Van Halen - 1984 (MCMLXXXIV)

At the time of its release, much of the fuss surrounding 1984 involved Van Halen's adoption of synthesizers on this, their sixth album. The 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. Those synths were either buried beneath guitars or used as texture, even on instrumentals where they were the main instrument, but here they were pushed to the forefront on "Jump," the album's first single and one of the chief reasons this became a blockbuster, crossing over to pop audiences Van Halen had flirted with before but had never quite won over.

The album went on to sell 10M copies in the US alone, so this new direction was very much a good decision. The record boasted two more smash singles in addition to "Jump", both "Panama" and "Hot For Teacher" were huge radio hits.

30th Anniversary heavyweight audiophile vinyl pressed by Warner Records. Remastered from the original analog tapes. Lacquers cut Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering.

TRACKLISTING:

1. 1984
2. Jump
3. Panama
4. Top Jimmy
5. Drop Dead Legs
6. Hot For Teacher
7. I'll Wait
8. Girl Gone Bad
9. House of Pain