Women And Children First
by Van Halen
Listen & Collect
Complete your collection or upgrade your listening experience.
Van Halen bestography
Women And Children First is ranked 6th best out of 17 albums by Van Halen on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Van Halen is Van Halen which is ranked number 386 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 4,296.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Women And Children First on YouTube
Women And Children First track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Women And Children First rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 3 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  ERadio | Top 70 Music Albums of 1980 | 51/70 | 1 |
| 2026 | fabm0 | Platinum decade 1980s Pt 2 | 92/100 | - |
| 2026 | juanr1096 | Top 57 Music Albums of 1980 | 49/57 | 1 |
| 2026 | svk4ever | Top 43 Music Albums of 1980 | 37/43 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Repo | 1980: Metal | 3/40 | - |
| 2026 | steve397 | Top 94 Music Albums of the 1980s | 53/94 | 9 |
| 2026 | fabm0 | List 1980 | 34/100 | - |
| 2026 |  ExTeaSea | Top 85 Music Albums of 1980 | 29/85 | 3 |
| 2026 | blueandthemoon | Top 26 Music Albums of 1980 | 18/26 | 2 |
| 2026 | saltysurprise | Top 49 Music Albums of 1980 | 13/49 | 4 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 143 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 472 | |||
Women And Children First collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 124 members
Women And Children First ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
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 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 244 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/30/2026 13:14 | Siromynian | 1,789 | 74/100 |
| ! | 09/09/2026 01:28 |  Brandon8 | 1,055 | 88/100 |
| ! | 07/10/2026 09:03 |  MetalMan67 | 6,250 | 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 is rated in the top 18% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 73.8/100, a mean average of 73.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 73.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.5.
Women And Children First favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 19 members
Women And Children First forum mentions
Repo 07/26/2026 19:55 in Rank 'Em: Ozzy Osbourne Repo 06/02/2023 02:50 in Rank 'Em: The Beach BoysView all forum mentions
Women And Children First comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Van Halen expands its musical palette on "Women and Children First," maturing beyond the party anthems of "Van Halen" and "II," while retaining its lust for life.
The dark undercurrents and tension evident throughout "Women and Children First" are unlike anything heard on Van Halen's two 1970s albums. They're created by Eddie Van Halen's tension-and-release guitar rhythms - and add depth to Van Halen, which heretofore, had been dominated by David Lee Roth's (seemingly indomitable) sense of fun.
These dueling sensibilities - often fighting for attention in the same song, e.g. "Take Your Whiskey Home;" "Everybody Wants Some" - are what make Van Halen the most fascinating hard rock band since Led Zeppelin. (Edited)
I read that Van Halen was the other finalist for "Rock N' Roll High School." The Ramones got it.
Both bands sound like they're forever 13, but "Women and Children First" would've made a great soundtrack. "And The Cradle Will Rock" is about teen delinquents, "Everybody Wants Some!" is about sex; "Romeo Delight" is about going to a high school rager; "In A Simple Rhyme" is about first love.
VH's first heavy blues song, "Fools," is great, but "Take Your Whiskey Home" is amazing, and "Could This Be Magic?" is brilliantly cheeky.
Bork TOP 100 COMMENTER 05/12/2010 23:29 | #11648 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
A definite step down from the two first albums, but still well worth the while. Suffers a bit from never being able to take off. (Edited)
Van Halen's third album sees the band slightly branching out musically with hints of jazz and folk in their songs. Women and children first, is another rip roaring rock'n'roll record from a band who were untouchable at this time. And the cradle will rock, everybody wants some, and, take your whiskey home, are all great, while, could this be magic, goes for that jazz/rock sound. Another fine Van Halen album.
This one's alright. Not a lot of standouts. (Edited)
The top-voted comments get featured on our charts, Album of the Day, and the site newsletter.
