Van Halen’s 1984 Turns 40
Van Halen’s seminal sixth album, 1984, turns 40 years old this year. For Gen X kids growing up with MTV, this is a sobering anniversary. You see, this album was a big deal. Van Halen were among the biggest American bands in the world in 1983 And we’re about to become even bigger. Formed in Pasadena in 1973, Van Halen emerged from the Southern California scene to become an indomitable force on FM radio and MTV.
1984 came after furious recording and touring between 1978 and 1982. Eddie Van Halen was established as a guitar god, one of, if not the best ever to pick up the instrument. His brother Alex was a force on the drums, and his rhythm section partner Michael Anthony was an angel on background harmonies. Then out front, David Lee Roth. The quintessential rock frontman. Van Halen entered cities like a tornado, leaving a path of destruction, breathless women, rowdy teenagers, and wide-eyed guitar fans in their wake.
1984 came at a tumultuous time in the band. Eddie Van Halen was starting to tire of DLR’s antics and was embracing an infatuation with synthesizers that changed the trajectory of the band forever. Wanting to have more autonomy over creating his music EVH built a studio, 5150, at his home and began working out of there. Here with engineer Donn Landee, the album began to take shape.
I became a fan of Van Halen at this time. I was familiar with them prior of course, but my age, with the availability of MTV at home, I was perfectly primed for this. I’d become a super fan during the Sammy Hagar years, but my foundational fandom was forged here. I used to wait for the foreshadowing filmstrip or cargo plane that proceeded the videos for Jump and Panama. I squealed with delight as the mini-movie video for Hot For Teacher came on. These were songs you’d scramble to hit record on your boombox to capture, or, in the case of Hot for Teacher, turn the volume knob as far to the right as you possibly could.
Van Halen seemed dangerous. Dave’s cryptic way of talking, always hidden behind sunglasses and that huge smile. Ed talked through his guitar and smoke rings, solidifying the image of danger. Hell, even the baby on the album cover was smoking. It was the 80’s and this was its soundtrack.
As an album, 1984 was both an evolution and a revolution of Van Halen’s sound. There were plenty of smoking hot guitar riffs, mind-bending solos, thunderous drums, soaring harmonies, and nonsense lyrics punctuated by DLR’s signature whoops, hollers, and screams, all of the things that came to define Van Halen’s signature sound. But there was something else here. Layers of synthesizers. Synthesizers were not necessarily new to the Van Halen sound, they appeared on songs on Fair Warning and Diver Down, but here they were out front, dominating the sound and charting the path forward for the band. The opening title track is all synths, an instrumental introduction to the ultimate keyboard anthem and Van Halen’s most recognizable tune, Jump. Anytime that keyboard intro hit, you knew you were in for a good time. The band doesn’t rely solely on EVH’s new obsession with the synth. Songs like Panama, the aforementioned Hot for Teacher, Drop Dead Legs, and Top Jimmy deliver the guitar-based goods, but it was Jump and the sort of ballad I’ll Wait, co-written by Michael Macdonald, that this album is best known for.
Ed’s approach and vision worked. 1984 would become a monster. The band’s second diamond-selling (10 million units) album and their self-titled debut. While the album certainly is a product of its time, having its name hitched to the year of its release certainly doesn’t hold it back from being a timeless classic.
As I grew up and started attending concerts regularly, Sammy Hagar replaced Dave and that became my Van Halen. That’s not to say I didnt and don’t love the DLR era, I do, I just was so much more familiar with Sam and saw that version of the band countless times on each of their tours together. I don’t take sides on the whole stupid fight between singers, I love all of Van Halen.
As my Sammy-era fandom grew, I also deep-dived on the six-pack. Ironically, 1984 became less and less important to me. In fact, for a long time I took it out of the rotation having tired of Jump and Panama and I’ll Wait. Honestly, I’d much prefer hearing Michael MacDonald talk a run at I’ll Wait instead of ever hearing the original again.
In more recent years, I’ve grown more fond of the record again, though my faves are songs like Drop Dead Legs, Girl Gone Bad and House of Pain. I was pretty done with Jump for a couple of decades and truth be told I never really liked I’ll wait.
I gave this album a relisten to, straight through on vinyl, and listened loudly. I have to admit it sounded pretty great. This is a fun album, it abadones the darkenss of Fair Warning and the absurdity of Diver Down for a pretty straightforward hard rock record. The songs are a little more pop-oriented, radio-friendly for 1984, of course, and sound pretty slick. I’ve come back around on Jump and I’ll Wait is fine. It’s not hard to see why this record connected with so many back then and continues to be a fan favorite today. Happy anniversary 1984!
