1984 | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | January 9, 1984 [1] | |||
Recorded | June–October 1983 | |||
Studio | 5150 Studios in Studio City, California | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 33:22 | |||
Label | Warner Bros. | |||
Producer | Ted Templeman | |||
Van Halen chronology | ||||
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Singles from 1984 | ||||
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1984 (stylized in Roman numerals as MCMLXXXIV) is the sixth studio album by American rock band Van Halen, released on January 9, 1984. [2] It was the last Van Halen studio album until A Different Kind of Truth (2012) to feature lead singer David Lee Roth, who left the band in 1985 following creative differences. This is the final full-length album to feature all four original members (the Van Halen brothers Eddie and Alex, Roth, and Michael Anthony), although they reunited briefly in 2000 to start work on what would much later become 2012's A Different Kind of Truth. [3] Roth returned in 2007, but Eddie's son Wolfgang replaced Anthony in 2006. [2] 1984 and Van Halen's self-titled debut album are the band's best-selling albums, each having sold more than 10 million copies in the United States. [4]
1984 was well received by music critics. Rolling Stone ranked the album number 81 on its list of the "100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s". It reached number two on the Billboard 200 and remained there for five weeks, kept off the top spot by Michael Jackson's Thriller , on which guitarist Eddie Van Halen made a guest performance. 1984 produced four singles, including "Jump", Van Halen's only number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100; the top-20 hits "Panama" and "I'll Wait"; and the MTV favorite "Hot for Teacher". The album was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1999 for ten million shipped copies in the U.S.
Following the tour in support of their fourth studio album, Fair Warning , the band initially wanted to slow down and take a break. [5] They released just one single, "(Oh) Pretty Woman"/"Happy Trails", intended to be a stand-alone release. [5] However, the band's label asked for another album due to the A-side's success and the band recorded their fifth studio album, Diver Down , very quickly. [5] Following the recording of the album, guitarist Eddie Van Halen was dissatisfied by the concessions he had made to Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth and Warner Bros. producer Ted Templeman. [6] Both discouraged Eddie from making keyboards a prominent instrument in the band's music. [7]
By 1983, Eddie was in the process of building his own studio, naming it 5150 after the California law code for the temporary, involuntary psychiatric commitment of individuals (who present a danger to themselves or others due to signs of mental illness), with Donn Landee, the band's longtime engineer (and later, producer on the 5150 and OU812 recordings). [7] [8] While boards and tape machines were being installed, Eddie began working on synthesizers to pass the time. "There were no presets," said Templeman. "He would just twist off until it sounded right." [8] There, he composed Van Halen's follow-up to Diver Down without as much perceived "interference" from Roth or Templeman. [8] The result was a compromise between the two creative factions in the band: a mixture of keyboard-heavy songs, and the guitar-driven hard rock for which the band was known. [8] 1984 was the longest-in-the-making album of the band's career to date, taking about three months to record, compared to most of their previous LPs taking less than two weeks, and their first LP taking only five days, all at Sunset Studios. [9] [10]
In Rolling Stone's retrospective review of 1984 in its '100 Best Albums of the Eighties' list, Templeman said, "It's real obvious to me [why 1984 won Van Halen a broader and larger audience]. Eddie Van Halen discovered the synthesizer." [8]
The album cover art was directed by Richard Seireeni and Pete Angelus, and the cover art was painted by graphic artist Margo Nahas. [11] Seireeni, then Creative Director at Warner Bros. Records, had collected a number of artist portfolios for the band to review. Among those was the work of Margo Nahas. Nahas had initially been asked to create a cover that featured four chrome women dancing, but declined due to the creative difficulties. [12] The band reviewed her work once again, and from her previously created material they chose the painting of a putto stealing cigarettes that was used. [13] The model was Carter Helm, who was the child of one of Nahas' best friends, whom she photographed holding a candy cigarette. [13] The front cover was censored in the UK at the time of the album's release. It featured a sticker that obscured the cigarette in the putto's hand and the pack of cigarettes. [14] The back cover features all four band members individually with 1984 in a green futuristic typeface. [15]
