymous debut, Van Halen simultaneously rewrote the rules of rock guitar and hard rock in general. Guitarist Eddie Van Halen redefined what the electric guitar could do, developing a blindingly fast technique with a variety of self-taught two-handed tapping, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and effects that mimicked the sounds of machines and animals. It was wildly inventive and over the top, equaled only by vocalist David Lee Roth, who brought the role of a metal singer to near-performance...
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