Van Halen - 1984
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Free Music Notes for 1984
Free Music Review: Roth's swan song, perhaps mercifully
Hit: 2 Stars
Doing far more damage than their mega-selling debut, "1984" helped launch the mainstream explosion of the West Coast hair metal assault by proving that smooth pop hooks and synthesizers could be applied for plenty of crossover appeal without losing the so-called "edge" (though most of these bands were about as sharp as a dulled butter knife). By giving license to this sort of exercise in neon-washed mummer acting, this album can take a greater share of the blame than nearly any other.
There's no denying the guilty pleasure appeal of a hit like "Panama," but "Hot For Teacher" is medicore even for a dunderheaded slab of energetic sleaze rock and "Jump" is sabotaged by their new found adoration for the synthesizer (the energetic performance is in stark contrast to the mechanical musical makeup). "I'll Wait" falls somewhere in between, sounding like a cross between "Jump" and their 1991 megahit, "Right Now." The filler between the radio wonders, though, are pretty tame. "Top Jimmy" has a pretty bad vocal performance (and a rather dull punk-ish melody), "Drop Dead Legs" drags where it tries to strut, and the mediocre leftover from their early days, "House of Pain," simply stumbles. Only "Girl Gone Bad" is worth hearing, but by then, you'll probably be too sick of this album to care anymore.
Best cuts: "Panama," "Girl Gone Bad," "I'll Wait"
Free Music Review: One of the best party albums of all time
Hit: 5 Stars
What is it about Van Halen that exemplies raucous fun, including summer, cold beer, and hot babes? This kind of album would not be produced today, and would probably be dismissed as too corny and lacking in street cred. "1984" contains an amazing joyfulness, from the catchy "Jump" and "Panama" to "Hot for Teacher." Get it and enjoy. Free Music Review: The Best album of 1984!!
Hit: 5 Stars
How can anyone not like this album, None of Sammy's albums ever out sold this one!!
Van Halen was the trend setter in the 80's, after Eddie started finger taping on the guitar everyone started to do it.
Alot of lead singers started to wear spandex after David Lee Roth did.
Most drummers started to play a double Bass on their drum set after Alex did.
And everyone started to drink Jack Daniels after they saw Michael's Jack Daniels guitar.LOL
Van Halen was the ultimate party band of the 80's!!
If you are a Van Halen fan you must have this album!!
I would rate this album a 10 from 1to10!!
Free Music Review: One of the defining albums of the 1980s
Hit: 5 Stars
Released December 31, 1983, 1984 is the last record released (to date; there are rumbles of a new Roth project looming on the horizon) by the original lineup of Van Halen. And what an album it is. After 1984's questionable processor DIVER DOWN, not only did Eddie Van Halen prove his band could write great pop-metal, he showed beyond any doubt Van Halen had some of the best rock the 1980s had to offer.
In many ways, 1984 is one of the most important for the band from a psychological perspective. Van Halen's first three albums were very successful. Eddie went into a dark era of his life, which lead to the creation of FAIR WARNING, one of the dirtiest, mean-spirited rock albums ever recorded. Due to the chilly reception this disc got, Roth wanted DIVER DOWN to be more sunny and poppy to make up for the lacking sales of FAIR WARNING.
Roth pressured the band to record a bunch of cover songs, with only a few original songs. This resulted in DIVER DOWN, easily the most uneven and weakest of the six Roth albums. At Eddie's disgust, he decided he'd rather make it with his own material than rely on other songwriters, and so took control for DIVER DOWN'S follow up. The Van Halen brothers were so dissatisfied with DIVER DOWN that Eddie founded his own studio, 5150, and recorded the band's music on his own terms. While this direction or artistic integrity would later lead to the career-killing VAN HALEN III, on 1984, Eddie's decision to take control of the band's future paid off in spades.
The biggest change to the music from the previous five LPs was the incorporation of keyboards, a decision David Lee Roth was not entirely happy with. Eddie is a classically trained pianist, and had been wanting to bring them in for some time. 1984 is notable for really being among the first pop-metal albums to use synthesizers, which in the ensuing years would be widely employed by any number of bands in the pop-metal genre. Ironically enough, 5150, the band's next album and first with Sammy Hagar, is a natural extension of the direction Eddie began here. One of the album's biggest songs, "Jump", is built around keyboards rather than guitar.
The songs of 1984 are some of the best, shiniest, and just plain fun pop metal around. The title cut is a short one minute keyboard instrumental.