Musically, 1984 has been described as glam/pop metal, [16] [17] [18] hard rock, [19] heavy metal, [20] synth rock, [21] and pop rock. [22] Michael Hann of The Quietus comments that the album sees Van Halen become "everything all at once – synthpop, hard rock, thundering metal, art rock", citing "Top Jimmy" as an example of the latter, with its guitar lines being comparable to Talking Heads. [23] The album's first two singles, "Jump" and "I'll Wait", feature prominent synthesizers, as does the album's intro track, "1984", a one-minute instrumental. [2] Eddie Van Halen played an Oberheim OB-Xa synthesizer on the album except for “I’ll Wait” which was recorded with the newer Oberheim OB-8. [24] The reason for this is that Ed's OB-Xa was having an issue staying in tune and while it was being repaired he was sent the newer model OB-8 (which was featured prominently on future Van Halen albums). [24]
Van Halen became stuck while writing the song "I'll Wait", and producer Ted Templeman suggested that Michael McDonald (with whom Templeman had worked extensively during McDonald's career with The Doobie Brothers) could help them. [25] Templeman sent McDonald a copy of Van Halen's instrumental demo of the song, and after getting some ideas, he met with David Lee Roth in Templeman's office, where the two of them worked out the lyrics and melodies. [25]
Eddie Van Halen stated he wrote the arrangement for "Jump" several years before 1984 was recorded. In a 1995 cover story in Rolling Stone , the guitarist said Roth had rejected the synth riff for "Jump" for at least two years before agreeing to write lyrics to it. [26] In his memoir Crazy from the Heat , Roth confirms Eddie's account, admitting a preference for Van Halen's guitar work; however, he says he now enjoys the song. Additionally in his memoir, Roth writes that he wrote the lyrics to "Jump" after watching a man waffle as to whether to commit suicide by jumping off a skyscraper. [27]
The album's third single was "Panama", which features a heavy guitar riff reminiscent of Van Halen's earlier work. The engine noise was from Eddie revving up his Lamborghini, with microphones used near the tailpipes. [8] [28] [29] Later, a video of "Hot for Teacher" was released and played regularly on MTV, giving the band a fourth hit which sustained sales of the album.
Other songs on 1984 included "Girl Gone Bad", parts of which previously had been played during the 1982 tour amidst performances of "Somebody Get Me a Doctor" (including the US Festival show), the hard rock "Drop Dead Legs", and "Top Jimmy", a tribute to James Paul Koncek of the band Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs. The album concludes with "House of Pain", a heavy metal song that dates back to the band's early club days of the mid-1970s. [30]
Eddie Van Halen told an interviewer that "Girl Gone Bad" was written in a hotel room that he and then-wife Valerie Bertinelli had rented. Bertinelli was asleep, and Van Halen woke up during the night with an idea he had to put on tape. Not wanting to wake Bertinelli, Van Halen grabbed a cassette recorder and recorded himself playing guitar in the closet. [31]
1984 peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200 (behind Michael Jackson's Thriller, which featured an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo on "Beat It"), and remained in that spot for 5 consecutive weeks. [32] It contained the anthems "Jump", "Panama", "I'll Wait", and "Hot for Teacher". "Jump" reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. 1984 is the second of two Van Halen albums to have achieved RIAA Diamond status, selling over ten million copies in the United States. Their debut Van Halen was the first. [33] "Jump" went on to be certified Gold in April 1984, only months after the album's release. [34]
The album's follow-up singles – the synth-driven "I'll Wait", and "Panama", each peaked at Billboard number 13 on the Pop charts, respectively, in March and June. "Hot for Teacher" was a moderate Billboard Hot 100 success, reaching number 56; the MTV video for "Hot for Teacher" became even more popular. [35] The "Hot for Teacher" video, which was directed by Roth, [2] stars preteen lookalikes of the four Van Halen band members; a stereotypical nerd named "Waldo"; David Lee Roth as Waldo's bus driver; and numerous teachers stripping. [36]
To promote the album, the band ran a contest on MTV. [37] The contest was called, "Lost Weekend" with Van Halen. Fans mailed over 1 million postcards to MTV in hopes of winning the contest. In the promo for MTV, David Lee Roth said, "You won't know where you are, you won't know what's going to happen, and when you come back, you're not gonna have any memory of it." [38] [39] Kurt Jeffries won the contest and was flown to Detroit to join the band. [40] Jeffries was allowed to bring along his best friend. He was given a Lost Weekend T-shirt and a hat. He was also brought on stage and had a large sheet cake smashed in his face which was followed by about a dozen people pouring champagne on him. [40]
