Van Halen 1984 Song-By-Song Thread

Right, tension was boiling since at least FW or DD, and Dave and Eddie had a Off relationship to begin with

 

I know I enjoy Roth's stuff with The Scorpions. Don't know his work after that

 

I think I know what you're talking about. But I'll have to wait to find out...

 

EVH was a great guitarist when the band first broke, He changed guitar playing, but he hasn't evolved. I find him incredibly boring. I checked out the last album when it came out and it was the same of solos.
I really like 1984 especially Drop Dead Legs.

 

And me

 

I didn't think there were five people alive who thought Diver Down was better than 1984, let alone five people (so far) in this thread.

 

It's an easy call. Diver Down is enjoyable all the way through. 1984 has about an ep's worth of good material. I am surprised this is a controversial opinion.

 

I wouldn't go that far, but I'll elaborate as we go through this thread

 

Wow, that shocks me! And I'm not a Diver Down hater by any means, but in the six pack somebody has to be last.

But even if you throw out the singles (one of which is Panama!!!!) you've still got Top Jimmy, Drop Dead Legs, Girl Gone Bad and House of Pain.

What's happening here? I'm starting to feel dizzy!

 

Since we are going song by song here, all I can say at this point is that I like every song on Diver Down better than "1984/Jump".

 

For me Diver down has better songs too, and oddly my favorite song on 1984 you didn't mention, one of the singles that the guys who agree with me probably hate. It could be an age thing. I turned 19 in the year 1984, and grew up with the VH albums. To me they kind targeted a younger audience with the 1984 album. I found my junior high school cousin loved it at the time. To me it seemed some of the material was a little contrived, targeting a younger crowd instead of sticking with the audience that grew up with them. IMO more music for kids and high schoolers at the time. Not to say that it's not the last great VH album, because I outright dismiss Van Hagar. To each their own, I like what I like and have my own taste. I don't always dislike pop stuff, but I do tend to not like certain pop stuff. I'm avoiding skipping forward in song discussion, keeping with the song by song thing..

Don't think much more can be said about "Jump", which back in the day I referred to as "Chump"

 

You know what, I'm kind of ambivalent towards WHAtGTG, but yeah, I'll take that over 1984/Jump

 

I wonder if Van Halen (DLR in particular) had visions of grandeur when it came to making videos for this album (and I'll just single out the song "Jump" because that's as far as this thread has progressed so far). I know VH had the "Oakland Trilogy" on MTV for the Fair Warning album and the band made a big production out of making not just a video for "Pretty Woman" but also going back into the studio to record "Intruder" to fill the time gap between the video and the song itself. But 1984 was the first album where they made concept videos for at least two of the songs (Al, says Dave, kept forgetting the concept), so where was I anyway? Oh yeah, so I wonder if this might be where Dave began giving serious thought to his movie aspirations, at the expense of the band. Was that another piece of the puzzle that, in retrospect, you might attribute to Dave and Ed growing apart? Like they started to take themselves too seriously instead of just focusing on the what got them there in the first place -- the music itself?

 

Certainly Dave had an eye for videos. Seriously, compare Dave solo videos to Van Hagar videos, not even close

 

Album 1984

I was 11 when this came out. I think this and Def Lepard Pyromania got me to a point where my mom would actually buy me a vinyl record at the grocery store. You see kids, back in the day, when we had to go to the grocery store with our mom we would simply stay on the aisles that had toys, candy, magazines and sometimes music!!! I found my love for comics (Conan the Barbarian) Music (Rock Rock, Till you Drop!) and of course Twizzlers all in the same store. Good times??? No, damit! They were great times!!!

 

1984 was a huge album for me. I was 17 and a senior in high school so it is very memorable. Even more so my first semester of college and dorm life where these songs seemed be on constant rotation. You couldn't walk down the hall without hearing it.

VH was already my favorite band long before 1984 came out. To me it's a bridge between the classic older material and the Van Hager era. Diver Down had a few good moments but as an album and compared to what came before, it was a let down. 1984 was clearly a new direction and all the singles worked really well. As an album I have to say it is not my go-to VH album. Better than any of the Hagar era but not as good as the first 4 Dave era albums in my opinion.

 

I don't have any particular insight here. I didn't even have MTV or cable at home at the time. I did at times see videos at friends houses. That said, I think you may be on the right path with your thinking. I mainly just have opinions about the music, and very little knowledge of anything behind the scenes.

 

Those were good times...damn good times.

 

1984/Jump, wow, I liked this pairing immediately. "Jump" is a great tune, even though I knew exactly when VH was doing here–going commercial to attract the masses. Let's put it this way, "Jump" put Van Halen on even my Mom's radar, which was nuts. I didn't mind though.

I always found this cover of it mildly amusing, at least I did back then:

 

I was 15 when the LP came out... up til this point I had been a fan... saw them on the DD tour... then almost 2 years of nothing... yeah, the solo on Michael Jackson's song, which my circle of friends considered a betrayal... and then hearing Jump, which had even more of a divisie affect... it affected me the same way KISS Dynasty had a few years earlier... drove me away from the band - I owned all their albums up to this point... I liked Panama on MTV but had no desire to buy the album, which I only bought two years ago... only listened all the way through once and wasn't struck... maybe this thread will give me a different perspective....

Edit: still think Jump is a dog... affects me the same now as it did then...

 

Ah, 1984. 1984...dinosaurs still walked the earth in those days

I remember seeing the "Jump" and "Panama" videos on Much Music when they came out, which was my introduction to Van Halen. Would have been when we were in grade ten, I believe (1991) when my guitar playing best friend -no slouch on the axe himself at that point; he quit taking lessons at the Alberta Conservatory when he realized he was teaching his teacher more than his teacher was teaching him- decided it was time to explore Edward Van Halen's playing (Matt was already into guys like Satriani and Vai) so he bought 1984 on cassette. Obviously, "1984" is not what we were expecting; Matt was actually pretty "meh" towards the whole album. Now, when our drummer busted out his parents' Fair Warning LP that was a different story altogether- that's the album that gave us all an appreciation for what Van Halen (the band and the guitarist) could do.

 

Count me as someone who finds Diver Down underrated. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's their best with Roth, but I think if you took the 5 best songs from DD and the 5 best from 1984, you could have the most kickass album of all time.

 

Those four alone make 1984 at least 5,000 times better than Derpy Down.

As for the dizziness, calm down - hypoxia's not contagious

 

I'd take Little Guitars alone over anything off 1984