Public

This Day in CVH/DLR History
1978
Van Halen plays the Century Theater in Buffalo, NY. Journey and Montrose are the headliners.

1979
Warner Bros. releases Van Halen's second album, titled Van Halen II. It will contain the band's first Top 20 single, "Dance The Night Away." "VH2" will hit US #6 (and UK #23) on its way to five million sales. This album was recorded in six days and released on 3/23/79. It reached #6 on the U.S. charts (4/14/79) and #23 on the U.K. charts (4/14/79). 5.7 million copies have been sold in the U.S. It was certified gold on 4/03/79, platinum on 5/08/79, triple platinum on 10/22/84, and quadruple platinum on 7/05/90. The album was remastered and rereleased on 9/19/00. The album was recorded about a week after the first world tour ended. The band felt that the tour made them better prepared for recording than they would ever be after a rest. The Sheraton Inn of Madison, WI, is thanked in the album's liner notes. During Van Halen's first tour, they destroyed the seventh floor of the hotel, throwing televisions out the windows and having fire extinguisher fights in the hallways - blaming the incident on their tour-mates, Journey. David Lee Roth broke his foot during a photo shoot for the back cover. He did three 12-foot leaps, landing incorrectly on the third jump, subsequently breaking his right foot. When the inner sleeve photos were shot at a later date, the foot was still bandaged and is clearly evident on the final sleeve included with the album. Incidentally, the third jump was the best, and it was used for the shot. Mysteriously, Alex Van Halen is absent from the songwriting credits on side two of the cassette version of this album, more than likely due to a printing error. Michael Anthony used a small bass amp for his parts on the album, and for the guitar overdubs, Ed used only one cabinet and head as opposed to his usual wall of amplifiers. Three live videos were filmed after the album was released, and these were later televised on a Don Kirshner's Rock Concert broadcast: "Dance the Night Away," "You're No Good," and "Bottoms Up!"

03-23-2023

This Day in CVH/DLR History