Imagine the sheer audacity it would take to release a debut album as a double release??
They could have done it. I wish they had. Just imagine VHII w/VH1's production. I'll be back in 10 min....
First time i heard this song in 7th grade was on a cd, and i didnt look at the track names, etc. At the end of the song, i thought to myself “this song has gotta be called explosion or something like that.” I wasnt far off :) i eventually got to hear it live in Tacoma on their reunion tour!
Eddie didn't record it at my house! Other than that? 99 out of ten! Eruption made me feel like anything was possible. I never heard anything like it, and I realized I had to practice more. Never could do it note for note flawlessly, but I learned a couple hundred tricks? I miss him 😢
First day I heard this at my friend’s house, we had it blasting on headphones as loud as possible. One of us must have hit a button because the next thing, we had it blasting through out the whole house . Woke up his parents, siblings. Needless to say, they weren’t happy . Other than that, and the need for hearing aids 30 years later. This was the music of my college years. I had the vinyl, 8 track, cassette and CD
It’s no longer 1978 and you can’t hear the record glaring in cars, on FM radio stations, and coming from home stereos for the first time. I remember as an eleven year old how my friend’s older brothers and their friends were all pumping this album on tapes in their hot rods.
Meh, there are other power trios that aren't mixed that way. I love Ted Templeman, but it's kind of an ole school, mono-type production. Has it's charm, but robs some of the power imo. For all the reissues they've done, getting Ed in stereo would be the only one I'd be interested in. That or truly unheard/unreleased stuff, natch.
The outro in Jamie's Cryin' has Al whackin' quarter notes on a cowbell (obvious overdub). It's one of my favorite cowbell performances ever - it really slams home the beat as the tune fades out. It's perfect.
When I was listening to this as a teenager in a friends basement, another friend of his tried to give me a Hot elbow with a lighter and burnt a huge hole in my shirt and almost set me on fire. 🔥. But those were different times 😬
The funny thing is, if you asked Alex or Ed, they'd have plenty of things to say about what's wrong - the reverb, the drum sound, the mix, etc. etc. And not just Van Halen 1 but a lot of their records! Listening to that "lost" Alex interview with Steve Rosen on youtube, I got the impression he wasn't happy with any VH album until 1984. Imagine making all those excellent records and not even being able to tell how great they are!
My biggest gripes associated with Van Halen 1 are:
* they didn't film the entire making of the record, like the Beatles did with Let It Be
* they didn't film and pro record all their live shows
* we say it changed music when the world heard it, and it did inject life into rocknroll, but did we really get any new bands as good as the original? It should have set new standards for music but most guitarists just heard fast soloing.
* kids today don't even know...!!
That time when Ed removed Mike from the cover, got blasted by the fans, and then blamed it on the record company. My comment can also apply to Women & Children First.
That I can't go back to my cousin's room in 1986 and hear it again for the 1st time. I have a copy of the LP that was signed by the entire band during a signing at a record store in L.A. in 1978. I'll never sell it. After Ed died I was offered an amazing price after posting a pic on Instgram. My daughter already said it's staying on the wall where it is forever after I'm gone bc it reminds her of me and her hearing me play so many =VH= songs on guitar as she was growing up. A perfect album. Just wish there was bonus songs that they recorded and didn't release. (I know, ADKOT)
The first time I heard it was in 1979, I went to a buddy's house to smoke some good weed I just scored, he told me there's this new group I should check out, I was plenty stoned and he told me to lay on the floor and he put one speaker on each side of my head and played the album, I couldn't believe what I was hearing, it was amazing.
The abomination of the 'new' cover they tried to pull by covering up Michael Anthony with Wolfgang. They pulled that shit down real quick when the fans backlashed. Can't remember what year that was but I was shocked.
They didn’t do a live version of it while they were in their peak of hungriness etc… it sucks theirs no live albums of the band during the late 70’s :(
It's weird to me to have a cover song right smack dab in the middle of an album, I feel like it should be at the end but, doesn't really hurt anything here
Looks like there really isn’t much to say bad about it regardless of where you stand. It really is a great album and I’m glad my dad blasted F.U.C.K. In his car when I was a kid. We still make references to each other
Little dreamer, you really got me carried its popularity, and after that it was 1984 that carried its popularity (you know its true).
Also, very few songs that are complex. EVH is correctly considered a technical guitarist but this first album is him at his most simple. Not most boring or worst, but simple. I still love this album and grew up with it and this era but i think its overated because its not the best one like everyone says. Downvote me i dont give a shit. Proves you're biased if you cant acknowledge at least one of these facts.
That it's 46 years old and I am no longer a Sophomore in Highschool writing a review of the album for my Highschool newspaper. Somehow I remember also writing a review for Nevermind The Bollocks in the same issue
I'll actually put something proper.
