Artist: Van Halen
Average Rating:
Last Reviewed On: July 5, 2000 (by Michelle)
Michelle's Review:
on July 5, 2000This album keeps switching with Fair Warning as my fav all time Van Halen album. I guess this was when allot really happened to me in my life. I was in junior high still experiencing allot of firsts, and this album was the soundtrack to all of that. Music helps define certain things for you in life, and 1984 was that album for me. MTV was still new in 1984, and when "Jump" hit the airwaves there was just no going back. That video changed everything for me. I can't really explain how in a short review such as this, so you're just going to have to trust me that it did. In the "Jump" video when Ed stuck the headstock of his striped kramer into the camera, and then Dave doing his splits off the drum riser, those are just now infamous moments in VH history.
Not only was this the biggest album in Van Halen's career, but I think when anyone hears the name Van Halen, they probably think of the video "trilogy' that came from this album, "Jump", "Panama" and "Hot for Teacher". Those videos completely redefined how rock videos were made from that point on. For those of you that think that Thriller was the moment videos changed, consider the fact that Eddie Van Halen did the solo on Beat It as well...
Eddie's soloing also again hit a new level here as well, which he once described it most accuratly as "falling down the stairs and landing on his feet". And no moment in his entire career so far is that more evident then the solo in "Hot for Teacher". Whenever I think of a song that defines VH at it's best, that song is clearly "Hot for Teacher". It just sums up Vh better then anything else can.
-- Scott and Michelle