Van Halen III (studio album) by Van Halen

Van Halen III by Van Halen
Year: 1998
Overall rank: 37,828th   Overall chart historyOverall chart history
Average Rating: 
52/100 (from 79 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution   Average rating historyAverage rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1998 (626th)
Award Top albums of the 1990s (5,980th)
Award Best albums of all time (37,828th)
Product Details
Availability

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Van Halen III by Van Halen Cassette Tape
Condition: Good


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B8 VAN HALEN III 1998 GERMAN PROMO CD Watermarked
Condition: Very Good


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Van Halen I & II Cassette Tape Lot Set of 2
Condition: Acceptable


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Van Halen bestography

Van Halen III is ranked 12th best out of 16 albums by Van Halen on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Van Halen is Van Halen which is ranked number 376 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 4,731.

Van Halen album bestography « Higher ranked (13,167th) This album (37,828th) Lower ranked (65,726th) »
BalanceVan Halen IIIBest Of Volume 1

Upcoming concerts

Nov
30
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Van Halen Tribute by Fan Halen
The Canyon Santa Clarita, Santa Clarita, United States. United States
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Dec
14
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Completely Unchained - The Ultimate Van Halen Tribute • Powerage - AC/DC Tribute • Faded
The Token Lounge, Westland, United States. United States
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Dec
22
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16:00
Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, Dio, Skid Row, LA Guns tributes - Merry Metalfest
Garden Amphitheatre, Garden Grove, United States. United States
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Listen to Van Halen III on YouTube

  • Van Halen - Van Halen III (Full Album)Van Halen - Van Halen III (Full Album)
  • Van Halen - Fire In The Hole (1998) (From The Movie "Lethal Weapon 4" Soundtrack) WIDESCREEN 720pVan Halen - Fire In The Hole (1998) (From The Movie "Lethal Weapon 4" Soundtrack) WIDESCREEN 720p
  • Van Halen III - "That's Why I love You" (unreleased unfinished demo track)Van Halen III - "That's Why I love You" (unreleased unfinished demo track)

Van Halen III track list

  Track ratingsTrack ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 73 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Rating: 76 (13 votes)Comments: 0
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2.
Rating: 78 (13 votes)Comments: 0
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3.
Rating: 76 (12 votes)Comments: 0
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4.
Rating: 74 (12 votes)Comments: 0
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5.
Rating: 73 (11 votes)Comments: 0
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6.
Rating: 76 (11 votes)Comments: 0
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8.
Rating: 76 (12 votes)Comments: 0
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9.
Rating: 73 (12 votes)Comments: 0
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10.
Rating: 68 (11 votes)Comments: 0
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12.
Rating: 64 (11 votes)Comments: 0
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Van Halen III rankings

Filter charts

All 11 charts that this album appears in:

Sort ranks
YearSourceChartRankRank Score
Year 2024Source jeremy9Chart Top 95 Music Albums of 1998Rank 25/95Rank Score 4
Year 2024Source fabm0Chart List 1998Rank 94/100Rank Score -
Year 2023Source phantom1305Chart Top 30 Music Albums of 1998Rank 29/30Rank Score 0
Year 2021Source mrblondChart Top 30 Music Albums of 1998Rank 26/30Rank Score 1
Year 2020Source adnielsenChart Top 6 Music Albums of 1998Rank 5/6Rank Score 2
Year 2020Source SpyglassChart Ranking Van HalenRank 12/12Rank Score -
Year 2017Source Captain_DudeChart RANKED: VAN HALENRank 11/11Rank Score -
Year 2017Source NightprowlerChart Top 4 Music Albums of 1998Rank 1/4Rank Score 5
Year 2016Source NightprowlerChart Top 41 Music Albums of the 1990sRank 29/41Rank Score 6
Year 2015Source EastwoodChart Top 100 Music Albums of 1998Rank 74/100Rank Score 1
Year 2010Source sledge2Chart Top 50 Greatest Music AlbumsRank 4/50Rank Score -
Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 11
Total Rank Score: The total rank score. 19

You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

Van Halen III collection

Van Halen III ratings

Average Rating: 
52/100 (from 79 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 79 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
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Date updated 11/10/2024 06:24Member ProtoAlbum ratings   Ratings distributionRatings distribution 2,247Avg. album rating 39/100
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Date updated 06/13/2024 19:58Member M4thSoad3rAlbum ratings   Ratings distributionRatings distribution 278Avg. album rating 85/100
Rating
 
55/100
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Date updated 10/02/2023 15:06Member fabm0Album ratings   Ratings distributionRatings distribution 5,983Avg. album rating 59/100
Rating
 
40/100
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Date updated 03/19/2023 14:32Member phantom1305Album ratings   Ratings distributionRatings distribution 2,820Avg. album rating 71/100
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50/100
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Date updated 03/04/2023 06:13Member MetalMan67Album ratings   Ratings distributionRatings distribution 5,401Avg. album rating 71/100

Rating metrics: Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album has a Bayesian average rating of 51.6/100, a mean average of 48.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 48.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 21.2.

