Fair Warning
by Van Halen

Fair Warning by Van Halen
Year: 1981
Overall rank: 2,364th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
75/100 (from 264 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1981 (35th)
Award Top albums of the 1980s (352nd)
Award Best albums of all time (2,364th)

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Product Details
Availability

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Van Halen Fair Warning Tour 1981 Tour Collectible Metal Canister 11 disc set NEW
Condition: Brand New


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Van Halen Fair Warning 12" Vinyl LP 1981 Warner Bros HS 3540
Condition: Used


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Van Halen – Fair Warning – One Step - 2xLP 45RPM MFSL MoFi - Ltd. 5000 copies
Condition: New

$125.99


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Van Halen bestography

Fair Warning is ranked 3rd best out of 16 albums by Van Halen on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Van Halen is Van Halen which is ranked number 370 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 4,524.

Van Halen album bestography « Higher ranked (802nd)
1984
This album (2,364th)
Fair Warning
Lower ranked (2,422nd) »
Van Halen II

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Upcoming concerts

Mar
07
Sat
VAN HALEN + POISON + MOTLEY CRUE + GUNS 'N ROSES Tributes -- GAZZARRI'S NIGHT! -- With THE ATOMIC PUNKS + ULTIMATE POISON + LOSE YOUR ILLUSION
Gaslamp Long Beach, Long Beach, United States. United States
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Mar
08
Sun
JUMP - America's Van Halen Experience
House of Blues Dallas , Dallas, United States. United States
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Mar
13
Fri
Van Halen, AC/DC, Motley Crue, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin Tributes and more - Rock & Roll 2026 Redux
Garden Amphitheatre, Garden Grove, United States. United States
Tickets from Ticketmaster Get tickets
 

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Fair Warning rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 2,364th | 1980s rank: 352nd | 1981 rank: 35th

Fair Warning collection

Fair Warning ratings

Average Rating: 
75/100 (from 264 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help 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 264 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
50/100
 
02/11/2026 07:53 brent13  Ratings distribution  1,89269/100
 
100/100
 
12/27/2025 15:49 evo  Ratings distribution  18772/100
 
75/100
 
10/14/2025 06:32 MaxStorm98  Ratings distribution  3,79889/100
 
80/100
 
08/07/2025 17:51 traistboar  Ratings distribution  1,60179/100
 
80/100
 
07/11/2025 00:49 iann97  Ratings distribution  1,96374/100

Rating metrics: Help 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 is rated in the top 7% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 75.3/100, a mean average of 74.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 75.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 19.1.

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Fair Warning comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 17 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
85/100
From 02/13/2024 17:08 | #301977
Warrants more repeats. Sounds adult and rough, good
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 02/03/2022 16:14 | #280572
Even if not my favourite, i admit, is the most "elegant" album of VH dischography.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 09/07/2019 09:42 | #242312
This album showcases the music side of Van Halen moreso than the previous efforts. In that sense, DLR takes more of a seat back to let Eddie, Alex and Michael really shine. This is Eddie's album though. His guitar playing on this album is fantastic. Really good effort. Continued Van Halen's hot streak of albums.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 07/09/2019 23:30 | #239242
Great sound an great tracks. Unfortunately, the last two tracks aren't really songs as much as they are experiments
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 02/22/2018 00:06 | #209146
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -3 votes (0 helpful | 3 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 11/05/2017 22:33 | #200828
VH's darkest album, and one of their best. They started to more fully incorporate synths into their style at the end, and Eddie revealed some of his best guitar moments.

Best Tracks: Mean Street, Hear About It Later, Unchained, So This Is Love, One Foot Out the Door
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 08/29/2017 04:55 | #196885
Mean Street, Sinners Swing and Push Comes to Shove give the nasty, gritty feeling to the album, like a Dirty Harry movie. Not the party album by Van Halen, but still one of the top four Van Halen albums.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 06/07/2016 13:05 | #168105
The last great Van Halen album in my opinion. Fair warning, has some great tracks in, mean street, sinners swing, and, push comes to a shove, also like the strange drone of, Sunday afternoon in the park. Never would Van Halen be this energetic again.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
25/100
From 03/26/2014 21:50 | #107688
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -3 votes (0 helpful | 3 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 12/25/2012 20:18 | #58908
Check out this album with an open mind, whether you think you may like Van Halen or not.

"Fair Warning" isn't a party like "Van Halen" and doesn't have something for everyone like "1984." It has a cynical, streetwise, skateboard punk attitude, and funk grooves in almost every song.

It's been only a few months since I got the 12 VH albums from iTunes... When I was growing up in the late '90s, I thought of Van Halen as a hard rockin' Bon Jovi... This is much closer to punk.

Every song's either very good or great.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Best Albums of 1981
1. Moving Pictures by Rush
2. Computerwelt by Kraftwerk
3. Discipline by King Crimson
4. Juju by Siouxsie And The Banshees
5. My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts by Brian Eno & David Byrne
6. Time by Electric Light Orchestra
7. Dare by The Human League
8. Faith by The Cure
9. Damaged by Black Flag
10. Deceit by This Heat
11. Tattoo You by The Rolling Stones
12. Youth Of America by Wipers
13. Ghost In The Machine by The Police
14. Fire Of Love by The Gun Club
15. The Ascension by Glenn Branca
16. Heaven Up Here by Echo & The Bunnymen
17. Face Value by Phil Collins
18. Killers by Iron Maiden
19. Nightclubbing by Grace Jones
20. Movement by New Order
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