1984 (Van Halen album)

1984
Studio album by Van Halen
Released	January 9, 1984
Recorded	1983 at 5150 Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Genre	Hard rock, heavy metal
Length	33:17
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Ted Templeman
Van Halen chronology
Diver Down (1982) 1984 (1984) 5150 (1986)
Singles from 1984
"Jump" Released: December 21, 1983 "I'll Wait" Released: 1984 "Panama" Released: June 1984 "Hot for Teacher" Released: 1984

1984 (written as MCMLXXXIV on the front cover) is the sixth studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen. One of the band's most popular albums (in terms of both record sales and chart performance), it was the final album featuring singer David Lee Roth until 2012 when the band released A Different Kind of Truth.

Background and recording

Eddie Van Halen, well known for his guitar prowess but also a classically-trained pianist, used 1984 as an opportunity to take the band into different territory. Additionally, 1984 was the first Van Halen album to be recorded at Eddie's home studio, 5150. His keyboard playing is more prominent on this album than on any prior Van Halen album, particularly on the songs "Jump" and "I'll Wait", the first and second singles from the album, and "1984", a one-minute synthesizer and effects instrumental (the effects had been used as part of Michael Anthony's live bass solo on the Diver Down tour) which opened the album.

The summer saw the release of the album's third single "Panama", which featured a heavy guitar riff reminiscent of Van Halen's earlier work (the engine noise was from Eddie revving up his Lamborghini, with microphones being used near the tailpipes). Later, a video of "Hot for Teacher" was released and played regularly on MTV, giving the band a fourth hit which further sustained sales of the album. Other songs on 1984 included "Girl Gone Bad", parts of which previously had been played during the same tour during performances of "Somebody Get Me a Doctor" (most famously at 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 fast paced heavy song that dates back to the band's early club days of the mid-1970s.

During an interview for the King Biscuit Flower Hour radio show in 1985, Eddie claimed to have written, "Girl Gone Bad" in a hotel room that he and Valerie Bertinelli had rented. Valerie was asleep, and Eddie woke up during the night with an idea, he had to put on tape. Not wanting to wake Valerie, Eddie grabbed a small cassette recorder and recorded himself playing guitar while in the closet.

Eddie claims to have written the arrangement for "Jump" years before the album was recorded, and is evidenced in a 1982 interview where he played it over the phone.^{[citation needed]} Roth said he came up with the lyric because it was leap year, and because he saw a man on television wanting to commit suicide by jumping off a building.^{[citation needed]}

A slightly different version of "House of Pain" was recorded by the band years prior to the 1984 album being released. The song was demoed when the band recorded material for Gene Simmons.

The iconic cover was created by graphic artist Margo Nahas. Margo had been asked to create a cover that featured four chrome women dancing. After looking through a portfolio, the band found the perfect image of the angel. The model was Carter Helm, who was the child of one of Margo's best friends.

Songwriting credits

The album's original release credits all songs to Edward Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth.^{[citation needed]} The label on the UK single release for "I'll Wait" (catalog #W9213) credited Michael McDonald as a co-writer, but he was not credited on the US version of the single (catalog #7-29307).^{[citation needed]}

Songs from this album which appeared on compilations released after a royalty renegotiation with the band's label Warner Bros. (Best of Volume I, 1996) and a lawsuit brought by Roth (during the preparations for The Best of Both Worlds compilation, 2004)^{[citation needed]}, were credited to Edward Van Halen, Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth, with Michael Anthony's name removed from the credits, as evident in the end song credits of the 2007 film Superbad. Subsequently, Anthony has been removed from all songwriting credits on the 1984 album.

The entry for the album on the ASCAP database lists the songwriters for all songs as (alphabetically by surname) Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen and Edward Van Halen. The ASCAP entry for "I'll Wait" lists Michael McDonald as co-writer. Like many bands starting out on their career, Van Halen shared songwriting credit equally between all members (including guitar instrumentals, which were clearly composed only by Eddie), but subsequent claims would lend credibility to the view that all songs were entirely or predominantly written by Eddie (music) and Roth (lyrics and vocal melody).

In 2004, Roth discovered that the rest of the band had renegotiated a more preferential royalty rate with Warner Bros. for all releases made during his time as lead singer, giving them a royalty rate five times greater than his. It is likely that the removal of Michael Anthony from the songwriting credits results from Roth's claim to have a greater claim of the band's song publishing for this album, because he had been cut out of the separate royalty renegotiation with Warner Bros. Records, which according to Roth happened around 1994. Other sources suggest that Anthony was removed from the credits as part of a renegotiation following his ouster from the band but prior to his temporary reinstatement as a hired musician for the 2004 reunion tour.

Release

1984 peaked at #2 on the Billboard Magazine album charts (#1 at the time was Thriller, which featured an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo on "Beat It", which Roth had criticized) and contained future hits "Jump", "Panama", "I'll Wait" and "Hot for Teacher". "Jump" reached #1 on the magazine's singles chart. 1984 is the second of two Van Halen albums to have sold ten million copies in the US.

