| 1984 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Van Halen's 1984 is arguably the best and most defining rock release of the '80s. Eddie Van Halen's guest appearance on Michael Jackson's massive 1983 hit "Beat It" introduced VH to the pop audience, which the band attracted in droves with this expertly crafted set of hard rock with pop leanings, not to mention its imaginative accompanying videos. Musically, 1984 was a gamble that paid off massively — Eddie Van Halen was finally given the green light by his bandmates to incorporate keyboards into their sonic palette, resulting in the number one single "Jump" and the almost new wave-ish Top 15 love song "I'll Wait." But wisely, the keyboards weren't overpowering, and all of the other selections were typical VH hard-rocking heavies — the perennial radio favorites "Hot for Teacher" and "Panama," as well as the highly underrated album tracks "Top Jimmy," "Drop Dead Legs," "Girl Gone Bad," and "House of Pain." While the strong and instantly memorable songs were obviously the main ingredient for the album's success, a string of imaginative and humorous videos really introduced the band to a whole new audience (the hilarious clip for "Hot for Teacher" has to be one of the all-time best). 1984 also opened up the floodgates for many faceless, identical pop-metal bands (something VH was the complete opposite of), who suddenly realized that adding synths to heavy metal could increase their chances of commercial success. Still, it didn't tarnish the fact that 1984 is a timeless hard rock masterpiece, which eventually sold a staggering ten million copies. Unfortunately, the album would be the last Van Halen recording to feature David Lee Roth, who surprisingly left in 1985 at the height of the band's popularity. — Greg Prato Released 12/31/83 Sales: 10 Million Chart Position: 2 Weeks on chart: 77 Label: Warner Brothers Awards: Diamond, Multi Platinum 10x Vocals: David Lee Roth Guitars: Eddie Van Halen Bass: Michael Anthony Drums: Alex Van Halen Keyboards: Eddie Van Halen Singles: Jump (Pop #1), I'll Wait (Pop #13), Panama (Pop #13), Hot for Teacher (Pop #56) Videos: Jump, Panama, Hot for Teacher Producer: Ted Templeman Engineer: Don Landee
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Lyrics |
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Jump Oh can't you see me standing
here, Might as well jump. Jump! Aaa-ohh Hey you ! How said that? Well can't you see me standing
here, Might as well jump. Jump! Might as well jump. Jump! Panama Don't you know she's coming home
with me? Panama, Panama Ain't nothin' like it, her shiny
machine. Don't you know she's coming home
with me? Yeah, we're runnin' a little bit
hot tonight. She's blinding, I'm flying, Panama, Panama Top Jimmy Top Jimmy cooks, Top Jimmy
swings. Jimmy on the television, famous
people laughing with him, Top Jimmy cooks, Top Jimmy
swings. Juke-joint Jimmy is the latest
thing, Top Jimmy cooks, Top Jimmy
swings. Drop Dead
Legs You know that you want it. Dig those moves, vam-pire You know that you want it. Hot For
Teacher T-T-Teacher stop that screaming,
teacher don't you see ? I think of all the education
that I missed. Got it bad, got it bad, got it
bad, spoken: "Hey, I heard you
missed us, we're back !" I heard about your lessons, but
lessons are so cold. I think of all the education
that I missed. "Oh man, I think the clock
is slow" I'll Wait I'll wait till your love comes
down. I wrote a letter and told her
these words, I'll wait till your love comes
down. You can't imagine what your
image means. I'll wait till your love comes
down. Girl Gone
Bad Girl gone bad Found that girl with a lonesome
John, Girl gone bad House of
Pain Gonna pack your bags and leave this house of pain. Heartaches all around me, how
many times we cried. Gonna fix it so you never leave this house of pain |
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