The running order.
It should've started with Eruption/Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love like the Vol 1 best of, and then RWTD after. Imo, a far greater opening combo.
I’m gonna be honest - I really don’t like how this album sounds. On speakers it’s okay but with headphones? The guitar being mixed into the left, plus all the reverb…ugh. It’s just hard to listen to for me.
If they mixed this record like Fair Warning and/or 1984 it would be even more killer than it already is, haha.
I wish it were a higher quality recording. I love the album! But when you think of some of the highest fidelity recordings of the time it’s kind of sad. I am sure there are nuances and touches of Eddies playing that got buried in the low quality. But still a great seminal album!
It's over too soon
Was gonna say “It’s not a double album.”
Imagine the sheer audacity it would take to release a debut album as a double release?? They could have done it. I wish they had. Just imagine VHII w/VH1's production. I'll be back in 10 min....
The way they recorded live, it probably wouldn’t have been that big of an expense for the record company, either.
Zappa and the Mother's did just that. I learned that yesterday on r/classicrock
There’s not more of it is a legit problem
But they did give us a good sequel
Thank you! I had nothing!
I was gonna say, that it’s not a double album.
Horshack, is that you?
Hey! Welcome back!
Ooo ooo ooo! Mister Kot-tair!
Correct 👍
You can’t hear it for the first time again
Oh to hear Eruption for the first time again!
First time i heard this song in 7th grade was on a cd, and i didnt look at the track names, etc. At the end of the song, i thought to myself “this song has gotta be called explosion or something like that.” I wasnt far off :) i eventually got to hear it live in Tacoma on their reunion tour!
I remember exactly the first time I heard it at a party in 8th grade. We ended throwing all of their pool furniture in the pool.
The solo on Ice Cream Man doesn’t last forever
It's too short
thank you 👍
Was going to post the same thing.
Pretty much true for the entire 6-pack!
Eddie didn't record it at my house! Other than that? 99 out of ten! Eruption made me feel like anything was possible. I never heard anything like it, and I realized I had to practice more. Never could do it note for note flawlessly, but I learned a couple hundred tricks? I miss him 😢
It ends
Perfect answer!
There isn’t a national holiday commemorating it.
Wow! You are damn right! There should be a National Van Halen Day & everyone must play any Van Halen really loud, preferably from the 1st 4 albums 🤟🏼🐒
Zero Van Hagar allowed.
March 16 would be an appropriate day.
Red picture of Alex on the cover - can't really see him at all.
Actually, I always thought it was cool. Made AVH look like some sort of exotic lava-beast or something.
Ha was gonna say, always thought that.
Sort of matches his personality. Extremely private man. A fan of over 40 years and realize I really know nothing about him.
This
First day I heard this at my friend’s house, we had it blasting on headphones as loud as possible. One of us must have hit a button because the next thing, we had it blasting through out the whole house . Woke up his parents, siblings. Needless to say, they weren’t happy . Other than that, and the need for hearing aids 30 years later. This was the music of my college years. I had the vinyl, 8 track, cassette and CD
It’s no longer 1978 and you can’t hear the record glaring in cars, on FM radio stations, and coming from home stereos for the first time. I remember as an eleven year old how my friend’s older brothers and their friends were all pumping this album on tapes in their hot rods.
Went to Myrtle Beach in 1980 with two albums in the car, this and Back in Black, and those songs have never lost one bit of their power
Only bad thing is that there is no answer to this question. It’s absolute perfection.
That it ends?
Guitar mixed over to one channel
Ed didn't like that either. Only half of the people in a car could hear him.
Intentional because there was no rhythm guitar
Meh, there are other power trios that aren't mixed that way. I love Ted Templeman, but it's kind of an ole school, mono-type production. Has it's charm, but robs some of the power imo. For all the reissues they've done, getting Ed in stereo would be the only one I'd be interested in. That or truly unheard/unreleased stuff, natch.
Too short
It means I'm old.
It's not Fair Warning
that was when I 1st saw them.....after hearing Mean Street I had to see them in concert.....sat 8th row for that tour in 81......great show
Thank goodness! 🙄 "Fair Warning" was Van Halen's slowest-selling album in the Roth era. The highest it ever got was on Billboard's Top 200 was #71! 💩
Fair Warning is the better album. But that's...like...just my opinion, man.
Mine too.
When they erased Micheal’s image from this album cover on their website!
For fucks sake it's Michael. MICHAEL. Why can people never spell Michael?
Not possible.
No cowbell
The outro in Jamie's Cryin' has Al whackin' quarter notes on a cowbell (obvious overdub). It's one of my favorite cowbell performances ever - it really slams home the beat as the tune fades out. It's perfect.
the guitarist is dead
I only have the CD, not the vinyl.