"Panama" is one of VH's best hard rock songs, and the only song about cars the band has.
"Jump", the aforementioned song, is one of their most famous songs, and one of the biggest hits of the early 1980s.
"I'll Wait", another synth song, was a top ten hit about Roth falling in love with a model in magizines and having to deal with that heart break (think The Who's "Pictures of Lily", only with less mastu involved). Most famous people have to deal with obsessive-compulsive stalkers such as this, I suppose. Lot more scary in real life than in the song.
"Drop Dead Legs" is another typical hot mama VH song, but non the worst for the wear for common lyrical preoccupation for the boys (read: sex). Has kind of a slow rock tempo that's just dripping with raging . . . hormones and testosterone.
"Hot For Teacher", with its amazing drum work and blistering guitar, was also a huge hit with an equally famous video. This was years before a lot of the teacher-sex scandals began breaking out all over the US. Don't know what school the boys in the video went too, but my teachers sure as hell didn't look like that.
That leaves the last two songs. While the whole party atmosphere that so characterizes Van Halen is maintained through the album, there's trouble in paradise. "Girl Gone Bad" is about exactly what it says it is. "House of Pain" is another troubled relationship, with Roth declaring he'd make it where his woman could never lead this house of pain. ["House of Pain" has Roth dumping his girl cause she's a little bit too much into S&M for his tastes.] This is actually one of Van Halen's oldest songs, written before they got a record deal and resurrected at Alex Van Halen's insistence years after its initial composition.
Much like the end of the album, no matter how great the party there's always trouble somewhere. After the band released 1984, there was trouble in paradise between the brothers and their gonzo frontman, and David Lee Roth split in 1985 to forge a solo career. Van Halen hired Sammy Hagar and issued the first Van Hagar album in 1986, and so began the never resolved Hagar/Roth debate.
Ultimately, the whole Roth/Hagar debate is neither here nor there in regards to 1984. Had Van Halen called it quits after this record, they would still be remembered as a great rock and roll band, if a little preoccupied with sex and the frat boy image. Without a doubt, this, along with their debut, is easily the pinnacle of their achievements with Roth as front man. Both records are essential staples in any rock fan's collection. As to which is better is hard to say - VAN HALEN is one of the best, most fully realised debuts released by any band. Their sound was instantly defined and had amazing guitar which would prove to be enormously influential, far beyond the scope of most pop-metal bands. 1984 equally looms large, influencing and shaping the rest of the decade.
Free Music Review: 4.5 stars for DLR's VH swan song
Hit: 4 Stars
1984 is sort of that love it/hate it Van Halen record. No doubt the use of keyboards as the primary riff on two songs (Jump and I'll Wait) had a few VH fans scratching their collective noggins. Even Dave Roth himself wasn't keen on the notion initially, feeling the need to remind his ace guitarist that the axe is the weapon of choice for Van Halen...not tinkling the ebony and ivory. This was also the band's pinnacle on MTV and the record featured three pretty humorous (and popular) videos to follow the cheesy Oh, Pretty Woman vid from a year-and-a-half earlier. Now people who mightn't have dug the heavier tones of Woman and Children First or Fair Warning prior to this had a bit more accessible Van Halen to latch onto. And latch on they did, as this record would ultimately hit diamond status...meaning an eye-popping 10-million copies sold.
So in many ways 1984 was the precursor to Metallica's Black Album, managing to divide the diehards while simultaneously herding in an even broader fan base...while also en route to enough platinum albums to make you go blind from the sheen on the wall. Some of the eldest fans screamed "SELL OUT" and drowned themselves in VH II and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Others saw it as the next step for the band. And those who might have previously paid them no mind found themselves singing Jump in their car on the way to school. But the proof, as is said, layeth in the puddingeth.
Truth be told, 1984 isn't as heavy as Fair Warning, for instance. That much is pretty evident. In many ways it was the next logical step from the underappreciated but sincerely exuberant Diver Down (see my review for that floating around...somewhere). This time, however, the album was all original material...and quite frankly, on the poppier side or not, it was quite solid stuff.
