Van Halen will always mean Diamond David Lee Roth for me. I was never into comic books, but David Lee Roth was always a superhero of sorts. He was larger than larger than life. King of cock rock. Lord of adolescent rock star dreams.
I still regret not seeing Van Halen in their prime with David Lee Roth. I begged and pleaded to see them on the 1984 tour, but my Mom said I was too young and could see them next time. She was true to her promise, but little would I know that they would soon be fronted by the "I Can't Drive 55" guy who was so fond of wearing a headset microphone.
I bought 5150 the day it came out, and I had the single of "Why Can't This Be Love?" before that. I remember liking the album better than the single, which remains true today. The keyboards annoy me in the song, but nowhere near as much as that mouth soloing thing Sammy Hagar does during the instrumental break.
The tape played fine, so maybe those early problems were isolated incidents. I played the hell out of this album too. Even though it didn't compare to those David Lee Roth-led albums, I still was quite obsessed with it. So much so that I almost didn't feel like I had to listen to it again for this project, even though I've only played it two or three times in the last 20 years.
The difference between the two eras of the band is even more apparent to me now than it was at the time. 1984 and 5150 sound almost nothing alike. I used to try to imagine David Lee Roth singing "Summer Nights" and it almost works. But beyond that things sound either way too poppy with Eddie Van Halen's interest in synths pushed to the front, or else they rock out in a forced way ("Get Up," "Good Enough"). Still, it's not a bad album. And it was way more successful than anybody probably would have imagined.
Will I reach for this one in the next twenty years? Probably not. But I really don't have to. Whether I like it or not, these songs are burned into my brain.
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