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1984
  Van
Halen's sixth album, released January 1, 1984. In
the Fall of 1983, following several months of
touring, and intra-group hassles and arguments,
the boys finally regrouped for a few weeks to
rehearse new songs for this album. For the first
time, the band recorded at Eddie's home studio
which he dubbed "5150." The album was
recorded quickly with very few instrumental
overdubs, once again employing Ted Templeman as
producer. 1984 marked the first time the members
of Van Halen became personally involved in
producing and mixing their music. Throughout the
sessions the group's musical techniques evolved.
Alex's drumming was more melodious than ever, and
this album marked the first time Eddie's
synthesizer played such a prominent role in so
many songs.
1984 proved to be the band's biggest, most
successful album to date. The album spent five
weeks at #2 in the States and hit #15 in the UK.
It sold over three million copies in the first
three months of its release. A major landmark gig
in their "1984" world tour was the
Monsters of Rock Festival at Castle Donnington in
England. But all was not well within the group.
Even though more than six million copies of 1984
were eventually sold, this was Van Halen's last
album with Dave, who left in an acrimonious split
in June, 1985.
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Gold
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Platinum
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Multi-Platinum |
Diamond |
| 3/12/84 | 3/12/84 | 10/22/84
(4x) | 3/16/99 |
| | 1/23/85
(5x) | |
| | 7/1/87
(6x) | |
| | 7/11/94
(7x) | |
| | 8/8/96
(8x) | |
| | 2/8/99
(9x) | |
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Check out
our CD Covers page to download and print out these
CD-size covers:
Front
Back
Inside
CD
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Released
on 1/9/84
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| Copies
Sold: 10
Million (US) |
| Peak
Position (US): 2 |
| Weeks
on Chart: 77 |
| Peak
Position (UK): 15 |
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| Producer:
Ted Templeman |
| Engineer:
Don Landee |
| Recorded
at: 5150 |
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| Reviews |
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| Singles |
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Jump, Panama, Hot for Teacher,
I'll Waitt
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1984 (1:07)
"1984"
was Eddie's improvised keyboard introduction to
"Jump." It was originally over 30 minutes long
and titled by Valerie Bertinelli.
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Jump
(4:04)
"Jump"
was the band's first #1 charting single and one of the
biggest songs of the decade. It alone sold over three
million copies and was the first song Eddie worked up in
his new 5150 studio. Initially, the band was reluctant
to record it because the song centered on a keyboard
part, instead of a guitar riff. Eddie later identified
this song's guitar solo as the one he is most proud of.
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Panama
(3:31)
"Panama"
was written about a car. When a critic accused Dave of
writing about nothing more than sex, partying, and cars,
Dave realized that Van Halen had actually never done a
song about an automobile. Roth wrote the lyrics to
"Panama" to cover that oversight. He wrote the
lyrics after a day at the drag races, where he'd seen a
car named the Panama Express. During the middle part of
the song where Dave says "I can barely feel the
road from the heat comin' off..." you can hear
Eddie revving his Lamborghini in the background, which
was backed up to the studio. Microphones were then
attached to the exhaust pipes. The band then recorded
the sound of the engine revving.
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Top
Jimmy (2:59)
"Top
Jimmy" was written about the leader of a legendary
L.A. bar band, Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs. Top Jimmy
got his name from Top's Tacos where he worked until he
decided to become a blues singer. He was known for
playing outrageous shows at the Whiskey A GoGo, where
Van Halen also played. He later went on to perform at
Cafe de Grande with his band the Rhythm Pigs. Together
as Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs, they released an album
in 1987 titled "Pigus Drunkus Maximus." Ed
recorded this song using a Ripley stereo guitar.
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Drop
Dead Legs (4:13)
"This
song was first recorded by Edward, Alex and Donn Landee
and then played for Ted, Dave and Mike the next day.
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Hot
For Teacher (4:42)
"Hot
For Teacher" spawned one of the funniest, most
risque videos seen on television up to that time. The
guitar intro and solo are two of the finest works Eddie
has ever recorded. To simulate the quiet interludes
live, Ed used a Roland echo unit with the volume turned
down, which he activated from his pedal board. The voice
of Waldo in the video was done by Phil Hartman.
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I'll
Wait (4:41)
"I'll
Wait" was a synthesizer-driven song co-written by
Van Halen and former Doobie Brother Michael McDonald.
Dave and Ted wanted this song kept off the album, but
Edward and Donn pushed for it. This song is about the
girl wearing men's underwear in a Calvin Klein
advertisement. Roth tacked the picture next to his Sony
Trinitron TV and wrote the lyrics to her.
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Girl
Gone Bad (4:33)
"Girl
Gone Bad" was originally premiered as an
instrumental version at the 1983 U.S. Festival. Eddie
got the inspiration for the song's main riff while on
tour in South America in 1983. Not wanting to wake his
sleeping wife while in their hotel room, he slipped into
the closet and hummed the riff into a pocket cassette
recorder.
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House
of Pain (3:18)
"House
Of Pain" was one of the last songs recorded for
this album, and it was included only at the insistence
of Alex. The main parts of this song were written eight
years earlier, during Van Halen's club days. In fact,
the band recorded a different version for the four-song
demo they did with Gene Simmons in late 1976. the 1984
version features different lyrics and a different
musical arrangement.
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