The album begins with the brief keyboard instrumental and title track, 1984. Unlike some of Edwardo's other interesting virtuoso excursions, like the oddball Intruder and Sunday Afternoon In The Park, 1984 is a somewhat futuristic yet musical keyboard piece....which segues naturally into the perky pop single, Jump. Jump isn't as stellar as it is almost unignorably charming. There's hardly a guitar to be heard (`cept for color and background texture) on this one, leading off with an electric key chordal riff and featuring....(say it isn't so)...a keyboard solo from the Thomas Edison of rock guitar. While the lyrics are clearly benign (bordering on non-sensical), the groove is infectious. It's no musical masterpiece, but it is an achievement of vibe and melody...and even the most Romeo Delight-oriented VH fan will be singing along when they play this live on their reunion tour. (You know you will).
Jump also establishes the tone for the album. It's going to be a pretty light, fun record....(again, not unlike Diver Down before it). No sooner are the final refrains of Jump fading into infinite oblivion then the rock guitar returns on the opening refrain of Panama, along with the odd rhythms of the elder Halen on the drums. Panama is a great rock tune rich in melody and Van Halenisms, such as Roth's improvisational rap during the breakdown...(almost to be expected anymore). This song is sort of reminiscent of the Feel Your Love Tonight or Unchained vibe....complete with a really tasty EVH solo. (Don't worry, it's not going to be a solely keyboard record after all!).
Other standouts on the record include the harmonic-intro'd riff to Top Jimmy, a tribute to an old mate of Dave Roth. The song features some great vocal backgrounds and a sweet solo during the song's tempo change. Another innocuous-but-undeniable tune.
Probably my favorite song on the record is the other not-so-Van Halen-esque I'll Wait, a definite precursor to the impending 5150 album with its sort of Dreams-like keyboard-laden riff. The song also features what's arguably my favorite Roth vocal on any VH record to date. Yes, it's geared for radio. No, it's not as guttural and raw as Atomic Punk. But once again, it's a brilliant pop production, so it's not striving to be anything but what it is and on that level, it succeeds. And what it is, as different as that may have been to VH fans at the time, was no less quality because it was experimental. Great song..!
The biggest, broadest, and funniest tune is the completely oddball Hot For Teacher...with its unforgettable Alex Van Halen drum romp, segueing into his brother's solo noodle...then into the main riff. Not your typical band's intro but then again few bands can pull off what Van Halen gets away with. That's part of their charm. The song then becomes a veritable playground for Roth to mix a really nice vocal melody with lots of background rap and classroom-inspired conversations. EVH solos like mad on this tune, which ultimately reads like a carefully orchestrated jam....which is the best way to put it. My only quibble is that this song is really geared for the studio and is somewhat difficult (and often disappointing) when translated live because it loses a lot of the nuances that make this quirky song so memorable. Again, another song that excels at fun over any other aim.
Another great addition is the song House Of Pain which FINALLY found a home after being a staple during their mid-70s club days. Easily the heaviest tune on the record and it sort of stands out for that reason. I'd almost argue it's out of place, except that the tone of the song acts as a bit of a counter-weight to the likes of the lighter Teacher and Jump.
My two least favorite tracks are still quite tasty, so misread not. Drop Dead Legs starts quite promising but ends up sounding a bit overlong and a tad unfinished, the song fading out on an extended solo jam. Girl Gone Bad has a sexy enough riff (love the harmonics) and beat, but I'm not crazy about Roth's lyrics or vocal delivery (esp. in the chorus) much here. Nothing critical with either of these two, mind you....neither being bad, just not the pinnacle of the album to me. (Hell, you've got to have a relative low point and these two seem the least imaginative to me overall compared with the others).
At many points along the way, the album finely rides the line between being a tad cheesy and being musically brilliant. The fact that the songs almost never take themselves seriously is our reassurance that the band is definitely smiling and laughing along with us, which makes the damn thing charming and not stupid or silly.
Where many of the tones here seem a full 180 degrees from their '78 debut, what remains constant here is the level of fun and dynamic energy at work. Beyond that, the playing is simply stellar throughout. Somewhat like Kiss' Dynasty album gets labeled as disco for having a couple danceable tracks, 1984 also gets the equally-unfair tag of being VH's sellout pop record. While there are moments of just that, there's still plenty to love for the most hardcore Van Halen trooper, provided your periphery can sense things beyond the radio-friendly strains of Jump and I'll Wait.
Say what you will, there's not much to not like about this album outside that regretful effect that comes with over-exposure. Yes...sometimes hearing Jump, Hot For Teacher and Panama on VH-1, the radio, and seeing them show up incessantly on greatest hits packages makes the album seem a bit long in the tooth. But those prejudices aside, it's a great Van Halen record...and a wonderful swan song for David Lee Roth.
I give 1984 a 4.5 of 5 stars. A (-)