"Jump" was one of the most successful songs of 1984 and was on the ten most played songs on the radio that year^{[citation needed]}. As a single, it sold over three million copies alone, making it one of the most popular rock songs of that decade. The next two singles, the keyboard-driven "I'll Wait" and the more traditional rocker "Panama", each peaked at #13, reaching that position in March and June respectively. "Hot for Teacher", a humorous song about a grade-school crush, was a minor hit, reaching #56 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as spawning a popular MTV video starring pre-teen lookalikes of the band members. It was also featured in the video game Guitar Hero: World Tour.

When this album was released in the UK, a removable sticker with the roman numerals MCMLXXXIV (which is "1984"), had to be placed over the cherub's hand, as it was holding a cigarette and there happened to be a non-smoking campaign happening at the time. The same protocol was upheld for several other bands' albums as well, such as the UK release of Canadian rocker Kim Mitchell's album Akimbo Alogo, where the entire cover was changed due to a smoking reference.

After its release, the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League played "Jump" on the arena PA system as the team came onto the ice. They used the song until the team's departure for Phoenix after the 1995-96 season. On the team's return in 2011, public outcry for use of the song again fell on deaf ears as the team wished to leave the past behind stating the 1980s/90s Jets are a different organization than the one (Atlanta Thrashers) coming in now.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Robert Christgau	(B+)
Rolling Stone
Guitar Planet Magazine

Reviews for 1984 have generally been favorable. Robert Christgau rated the album a B+. He explained that "Side one is pure up, and not only that, it sticks to the ears" and that "[Van Halen's] pop move avoids fluff because they're heavy and schlock because they're built for speed, finally creating an all-purpose mise-en-scene for Brother Eddie's hair-raising, stomach-churning chops." He also called side two "consolation for their loyal fans--a little sexism, a lot of pyrotechnics, and a standard HM bass attack".

J.D. Considine, a reviewer for Rolling Stone, rated 1984 four out of five stars. He called it "the album that brings all of Van Halen's talent into focus." He stated that ""Jump" is not exactly the kind of song you'd expect from Van Halen", but that "once Alex Van Halen's drums kick in and singer David Lee Roth starts to unravel a typically convoluted story line, things start sounding a little more familiar". Although he mentioned "Jump"'s "suspended chords and a pedalpoint bass in a manner more suited to Asia", he went on to state that "Eddie Van Halen manages to expand his repertoire of hot licks, growls, screams and seemingly impossible runs to wilder frontiers than you could have imagined." He concluded that "what really makes this record work is the fact that Van Halen uses all this flash as a means to an end — driving the melody home — rather than as an end in itself" and that "despite all the bluster, Van Halen is one of the smartest, toughest bands in rock & roll. Believe me, that's no newspeak."

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, and they're uniformly terrific, the best set of original tunes Van Halen ever had." He concluded that "it's the best showcase of Van Halen's instrumental prowess as a band, the best showcase for Diamond Dave's glorious shtick, the best showcase for their songwriting, just their flat-out best album overall. [...] [T]here's no way Van Halen could have bettered this album with Dave around (and they didn't better it once Sammy [Hagar] joined, either)."

Track listing

All music written by Edward Van Halen and lyrics by David Lee Roth. All songs credited to Van Halen.

Side one

1. "1984" (Instrumental) - 1:07
2. "Jump" - 4:04
3. "Panama" - 3:32
4. "Top Jimmy" - 2:59
5. "Drop Dead Legs" - 4:14

Side two

1. "Hot for Teacher" - 4:42
2. "I'll Wait" - 4:41
3. "Girl Gone Bad" - 4:35
4. "House of Pain" - 3:19

Personnel

• David Lee Roth - lead vocals
• Eddie Van Halen - lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
• Michael Anthony - bass guitar, backing vocals
• Alex Van Halen - drums, percussion

Production

• Producer: Ted Templeman
• Engineers: Ken Deane, Donn Landee
• Remastering: Chris Bellman, Gregg Geller
• Project coordinator: Jo Motta
• Production coordination: Joan Parker
• Art direction: Pete Angelus, Richard Seireeni
• Lighting: Pete Angelus

Certifications

Region	Certification	Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)	5× Platinum	500,000^
France (SNEP)	Gold	100,000*
Germany (BVMI)	Platinum	500,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)	Gold	100,000^
United States (RIAA)	10× Platinum	10,000,000^
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1984	The Billboard 200	2

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1984	"Jump"	The Billboard Hot 100	1
1984	"Jump"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	1
1984	"Jump"	Hot Dance Music/Club Play	17
1984	"I'll Wait"	The Billboard Hot 100	13
1984	"I'll Wait"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	2
1984	"Panama"	The Billboard Hot 100	13
1984	"Panama"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	2
1984	"Hot for Teacher"	The Billboard Hot 100	56
1984	"Hot for Teacher"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	24

External links

• Where are they now? Kids from Album Covers at UpVenue
• http://consequenceofsound.net/2012/01/dusting-em-off-van-halen-1984/