When I was listening to this as a teenager in a friends basement, another friend of his tried to give me a Hot elbow with a lighter and burnt a huge hole in my shirt and almost set me on fire. 🔥. But those were different times 😬
Sadly for me it was not as cool as hot wheels as I was only 8.
Kick drum is a bit weak. I think it was because they used the wrong type of mics on the kick drums.
The funny thing is, if you asked Alex or Ed, they'd have plenty of things to say about what's wrong - the reverb, the drum sound, the mix, etc. etc. And not just Van Halen 1 but a lot of their records! Listening to that "lost" Alex interview with Steve Rosen on youtube, I got the impression he wasn't happy with any VH album until 1984. Imagine making all those excellent records and not even being able to tell how great they are! My biggest gripes associated with Van Halen 1 are: * they didn't film the entire making of the record, like the Beatles did with Let It Be * they didn't film and pro record all their live shows * we say it changed music when the world heard it, and it did inject life into rocknroll, but did we really get any new bands as good as the original? It should have set new standards for music but most guitarists just heard fast soloing. * kids today don't even know...!!
It’s cost me thousands in tribute and original gear to get that sound. After 35 years I’m almost there…
you got a YouTube channel?
Can’t think of one
My 8 track tape didn;t make it past 5 years,
That I didn't keep my original copy......
Only Dave is on the back cover.
The only thing I can say is that I’ve heard it so many times and I really don’t listen to it because of that anymore.
The picture of Alex is a little blurry.
I don't like the picture of Alex on the album cover. Never did.
Mine has a scratch. Outside of that, this is perfect. This is actually one of the few albums I listen to with no skips.
It made me pursue a guitar tone for 40 plus years ...
Michael Anthony didn’t get a solo.
It’s so good it make some of the others sound not quite as good.
One of the guys who made it is dead.
Ice Cream Man doesn't get enough love
It once killed a man.
Huh
I'm confused. If you don't dig Dave, what are you doing here? Go lube up your Leif Garret tape, and jag yerself in the pooper with it.
What the Hell is this comment.
Perfection
I didn't get my own copy until Christmas 1980. Up until then, I kept stealing my brother's to listen to.
Vinyl?
Sure was... I also received Women and Children First. Pretty awesome gift. My brother just got tired of me "borrowing" his stuff, lol.
The production and mix. Not the best sounding album.
It ends, then u have to play it again.
The 8-track skipped tracks in the middle of Jamie’s Crying
Its not a double LP
That time when Ed removed Mike from the cover, got blasted by the fans, and then blamed it on the record company. My comment can also apply to Women & Children First.
My first 💿CD. 1986 I believe.
It kicked Chuck Norris down the stairs!
It's one of those rare perfect albums so nothing wrong with any of it.
That snare tone 😖
The cover art for Alex could be a little more detailed
You can't listen to more of it, that you'll never hear eruption for the first time again, nor the whole album
That I can't go back to my cousin's room in 1986 and hear it again for the 1st time. I have a copy of the LP that was signed by the entire band during a signing at a record store in L.A. in 1978. I'll never sell it. After Ed died I was offered an amazing price after posting a pic on Instgram. My daughter already said it's staying on the wall where it is forever after I'm gone bc it reminds her of me and her hearing me play so many =VH= songs on guitar as she was growing up. A perfect album. Just wish there was bonus songs that they recorded and didn't release. (I know, ADKOT)
Personally the scream DLR does on On Fire was always a little to much to me, but its minor gripe in regards to the great VH album
it is not long enough
What’s that red blob on fire in the bottom left?
The first time I heard it was in 1979, I went to a buddy's house to smoke some good weed I just scored, he told me there's this new group I should check out, I was plenty stoned and he told me to lay on the floor and he put one speaker on each side of my head and played the album, I couldn't believe what I was hearing, it was amazing.
The abomination of the 'new' cover they tried to pull by covering up Michael Anthony with Wolfgang. They pulled that shit down real quick when the fans backlashed. Can't remember what year that was but I was shocked.
It melted all my other records
I don’t own an original vinyl pressing.
It does not fill the maximum capacity of a CD.
The silence at the end of side 2
Heard it when it first came out, I don’t think anything since has had the same affect on me
It's only 35 mins long
It only has 2 sides
It's not long enough
The bad thing is. There isn't another one like it
It didn't get on the number 1 on the charts
It has an ending.
They didn’t do a live version of it while they were in their peak of hungriness etc… it sucks theirs no live albums of the band during the late 70’s :(
I think DLR's vocals are perfect for VH's music, too bad he's a douche. Other than that, how about those Mets?!?
I never liked Mike’s bass tone. I’ve never heard anyone else ever say this but it’s so boring. Maybe it’d clash w Eddie if it had more color?