The UK single release for "I'll Wait" [41] credited Michael McDonald as a co-writer, but he was not credited on the US version. [42] The ASCAP entry for "I'll Wait" lists Michael McDonald as co-writer with Roth and the Van Halen members.[ citation needed ]
After the release of Best Of – Volume I (1996), Van Halen renegotiated their royalties with their label Warner Bros. In 2004, Roth discovered that the rest of the band had renegotiated a royalty rate five times greater than his for releases made during his time as lead singer. [43] [44]
Songs from 1984 that appear on compilations after the royalty renegotiation and Roth's lawsuit were credited to Edward Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, and David Lee Roth, with Michael Anthony's name removed from the credits, as evident in the end song credits of the 2007 film Superbad . [45]
Michael Anthony's longstanding bass technician Kevin Dugan has noted that the opening title track instrumental from the album originates from a Roland bass synthesizer passage created as an intro for Anthony's in-concert bass solos, and has claimed that he and Anthony wrote and programmed it together. [46]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [47] |
Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s | B+ [48] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [49] |
Rolling Stone | [20] |
The Great Rock Discography | 7/10 [50] |
Spin | [51] |
Reviews for 1984 were generally favorable. Robert Christgau rated the album a B+. He explained that "Side one is pure 'up', and not only that, it sticks to the ears" and that "Van Halen's pop move avoids fluff because they're heavy, and schlock because they're built for speed, finally creating an all-purpose mise-en-scene for Brother Eddie's hair-raising, stomach-churning chops." He also called side two "consolation for their loyal fans—a little sexism, a lot of pyrotechnics, and a standard HM bass attack on something called 'House of Pain'." [48] J.D. Considine, a reviewer for Rolling Stone , rated 1984 four out of five stars. He called it "the album that brings all of Van Halen's talent into focus." He stated that ""Jump" is not exactly the kind of song you'd expect from Van Halen", but that "once Alex Van Halen's drums kick in and singer David Lee Roth starts to unravel a typically convoluted story line, things start sounding a little more familiar". Although he mentioned "Jump" as having "suspended chords and a pedalpoint bass in a manner more suited to Asia", he went on to state that "Eddie Van Halen manages to expand his repertoire of hot licks, growls, screams and seemingly impossible runs to wilder frontiers than you could have imagined." He concluded that "what really makes this record work is the fact that Van Halen uses all this flash as a means to an end—driving the melody home—rather than as an end in itself" and that "despite all the bluster, Van Halen is one of the smartest, toughest bands in rock & roll. Believe me, that's no newspeak." [20]
In a 1984 review, Billboard states the album is "funnier and more versatile than most of their metal brethren", calling the production "typically strong". [52] A retrospective review by AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine was extremely positive. He noted that the album caused "a hoopla that was a bit of a red herring since the band had been layering in synths since their third album, Women and Children First ". He further stated that "Jump"'s "synths played a circular riff that wouldn't have sounded as overpowering on guitar", but that "the band didn't dispense with their signature monolithic, pulsating rock." He also stated that "where [previous] albums placed an emphasis on the band's attack, this places an emphasis on the songs." [47] In The Great Rock Discography (2004), Martin C. Strong opines that 1984 "saw Van Halen successfully tackling obligatory 80's experimentation". [50] In his book Copendium (2012), Julian Cope described 1984 as a "curious" record which "expected us to accept the wholsesale metaphor change from Guitar Eddie to Synth Eddie and suck on 'Jump''s Genesis-plays-the-Who-by-numbers." [53]
