One of my great regrets as a rock and roll fan born in the ’70s (1971), heavily influenced culturally in the ’80s, and semi-matured in the ’90s. is that I never saw Van Halen in concert. Jules Verne was is that bloody time machine!!
Still, Van Halen is my favorite rock and roll band of all time! According to “Top 15 Best-Selling Rock Artists of All Time in U.S. Sales” a 2019 online article published CLASSICS DU JOUR (https://classicsdujour.com/best-selling-rock-bands-us-sales/), “Van Halen is one of the rare bands, let alone rock bands, that have had two albums reach “Diamond” status, selling over 10 million copies each. The first one was their debut release Van Halen, and the second was 1984. The band still holds the record for having the most #1 songs (13) on Billboards’ Mainstream Rock chart.”
One of their most underrated songs, in my opinion, is one of their most recent, “Tattoo” from A Different Kind of Truth released in 2012.
The band was true greatness and their influence on my life as a music fan cannot be overstated.
Inarguably, the David Lee Roth years of the band Van Halen were the best. The first six albums of VH during the years 1977 – 1984 gave to the world anthems like “Running with the Devil”, “Unchained”, and “Panama” and proved not only Eddie Van Halen’s unassailable guitar virtuosity but David Lee Roth’s L.A. party lothario/game show host frontmanship as well. It also established a rock iconography all their own. Almost like a rock and roll sitcom/variety show, California style.
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Joe Thompson, PhD. 