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Van Halen III favourites

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Van Halen III comments

Showing all 7 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
60/100
From 06/23/2020 19:03
It just kept getting worse and worse!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 03/17/2020 16:37
A band should cover this album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 03/15/2020 23:57
Van Halen response to 90's rock
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Rating:  
75/100
From 04/20/2018 04:11
This album sounds like it’s from an alternate universe or alternate timeline. The most “modern” sounding Van Halen album in my opinion though Gary Cherone’s vocals may seem misplaced. Call me crazy but I dig Cherone as the third singer. “Josephina” is seriously one of my favourite Van Halen songs while “Once” and “From Afar” being other standouts. To me, this album is a little darker than previous VH releases and some of the songs are deeper than previous party rockers like “Panama”. A lot of great work by EVH, some of his all time best. Give it another shot.
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Rating:  
25/100
From 02/18/2018 08:43
I think there have been only two occasions when I have made the wrong decision with a music purchase, this is one of them. First of all, I must be cellar that I grew through my teens on Van Halen and love their early albums having about 8 or 9'in my collection, all of which I listen to quite regularly. I bought this on tape, got about half way through the first side and thought what is this shite? What has happened to Van Halen? I knew the record store owner quite well and he allowed me to swap it for something else. I would have awarded a few more points to the rating if they had made more of an effort with the terrible cover...
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
35/100
From 11/21/2012 10:43
Few albums in rock and roll history trigger expressions of more vehement disgust than "Van Halen III" (1998, US #4.) Certainly, its reputation as a bad album - not a "so-bad-it's-good" album, but a "please-turn-this-off-now" bad album - precedes it. That said: is this reputation deserved..?

If you are a newcomer to the "Zen-California exuberance" of Van Halen (i.e. to the original, David Lee Roth-fronted version of Van Halen,) be forewarned: not only is there no hint of the 'party-to-end-all-parties' vibe of "Van Halen" (1978) and "Van Halen II" (1979;) the vibe of "Van Halen III" is reminiscent of the feeling one might have after having attended such a party, failing to get any sleep, and then at, say, 3pm the following day, forcing oneself to watch CNN Headline News for 60+ minutes straight.

"Produced" by "Law & Order: SVU" jingle extraordinaire Mike Post, the majority of "III's" songs are structurally formless, (see "Ballot or the Bullet,") lyrically and musically humorless, (see "From Afar,") and/or so downright off-putting as to make a listener feel uncomfortable, (e.g. the verses to "One I Want," and "Once," "Primary;" "How Many Say I?")

While ostensibly a new beginning for the group with its 2nd post-Roth singer, "Van Halen III" alienated a majority of what had been, arguably, hard rock's most intensely devoted cult following (aside from Led Zeppelin's,) the lion's share of which had stuck around for over a decade, despite only 1 very good album (1986's "5150," US #1,) and 3 inconsistent albums (1988, 1991, 1995, all US #1s) with Roth's first replacement.

To paraphrase Keith Moon, this one spectacularly bad album sank the theretofore "Mighty Van Halen's" career "like a lead zeppelin."

It didn't help the band that 1996's temporary reunion with Roth yielded one near-brilliant track, "Me Wise Magic," (US Mainstream #1 for two months,) which whet the public's whistle for a Roth-reunion-or-nothing, (see: the band's ovation at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards.)

The cult of Van Halen would have to wait 14 years with the bad taste of "III" in its collective mouth, endure countless jokes made at the band's expense - the most stinging of which always involved "III" - before Van Halen finally reunited with Roth, and released its career-redeeming "A Different Kind of Truth" (2012, US #2.)

Is "III" really as bad as all that..? No, it's not. There are rubies amidst the compost. For an unseasoned band, it might even be considered to contain "potential." But for America's greatest hard rock band? It's a disaster. Along with "Balance," (1995,) which was marginal, "III" is the only other non-canonical Van Halen studio album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
30/100
From 05/19/2012 20:57
Simply awful. The band had lost complete direction. There's no memorable songs on this album. There's no tone, theme, or consistency. Nothing makes you want to bang your head or even tap your foot. And Gary Cherone is a terrible fit. Barf.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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Best Albums of 1998
1. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel
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3. Moon Safari by Air
4. Aquemini by OutKast
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