Best Ever Albums

Re: Album of the day (#7344): Van Halen by Van Halen

MadhattanJack — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 18:12:03 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 07/30/2026 22:12

This was one of the last two metal albums I ever bought, along with the Sabs' Never Say Die. The only problem with it, of course, is the mix — it was a debut album so maybe they did it to save money or to sound more like they did live/onstage, but they basically just panned the main guitar parts halfway to the left, everything else either centered or to the right, and then kept the pots there like that, basically for the whole album. It's fine if you're listening on speakers that are several feet away, and in songs with overdubbed leads it's OK because the leads are panned to the right... but listening to this thing on headphones or earbuds just gets really irritating after a while. And they refuse to remix it because it's a "true classic," so anything of that nature would be sacrilege or whatever.

Still, they were hardly the only late-70s band to do stuff like that, and this AotD reminded me that I'd been treating this album unfairly on my 1978 chart, which I've now fixed. I should probably rank it a lot higher than #64, though... at least if I'm basing it on how impressed I was with the album at the time.

Re: Album of the day (#7344): Van Halen by Van Halen

DommeDamian — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 17:36:11 GMT

Author: DommeDamian

Posted: 07/30/2026 21:36

I think I listened to this for the first time, 2 months before Eddie died. This is one of those hard rocker albums that I can get behind, and Eruption is such an atmospheric solo. The Kinks cover has aged badly though.

Album of the day (#7344): Van Halen by Van Halen

BestEverAlbums — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 16:00:24 GMT

Author: BestEverAlbums

Posted: 07/30/2026 20:00

Today's album of the day

Van Halen by Van Halen (View album | Buy this album)

Year: 1978.
Country:
Van Halen discography rank: 1 (out of 17 listed on BEA)
1978 rank: 6
1970s rank: 93
Overall rank: 378
Average rating: 80/100 (from 895 votes).

Tracks:
1. Runnin' With The Devil
2. Eruption
3. You Really Got Me
4. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
5. I'm The One
6. Jamie's Cryin'
7. Atomic Punk
8. Feel Your Love Tonight
9. Little Dreamer
10. Ice Cream Man
11. On Fire

indicates a top-rated track.

Top voted comments:

"It's very difficult to describe "Van Halen" (1978) via precedents: there's the unselfconscious attitude of The Ramones and virtuosic musicianship of Led Zeppelin, but it's filtered through blaxploitation films, Southern California skateboarding culture, and P.T. Barnum's Circus.

The bottom line is: "Van Halen" sounds like nothing that came before it. Its impact on rock and roll (particularly on rock guitar and the role of the frontman) is seismic, but to this day, misunderstood. Blame a generation of hapless imitators, (which is not the "sincerest form of flattery" when the imitators adopt the trappings rather than the substance;) or a decade of high profile music released under the name "Van Halen" that bears only slight resemblance to innovative original songwriting team's; or spandex made out of women's' undergarments. Regardless, "Van Halen" is one of rock n' roll history's game-changing debuts, indelibly - on par with the influence of "The Ramones," "Led Zeppelin," or "Are You Experienced?""
- JuJu83 (Rating: 100/100)
________________________________________________________

"It's one of those albums that blows your mind. How could these guys write so many standout songs for their first album. For many bands, the first album is an experiment of sorts, one in which they attempt to find exactly what they're going for and what they will eventually stick with. For Van Halen, however, they knew exactly what they wanted, they knew precisely what they wanted to sound like, and they had an incredibly impressive roster of songs to go with it."
- Killerviolin (Rating: 100/100)
________________________________________________________

About album of the day: The BestEverAlbums.com album of the day is the album appearing most prominently in member charts in the previous 24 hours. If an album, or artist, has previously been selected within a x day period, the next highest album is picked instead (and so on) to ensure a bit of variety. A full history of album of the day can be viewed here.