Some bands you circle for years, waiting for the right night. This was the night.
Program 1368 opens a Rolling with Scissors deep dive into Van Halen, and we’re starting where it all detonated: Pasadena backyard parties, the Sunset Strip club circuit, and four guys who walked into a Warner Bros. contract and proceeded to rewrite what a rock guitar was supposed to sound like.
The 1978 debut is where the night begins, and it still sounds like a dare. “Runnin’ With The Devil” stomps in, and then “Eruption” happens, a minute and change that sent a generation of kids home to try tapping on their own fretboards. Producer Ted Templeman kept the sound raw and close to the band’s live attack, and you can hear it: Eddie’s “brown sound,” Alex’s thunder, Michael Anthony’s bass and those sky-high harmony vocals, and David Lee Roth out front, part carnival barker, part vaudeville act, all swagger. We play the whole record, from “Atomic Punk” to “Ice Cream Man” to “On Fire.”
Van Halen II followed in 1979 and kept the party rolling with “Dance The Night Away,” “Somebody Get Me A Doctor,” and the classical-guitar flash of “Spanish Fly.” Then the band got heavier and stranger. Women And Children First in 1980 gave us “And The Cradle Will Rock…,” “Everybody Wants Some!!,” and the slow-burn “Fools.” Fair Warning in 1981 is the dark one, the record a lot of hardcore fans swear by: “Mean Street,” “Unchained,” and the synth-driven gloom of “Sunday Afternoon In The Park.”
Diver Down in 1982 swung back toward the fun side, stacked with covers like “(Oh) Pretty Woman,” “Dancing In The Street,” and the Kinks’ “Where Have All The Good Times Gone!,” plus Eddie’s gorgeous “Cathedral” and the ukulele-and-clarinet goof of “Big Bad Bill.” And then we land on 1984, the record that turned Van Halen into the biggest band on the planet, recorded in Eddie’s own 5150 studio, with “Jump” putting a synthesizer front and center and “Panama” reminding everyone it was still a guitar band.
We faded out on “Drop Dead Legs,” and that’s on purpose. In two weeks, the deep dive picks right back up with “Drop Dead Legs,” runs through the rest of 1984, and then we head into whatever came next. You know what came next. We’ll get there.
Turn it up. Diamond Dave would want you to.
PLAYLIST
Hour One
01. Van Halen - Runnin' With The Devil - Van Halen - Warner Bros. - 1978
02. Van Halen - Eruption - Van Halen - Warner Bros. - 1978
03. Van Halen - You Really Got Me - Van Halen - Warner Bros. - 1978
04. Van Halen - Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love - Van Halen - Warner Bros. - 1978
05. Van Halen - I'm The One - Van Halen - Warner Bros. - 1978
06. Van Halen - Jamie's Cryin' - Van Halen - Warner Bros. - 1978
07. Van Halen - Atomic Punk - Van Halen - Warner Bros. - 1978
08. Van Halen - Feel Your Love Tonight - Van Halen - Warner Bros. - 1978
09. Van Halen - Little Dreamer - Van Halen - Warner Bros. - 1978
10. Van Halen - Ice Cream Man - Van Halen - Warner Bros. - 1978
11. Van Halen - On Fire - Van Halen - Warner Bros. - 1978
12. Van Halen - You're No Good - Van Halen II - Warner Bros. - 1979
13. Van Halen - Dance The Night Away - Van Halen II - Warner Bros. - 1979
14. Van Halen - Somebody Get Me A Doctor - Van Halen II - Warner Bros. - 1979
15. Van Halen - Bottoms Up! - Van Halen II - Warner Bros. - 1979
16. Van Halen - Outta Love Again - Van Halen II - Warner Bros. - 1979
17. Van Halen - Light Up The Sky - Van Halen II - Warner Bros. - 1979
18. Van Halen - Spanish Fly - Van Halen II - Warner Bros. - 1979
19. Van Halen - D.O.A. - Van Halen II - Warner Bros. - 1979
Hour Two
20. Van Halen - Women In Love... - Van Halen II - Warner Bros. - 1979
21. Van Halen - Beautiful Girls - Van Halen II - Warner Bros. - 1979
22. Van Halen - And The Cradle Will Rock... - Women And Children First - Warner Bros. - 1980
23. Van Halen - Everybody Wants Some!! - Women And Children First - Warner Bros. - 1980
24. Van Halen - Fools - Women And Children First - Warner Bros. - 1980
25. Van Halen - Romeo Delight - Women And Children First - Warner Bros. - 1980
26. Van Halen - Tora! Tora! - Women And Children First - Warner Bros. - 1980
27. Van Halen - Loss Of Control - Women And Children First - Warner Bros. - 1980
28. Van Halen - Take Your Whiskey Home - Women And Children First - Warner Bros. - 1980
29. Van Halen - Could This Be Magic - Women And Children First - Warner Bros. - 1980
30. Van Halen - In A Simple Rhyme - Women And Children First - Warner Bros. - 1980
31. Van Halen - Mean Street - Fair Warning - Warner Bros. - 1981
32. Van Halen - "Dirty Movies" - Fair Warning - Warner Bros. - 1981
33. Van Halen - Sinner's Swing! - Fair Warning - Warner Bros. - 1981
34. Van Halen - Hear About It Later - Fair Warning - Warner Bros. - 1981
35. Van Halen - Unchained - Fair Warning - Warner Bros. - 1981
Hour Three
36. Van Halen - Push Comes To Shove - Fair Warning - Warner Bros. - 1981
37. Van Halen - So This Is Love? - Fair Warning - Warner Bros. - 1981
38. Van Halen - Sunday Afternoon In The Park - Fair Warning - Warner Bros. - 1981
39. Van Halen - One Foot Out The Door - Fair Warning - Warner Bros. - 1981
40. Van Halen - Where Have All The Good Times Gone! - Diver Down - Warner Bros. - 1982
41. Van Halen - Hang 'em High - Diver Down - Warner Bros. - 1982
42. Van Halen - Cathedral - Diver Down - Warner Bros. - 1982
43. Van Halen - Secrets - Diver Down - Warner Bros. - 1982
44. Van Halen - Intruder - Diver Down - Warner Bros. - 1982
45. Van Halen - (Oh) Pretty Woman - Diver Down - Warner Bros. - 1982
46. Van Halen - Dancing In The Street - Diver Down - Warner Bros. - 1982
47. Van Halen - Little Guitars (Intro) - Diver Down - Warner Bros. - 1982
48. Van Halen - Little Guitars - Diver Down - Warner Bros. - 1982
49. Van Halen - Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now) - Diver Down - Warner Bros. - 1982
50. Van Halen - The Full Bug - Diver Down - Warner Bros. - 1982
51. Van Halen - Happy Trails - Diver Down - Warner Bros. - 1982
52. Van Halen - 1984 - 1984 - Warner Bros. - 1983
53. Van Halen - Jump - 1984 - Warner Bros. - 1983
54. Van Halen - Panama - 1984 - Warner Bros. - 1983
55. Van Halen - Top Jimmy - 1984 - Warner Bros. - 1983
56. Van Halen - Drop Dead Legs - 1984 - Warner Bros. - 1983