1984 by Van Halen
1984 (MCMLXXXIV) is an album released by Van Halen in when else, 1984.
The album is noted for possibly being Van Halen's most successful album. If you use a criterion by how many songs would be recognized by the average radio listener, you would say at least 2, maybe even 3. No other album by Van Halen can claim this.
The album came in at #2 for Billboard's Hot 200 in the year 1984. At the time, Thriller was #1, which contained an Eddie Van Halen solo guitar riff on "Beat It" This is due to the extremely popularity of its' tracks, most notably "Jump" (#1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles list), "I'll Wait" (#13), "Panama" (#13) and "Hot for Teacher" (#56). These songs also ranked highly on other charts such as Mainstream Rock Tracks. In fact, Jump came in #1 on that list as well as the Billboard list.
Tracks on the Album:
1. "1984" (instrumental) – 1:07
2. "Jump" – 4:04
3. "Panama" – 3:32
4. "Top Jimmy" – 2:59
5. "Drop Dead Legs" – 4:14
6. "Hot for Teacher" – 4:42
7. "I'll Wait" – 4:41
8. "Girl Gone Bad" – 4:35
9. "House of Pain" – 3:19
Many Van Halen songs are noted for Eddie Van Halen's killer guitar riffs. However, these are most notable in the tracks Jump, Panama and Hot for Teacher, with the latter having multiple complicated riffs. Eddie's training as a keyboardist also comes out in the tracks Jump and I'll Wait. Eddie claims to have written Jump and Girl Gone Bad, but these are unconfirmed.
Band members on the album include Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony. Eddie plays lead guitar, Alex plays drums and percussion, Roth is the lead singer and Anthony plays the bass guitar.
1984 is known infamously for being the last album to date with David Lee Roth. Roth left the band in the spring of '84. Also, when the album was released in the UK, a sticker with the Roman numerals for 1984 had to be placed over the image of cigarettes on the cover, as there was a government-instituted anti-smoking campaign at the time.
Finally, the album has received Gold, Platinum, Multi-Platinum and Diamond certifications. It is one of 2 Van Halen albums to receive the Diamond certification.
More information can be found at this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_(Van_Halen_album)#Release_and_reception
Overall, I believe 1984 was Van Halen's best album. Therefore I give it a 5 star rating.
