@@seanfried5583 single most influential? I would say that was Randy Rhoads... You know that other guitar player that Eddie claims stole everything from him...
@@lexannaamnell6593 Randy borrowed tons if not stole from Eddie. Eddie already had hit records and Randy waa still in Quiet Riot. Randy was using a whammy bar set up Eddie helped develop. Randy was great but Eddie came first. Eddie changed the playing AND building of guitars. I love Randy but as far as electric rock guitar goes there is Hendrix and Eddie and everyone else is just filling in the cracks
@@seanfried5583 actually Randy used a tremo system designed by Karl Sandoval. Eddie had nothing to do with the "invention" of the Tremolo system. Eddie is only known for it because Van Halen was the first to hit the spotlight. Randy didn't even know who Van Halen was until after he had already been playing
Drop Dead Legs has one of the best rock guitar tones of all time! It is absolutely sublime for guitar players. I really enjoyed this episode of Professor of Rock!
I was a huge fan at 15/16 years old working my first job at Generals Chicken in Kennesaw GA... I was mopping the floor in the dining room and had the rock station on. They announced the new VH album and played Jump... Wow... I begged friends to come with me but couldn't get any to go so I went alone at 17 to the Omni in Atlanta to see my idol EVH on the 1984 tour. I drove my 1972 Buick Riviera to the big city to see them and I'll never forget it.
The great thing about music is it doesn't matter when the first time you hear it is. I wasn't born until 1987, but I remember the first time I heard van halen. My uncle was jamming to Eruption and I remember hearing it and asking "who is that?!?" He told me "thats Eddie Van Halen." I was blown away. I couldn't have been much more than 10 years old. After that I went into a Van Halen rabbit hole (my uncle used to have every rock and metal cassette tape you could imagine). Whether you heard 1984 for the first time in 1984, 1987, 1997, or 2097, you'll be blown away! Van Halen is timeless. Thats about the best thing a musician or band could hope to be. Eddie Van Halen will be inspiring guitarists in 2084!
There's definitely truth to that! I was privileged enough to have grown up with Van Halen. When "1984" came out, i was really starting to pay attention to music, as a little kid. I was diehard fan once 1984 debuted. Similarly to your story, I'm sure I had heard Led Zeppelin on the radio, in the background as a very little kid, but once I really started paying attention to music,the first time I heard Robert Plant sing; 🎵 "Hey-hey mama, said the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove!" 🎶 It sent chills down my spine! I thought "that dude's voice is amazing!" Have loved their hits ever since, even though they're WAY before my time. The same is true with movies. I never appreciated the classics like "Casablanca", "A Touch Of Mink", "Maltese Falcon", "North By Northwest" and many others, until I took an "Intro To Film" class. Those films make 95% of movies today, look like trash.
Back in the day, my friends and I would get together during the weekend and play music throughout the evening. We would get complaints from one of our neighbors, from time to time, because we would always crank the volume on "Jump" when we put it on.
I've said for about 20 years that 1984 was the pinnacle of entertainment. Look at the movies that came out then. The music, cartoons, tv, and Mtv. The only thing missing in my book is Nintendo, which came out the next year.
I'm actually a bigger fan of '83, but like he said, many of those albums were carry-overs from '83 that just kept delivering new radio hits along the way. When he flashed that photo of all of those albums though, I don't think there was a single one of them that I didn't own! I liked every one of those albums. And it really does make you think, "Wow! What was goin' on at that time to spark so much musical magic?!"
In 1984 I was 14. My top artists at the time, as featured in my yearbook were Journey, Asia, Van Halen and Def Leppard. Nice to know that my musical taste withstood the test of time.
As an 80's HS kid (81-85), I always knew that a lot of the music then was going to be immortal. I believed that MTV, which premiered as I entered HS would confirm it. The video imagery along with the wide array of uses of the drum machines, synthesizers, and traditional live instruments fused together made the 80's sound unique.
Hey! I am the same age as you. The music of our youth was amazing. So much variety and talent in the 70s and 80s. I am going to wear my Journey shirt to work today. Glad my employer lets me wear my favorite musician tees. 😊
Yes sir! I was 19 and life was one big party. Society at large was happy... content, optimistic, and always looking for the next good time, and nobody knew or gave a damn about what was happening in washington. Rock on brother.