Guitar Player magazine writer Matt Blackett praises the "deeper cuts" of the album, "Drop Dead Legs", "House of Pain", and "Girl Gone Bad", calling the guitar work "fresh and vital", noting Eddie's "dark, complex sense of harmony and melody". [54] Len Comaratta from Consequence of Sound felt Van Halen reached the pinnacle of its commercial and critical success. [21] At the end of the 1980s, Rolling Stone , which had previously been critical of Van Halen, [55] ranked 1984 at number 81 on its list of the 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s. [8] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . [56] Guitar World magazine placed the album on their list of "New Sensations: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1984". [57] In 1991, Chuck Eddy ranked the album 12th in his book of the 500 best heavy metal albums. He praised it as "pop cock-rock" that spanned showy crescendos ("Girl Gone Bad"), "space age symphonics" ("1984"), "Baba O'Riley"-style electronics ("Jump"), drum solos comparable to Kenny Aronoff joining Motörhead ("Hot for Teacher"), "Betty Boop with her top down" ("Panama"), and "unrooted tributes to roots bands" ("Top Jimmy"), overall saying: "It was pure avant-garde vaudeville, it was pure Hollywood, it was a chorus line in bed with the chainsaw massacre." [58]
Following the death of lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen in October 2020, 1984 saw a brief resurgence to the charts. [59]
All tracks are written by Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth, except for "I'll Wait", which is by Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth and Michael McDonald.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "1984" (instrumental) | 1:07 |
2. | "Jump" | 4:01 |
3. | "Panama" | 3:31 |
4. | "Top Jimmy" | 2:59 |
5. | "Drop Dead Legs" | 4:14 |
No. | Title | Length |
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6. | "Hot for Teacher" | 4:42 |
7. | "I'll Wait" | 4:40 |
8. | "Girl Gone Bad" | 4:35 |
9. | "House of Pain" | 3:19 |
Total length: | 33:22 |
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Canada (Music Canada) [86] | 5× Platinum | 500,000^ |
Finland (Musiikkituottajat) [87] | Gold | 25,305 [87] |
France (SNEP) [88] | Gold | 100,000* |
Germany (BVMI) [89] | Platinum | 500,000^ |
Japan (RIAJ) [90] | Gold | 100,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [91] | Platinum | 15,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [92] | Gold | 100,000^ |
United States (RIAA) [93] | Diamond | 10,000,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Van Halen was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and for the virtuosity of its guitarist, Eddie Van Halen. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
Van Halen is the debut studio album by American rock band Van Halen, released on February 10, 1978, by Warner Bros. Records. Widely regarded as one of the greatest debut albums in rock music, and considered a progenitor of glam metal, the album was a major commercial success, peaking at number 19 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart. It has sold more than 10 million copies in the United States, receiving a Diamond certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and making it one of the best-selling albums in the country.
Van Halen II is the second studio album by American rock band Van Halen. Released by Warner Bros Records on March 23, 1979, it peaked at number six on the U.S. Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart and yielded hit singles "Dance the Night Away" and "Beautiful Girls." As of 2004, it had sold almost six million copies in the United States alone. Critical reaction to the album has been positive, with The Rolling Stone Album Guide praising the "feel-good, party atmosphere" of the songs.
David Lee Roth is an American rock singer. Known for his wild and energetic stage persona, he was the lead vocalist of the hard rock band Van Halen for three stints: from 1974 to 1985, during 1996, and from 2006 to when they disbanded in 2020. He has also had a successful solo career, releasing numerous RIAA-certified Gold and Platinum albums. After more than two decades apart, Roth re-joined Van Halen in 2006 for a North American tour that became the highest-grossing in the band's history, and one of the highest-grossing of that year. In 2007, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Van Halen.
5150 is the seventh studio album by American rock band Van Halen. It was released on March 24, 1986, by Warner Bros. Records and was the first of four albums to be recorded with lead singer Sammy Hagar, who replaced David Lee Roth. The album was named after Eddie Van Halen's home studio, 5150, in turn named after a California law enforcement term for a mentally disturbed person. The album hit number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, surpassing the band's previous album, 1984, which had peaked at number 2 behind Michael Jackson's Thriller album, on which Eddie made a guest appearance.
Women and Children First is the third studio album by American rock band Van Halen, released on March 26, 1980, on Warner Bros. Records. Produced by Ted Templeman and engineered by Donn Landee, it was the first Van Halen album not to feature any cover songs, and is described by critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine as "[the] record where the group started to get heavier, both sonically and, to a lesser extent, thematically."