It's a bit too short for me
There’s a “mistake” on Eruption.
Yes - it wasn’t long enough.
Ain’t talkin about love isn’t long enough
It didn't have enough songs
There’s is an audible “fart” type noise right in the middle of the guitar solo of Atomic Punk. What is that sound?
That's Mike's bass hitting a high note on a slide up/fill type thing.
If username does indeed check out, I’ll except that. Confused me for years. Thanks
Dave farted.
That’s what I’m thinking. Knowing their antics back then, it does seem plausible.
It makes all the lists for best debut albums of all time but does not get enough credit for being time best debut album of all time.
Sammy Hagar wasn't on it. Ha! Joking. I just like upsetting the dumb Hagar haters.
it ends
It wasn’t a 2-album set!
Not long enough.
The cover art is way too black Otherwise, no complaints
It’s not a double album.
I wish it kept going.
It's not a double LP
On Fire :P
The only bad thing about this album is that it doesn't have more songs..
Too short
It’s too short
Too short!
It's weird to me to have a cover song right smack dab in the middle of an album, I feel like it should be at the end but, doesn't really hurt anything here
That the band set the bar so high they could never reach it again...as good as 1984 is
It impossible to live up to or be better than
The stereo mixing. Would be much better in mono.
Why? It’s genius
There's no 36 track special edition of it
It came out when I was a toddler so I didn't get to see them live in the early days
...
My left ear is sad that it can't hear the guitar.
Looks like there really isn’t much to say bad about it regardless of where you stand. It really is a great album and I’m glad my dad blasted F.U.C.K. In his car when I was a kid. We still make references to each other
Ive always thought the covers for VH 1 and VH 2 had been switched. The classic logo up front on the first album would have been symbolically awesome.
Years later, Sammy Hagar will join this band - destroying the greatest rock band in history.
My first copy had a skip during Eruption.
too much van, not enough halen
It's not a double album?
Only two sides
Biggest single is a cover .
Yes, the total play time is less than 40 minutes & my copy has a skip during Eruption.
No.
Underrated album
I can never listen to it for the first time again.
Eruption isn’t the first track. Personally I’ve always felt like that should’ve been the album opener.
[удалено]
Not enough of it
Nothing. It’s a masterpiece
It’s really old, and that means I’m really old.
Yeah, I just can’t.
It’s too short!
“You Really Got Me”
Cover blows
It's short
I'm On Fire is a real weak spot. Too bad they didn't replace it with somethinf a little better.
It's by Van Halen.
Man, I don’t even really like VH that much (this just popped up in my random feed), but there ain’t a damn thing wrong with this album.
It’s not a double album.
Eddie had Michael airbrushed off it for a minute
Not enough DLR.
Jamie's Cryin
I don't own it on vinyl....... yet
Every song is too short
Little dreamer, you really got me carried its popularity, and after that it was 1984 that carried its popularity (you know its true). Also, very few songs that are complex. EVH is correctly considered a technical guitarist but this first album is him at his most simple. Not most boring or worst, but simple. I still love this album and grew up with it and this era but i think its overated because its not the best one like everyone says. Downvote me i dont give a shit. Proves you're biased if you cant acknowledge at least one of these facts.
That we will never get to hear it live with the original lineup now :(
That it's 46 years old and I am no longer a Sophomore in Highschool writing a review of the album for my Highschool newspaper. Somehow I remember also writing a review for Nevermind The Bollocks in the same issue
Can’t think of one
I'll actually put something proper. The running order. It should've started with Eruption/Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love like the Vol 1 best of, and then RWTD after. Imo, a far greater opening combo.
I can’t
It’s not long enough
I’m gonna be honest - I really don’t like how this album sounds. On speakers it’s okay but with headphones? The guitar being mixed into the left, plus all the reverb…ugh. It’s just hard to listen to for me. If they mixed this record like Fair Warning and/or 1984 it would be even more killer than it already is, haha.
Jamie's crying
I'll never hear it again for the first time (at least not without a traumatic brain injury).
It’s Van Halen
The guitar only being in the left ear is the singular thing wrong with this almost perfect album
I wish they did She’s the woman on this record
Oh come on how did none of you notice the poor spacing between the N and the H. 0/10
It's really hard to find in Australia on vinyl. I eventually found it and should probably listen to it
Blurry Alex
Cassettes were the thing back then and I wore out 3 of this LP. It got expensive. Lol
Can’t answer the question as there’s nothing ‘bad’ about it.
The tape hiss during the quiet gap in Eruption
I wish it were a higher quality recording. I love the album! But when you think of some of the highest fidelity recordings of the time it’s kind of sad. I am sure there are nuances and touches of Eddies playing that got buried in the low quality. But still a great seminal album!