Van Halen 1984 Full Album Torrent
1984 (stylized in Roman numerals as MCMLXXXIV) is the sixth studio album by American rock band Van Halen, released on January 9, 1984.[2] It was the last Van Halen studio album until A Different Kind of Truth (2012) to feature lead singer David Lee Roth, who left the band in 1985 following creative differences. This is the final full-length album to feature all four original members (Van Halen brothers, Roth, and Michael Anthony), although they reunited briefly in 2000 to start work on what would much later become 2012's A Different Kind of Truth.[3] Roth returned in 2007, but Eddie's son Wolfgang replaced Anthony in 2006.[2] 1984 and Van Halen's debut are Van Halen's bestselling albums, each having sold more than 10 million copies.[4]
Van Halen 1984 Full Album Torrent
1984 was well received by music critics. Rolling Stone ranked the album number 81 on its list of the 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s. It reached number two on the Billboard 200 album chart and remained there for five weeks, behind Michael Jackson's Thriller, on which guitarist Eddie Van Halen made a guest performance. 1984 produced four singles, including "Jump", Van Halen's only number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100; the top-20 hits "Panama" and "I'll Wait"; and the MTV favorite "Hot for Teacher". The album was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America in 1999, signifying ten million shipped copies.
By 1983, Eddie was in the process of building his own studio, naming it 5150 after the California law code for the temporary, involuntary psychiatric commitment of individuals (who present a danger to themselves or others due to signs of mental illness), with Donn Landee, the band's longtime engineer (and later, producer on the 5150 and OU812 recordings).[7][8] While boards and tape machines were being installed, Eddie began working on synthesizers to pass the time. "There were no presets," said Templeman. "He would just twist off until it sounded right."[8] There, he composed Van Halen's follow-up to Diver Down without as much perceived "interference" from Roth or Templeman.[8] The result was a compromise between the two creative factions in the band: a mixture of keyboard-heavy songs, and the guitar-driven hard rock for which the band was known.[8] 1984 was the longest-in-the-making album of the band's career to date, taking months to record, compared to most of their previous LPs taking less than two weeks, while their first LP was recorded in just 5 days, all at Sunset Studios.[9][10]
The album cover was art directed by Richard Seireeni and Pete Angelus, and the cover art was painted by graphic artist Margo Nahas.[11] Seireeni, then Creative Director at Warner Bros. Records, had collected a number of artist portfolios for the band to review. Among those was the work of Margo Nahas. Nahas had initially been asked to create a cover that featured four chrome women dancing, but declined due to the creative difficulties.[12] The band reviewed her work once again, and from her previously created material they chose the painting of a putto stealing cigarettes that was used.[13] The model was Carter Helm, who was the child of one of Nahas' best friends, whom she photographed holding a candy cigarette.[13] The front cover was censored in the UK at the time of the album's release. It featured a sticker that obscured the cigarette in the putto's hand and the pack of cigarettes.[14] The back cover features all four band members individually with 1984 in a green futuristic typeface.[15]
Other songs on 1984 included "Girl Gone Bad", parts of which previously had been played during the 1982 tour amidst performances of "Somebody Get Me a Doctor" (including the US Festival show), the hard rock "Drop Dead Legs", and "Top Jimmy", a tribute to James Paul Koncek of the band Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs. The album concludes with "House of Pain", a heavy metal song that dates back to the band's early club days of the mid-1970s.[28]
1984 peaked at number 2 on the Billboard album charts (behind Michael Jackson's Thriller, which featured an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo on "Beat It"), and remained there for 5 straight weeks.[30] It contained the anthems "Jump", "Panama", "I'll Wait", and "Hot for Teacher". "Jump" reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. 1984 is the second of two Van Halen albums to have achieved RIAA Diamond status, selling over ten million copies in the United States. Their debut Van Halen was the first.[31] "Jump" went on to be certified Gold in April 1984, only months after the album's release.[32]
In a 1984 review, Billboard states the album is "funnier and more versatile than most of their metal brethren", calling the production "typically strong".[51] A retrospective review by AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine was extremely positive. He noted that the album caused "a hoopla that was a bit of a red herring since the band had been layering in synths since their third album, Women and Children First". He further stated that "Jump"'s "synths played a circular riff that wouldn't have sounded as overpowering on guitar", but that "the band didn't dispense with their signature monolithic, pulsating rock." He also stated that "where [previous] albums placed an emphasis on the band's attack, this places an emphasis on the songs."[46]
Guitar Player magazine writer Matt Blackett praises the "deeper cuts" of the album, "Drop Dead Legs", "House of Pain", and "Girl Gone Bad", calling the guitar work "fresh and vital", noting Eddie's "dark, complex sense of harmony and melody".[52] Len Comaratta from Consequence of Sound felt Van Halen reached the pinnacle of its commercial and critical success.[21] At the end of the 1980s, Rolling Stone, which had previously been critical of Van Halen,[53] ranked 1984 at number 81 on its list of the 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s.[8] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[54] Guitar World magazine placed the album on their list of "New Sensations: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1984".[55]
Tracks recorded for the album that remain unreleased or were renamed are according to a Warner Bros. memo from August 24, 1983: "Baritone Slide", "Lie to You", "Ripley", "Any Time, Any Place", "Forget It", "5150 Special", and "Anything to Make It Right (synth)". A September 7, 1983 memo adds an 8th title that didn't make the album, "Won't Let Go (needs lyrics)" while dropping "Lie To You" and "5150 Special". "Ripley" is confirmed to have become "Blood and Fire" on the A Different Kind of Truth album and as "I'll Wait", "Top Jimmy", "Drop Dead Legs" and "Girl Gone Bad" are not mentioned on either memo the titles may have changed, leaving at least four unreleased tracks from the 1984 sessions.[57]