Fair Warning is the fourth studio album by American rock band Van Halen. Released on April 29, 1981, by Warner Bros. Records, the album peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200, while the single "So This Is Love?" failed to reach Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 110 on the Bubbling-Under list. The album sold more than two million copies in the United States, but was still the band's slowest-selling album of the David Lee Roth era. Despite the album's commercially disappointing sales, Fair Warning was met with mostly positive reviews from critics. It was listed by Esquire as one of the "75 Albums Every Man Should Own".
Diver Down is the fifth studio album by American rock band Van Halen, released on April 19, 1982 by Warner Bros. Records. It spent 65 weeks on the album chart in the United States and had, by 1998, sold four million copies in the United States. Despite its commercial success, selling faster than its predecessor Fair Warning (1981), it was more lukewarmly received by contemporary music critics.
OU812 is the eighth studio album by American rock band Van Halen. It was released in 1988 and is the band's second album to feature vocalist Sammy Hagar. Van Halen began work on the album in September 1987 and completed it in April 1988, one month before its release.
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge is the ninth studio album by American rock band Van Halen. It was released on June 17, 1991, on Warner Bros. Records and is the third to feature vocalist Sammy Hagar. It debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart and maintained the position for three consecutive weeks. The album marked a record in the band's history, seeing seven of its eleven tracks released as singles.
Best Of – Volume I is the first greatest hits album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released on October 22, 1996.
"Jump" is a song by American rock band Van Halen. It was released in December 1983 as the lead single of their sixth studio album, 1984. It is Van Halen's most successful single, reaching number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song differs from earlier Van Halen songs in that it is driven by a keyboard riff, although the song does contain a guitar solo. David Lee Roth dedicated the song to martial artist Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, of whom he was a student. In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked "Jump" at number 177 on its updated list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Eat 'Em and Smile is the debut studio album by former Van Halen singer David Lee Roth, released on July 7, 1986, after his unpredicted successful debut EP Crazy from the Heat (1985).
"Hot for Teacher" is a song by the American rock band Van Halen, taken from their sixth studio album, 1984. The song was written by band members Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth, and produced by Ted Templeman. It was released as the fourth and final single from the album in October 1984, and was the final single released during the band's 1974–1985 era.
"Dance the Night Away" is a song by American hard rock band Van Halen, and written by its group members. It is the second song from their 1979 album Van Halen II. While the rest of the songs from this album had existed in various forms since their days doing demos and playing clubs, this song was possibly the only song written during the recording sessions for the album.
"I'll Wait" is a song by American rock band Van Halen, taken from their sixth studio album, 1984 (1984). It was written by band members Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth, along with Michael McDonald, and produced by Ted Templeman.
Van Halen was an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California in 1972 by the Dutch-born American brothers Eddie Van Halen (guitar) and Alex Van Halen (drums), plus singer David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony. The band's discography consists of 12 studio albums, two live albums, four compilation albums, and 56 singles.
Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was an American musician. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex in 1972.
The David Lee Roth Band was Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth's backing band, formed in Pasadena, California. Originally featuring a supergroup lineup of guitarist Steve Vai, bassist Billy Sheehan, and drummer Gregg Bissonette, the band released numerous popular songs and albums from the mid-1980s until the late 1990s. Other well-known musicians in the David Lee Roth Band have included guitarist Jason Becker, guitarist Steve Hunter, guitarist John Lowery, bassist Matt Bissonette, drummer Ray Luzier, and keyboardist Danny Wagner. The backing band's well-known songs include "Yankee Rose", "Goin' Crazy!", "Shy Boy", "Just Like Paradise", "Stand Up", "Damn Good", "A Little Ain't Enough", "She's My Machine", and "Slam Dunk!".
A Different Kind of Truth is the twelfth and final studio album by American rock band Van Halen. Released on February 7, 2012, by Interscope Records, this is Van Halen's only studio album on Interscope and its first full-length album of studio material with lead singer David Lee Roth since 1984. Likewise, A Different Kind of Truth was Van Halen's first studio album since 1998's Van Halen III, as well as their only studio album recorded without bassist Michael Anthony, who had played bass on all of the band's previous albums; Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfgang replaced Anthony for the album, making this his only studio album with the band. It would also be Van Halen's final studio album before Eddie's death and the group's subsequent disbandment in 2020.
the pop-metal smash 1984
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