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1980
Van Halen releases its third album, Women And Children First. Nicolette Larson lends her vocal alents to the chorus of "Could This Be Magic?" (Two years earlier, Eddie had played on Nicolette's debut album though he is uncredited for his solo on "Can't Get Away From You"). WACF includes a 3-foot poster of a half-naked David Lee Roth, wearing leather pants while posing wrist-bound to a chain link fence. This album was recorded in seventeen days and released on 3/26/80. 4.3 million copies have been sold in the U.S. It reached #6 on the U.S. charts (4/19/80) and #15 on the U.K. charts (4/06/80). It was certified gold on 5/29/80, platinum on 6/02/80, double platinum on 10/22/84, and triple platinum on 8/04/94. The album was remastered and rereleased on 9/19/00. Parts of this album were recorded on an Ibanez Destroyer borrowed from Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P. One version of the album was released on a special cassette form along with Fair Warning. Included in the album (reportedly only the first million pressings) was a three-foot black and white poster of David Lee Roth, bound to a chain-link fence. The photograph was taken by famed fashion photographer Helmut Newton. It was used for shock value. Dave didn't want fans to think they had a handle on the band. Surprisingly Newton did not charge Roth for the photo session, only for the supplies used by Newton's assistants. This was the first album Van Halen went into the studio to record for unprepared, prompting the band to revive songs from their early demo tapes which was something Edward wasn't happy doing. In 1995 a collection of unused material from this album was leaked to the public in the form of a bootleg recording titled Women and Children First Studio Sessions. These recordings revealed an instrumental with a strong bass line that was not used on this or any other Van Halen album. The album's title came from Dave. One morning, after a typical Van Halen-style rampage, Dave awoke to distant screams of, "The ship is sinking!" Dave replied, "Women and Children First!" The phrase stuck.
Van Halen releases its third album, Women And Children First. Nicolette Larson lends her vocal alents to the chorus of "Could This Be Magic?" (Two years earlier, Eddie had played on Nicolette's debut album though he is uncredited for his solo on "Can't Get Away From You"). WACF includes a 3-foot poster of a half-naked David Lee Roth, wearing leather pants while posing wrist-bound to a chain link fence. This album was recorded in seventeen days and released on 3/26/80. 4.3 million copies have been sold in the U.S. It reached #6 on the U.S. charts (4/19/80) and #15 on the U.K. charts (4/06/80). It was certified gold on 5/29/80, platinum on 6/02/80, double platinum on 10/22/84, and triple platinum on 8/04/94. The album was remastered and rereleased on 9/19/00. Parts of this album were recorded on an Ibanez Destroyer borrowed from Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P. One version of the album was released on a special cassette form along with Fair Warning. Included in the album (reportedly only the first million pressings) was a three-foot black and white poster of David Lee Roth, bound to a chain-link fence. The photograph was taken by famed fashion photographer Helmut Newton. It was used for shock value. Dave didn't want fans to think they had a handle on the band. Surprisingly Newton did not charge Roth for the photo session, only for the supplies used by Newton's assistants. This was the first album Van Halen went into the studio to record for unprepared, prompting the band to revive songs from their early demo tapes which was something Edward wasn't happy doing. In 1995 a collection of unused material from this album was leaked to the public in the form of a bootleg recording titled Women and Children First Studio Sessions. These recordings revealed an instrumental with a strong bass line that was not used on this or any other Van Halen album. The album's title came from Dave. One morning, after a typical Van Halen-style rampage, Dave awoke to distant screams of, "The ship is sinking!" Dave replied, "Women and Children First!" The phrase stuck.
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