I had the privilege to score a Not for Resale promotional copy of VH's debut. The program director at the radio station where I was the DJ for the graveyard shift on weekends refused to put any of the tracks on the playlist. No one knew the band. But I put it on the turntable in the audition room. After listening to the first track, I decided to take it home. Of course, I listened to the whole thing on my home system. My roommate liked it. He probably played it a few times when I was not around. About a month later, a girl I knew who lived four doors down from me in my apartment complex asked me if I wanted to serve as her escort to a concert in Indy. She wrote for Radio Free Rock and was assigned to interview Firefall, the headliner for the show. Her father refused to let her go solo for backstage interview sessions, so she always got two passes, and frequently I served as her bodyguard. Hey, I got to meet some rockers. But I asked her who was the opener on the bill that night. She said, "I never heard of them, some dutch band." I said, "Van Halen?" I know, right? Van Halen opened for Firefall. What was the promoter thinking? Anyway, I met the band before they were huge. And as Steve indicated in your interview, Eddie's guitar was an appendage. Dave did most of the talking, no surprise. My friend asked how he would describe the band's lifestyle. Dave said, "Some people burn the candle at one end, some burn the candle at both ends. We take a blowtorch to that sucker."
Awesome story good sir. I was 8 in 1978 and was just developing my taste in music. I was given a used radio with a tape player by one of my dads co workers. I would love taping songs on a variety of stations. One day they started playing songs off VHs debut. Jamie's Cryin' came on and I was awestruck by the music and the harmonies. VH sealed a spot in my musical taste and several years later I would finally get to see them live in 1986.
I like Firefall, but that must have been brutal for them having to follow Van Halen! After hearing "I'm the One" and "Jamie's Crying" they had to play "Just Remember I Love you!"
@@TonysMusic1974 Yeah, I missed most of Firefall's set. But they kind of put the crowd to sleep. What was funny was the audience was probably 90% Firefall fans. Van Halen was virtually unknown at the time, at least in Indy. But they did blow the doors off the place. I also met Firefall, as she did an interview with them as well. The VH interview was a kind of - while I'm going to be there, let's see if I can interview them as well - sort of thing.
I was just talking about this album to my 20yo son. It was a HUGE deal. Jump came on the radio, then Panama, then Hot for Teacher. One after the other, and each song and video was plastered all over the radio and MTV. They became superstars with 1984.
@@bjmcmahon722 * son respects the greats. He's a guitar player and plays classic metal and rock. My other 2 boys are the same way. There's still good artists in the younger generations.
I graduated high school in 1984, and the song Jump was chosen as our class song and to be played on graduation night. Needless to say even our parents could not stand still. That song just set you free.... Go ahead and JUMP, for our glass it meant jumping into the next stage of our life. RIP. ED. Certainly one of the best guitarist in the world, and will be sadly missed, but never forgotten!
Totally agree, fair warning at that point still had that basement feel and no commercial overtones, that album kicked ass on so many levels!!! Hell to the chief Eddie!!! And mates!!!
I am so blessed to have been a teenager during that time and seeing them live was epic. The brilliance of Van Halen's music has made life so grand.....
Ed is the king, and will always be. The way the music industry is now, kids will never get to feel what we felt back then. I loved VH from the first time I heard them, and still do. Keep on rocking, and bringing us this great content.
Kory Anderson ' i couldnt have said it better myself. First song i heard was the flip side of the album , for you youngsters out there that would be ( side 2) first song Jamies Cryin , i knew it was different. I lived thru that baron wasteland of R n R that was the pre- V H period. Lets face it to us VH fans there's only 3 major periods in R n R history. BVH, DVH & AVH Before Van Halen, DURING Van Halen and After Van Halen. Only those of us who lived thru it , know what i talking about. I mean i went to High School 1974 - 1978. My first taste of R n R was Zeppelins Whole Lotta Love an i partied all thru and heard all the others like Zep, Aero, ZZ, Purple, UFO , Kiss , and Eagles etc . By the time my Senior year rolled around Aerosmith and Zeppelin were having Internal problems Frampton"'s Zenith was on its way down and recent albums by all of the usual bands were so - so and the biggest hottest group at the start of 1978 was Ted Nugent. He released a unit called Double Live : Gonzo. Again for you youngsters out there he may not look it now but during the late 70's Nugent was pretty bad ass. He was part Eddie cuz he could play some good guitar, part DLR because he was doing the most outrsgeous interviews at the time ', and he was definitely part Ozzy cuz that MF was and still is Crazy ! So that was the landscape at the time. R n R had become a wasteland. Picture a baron desert landscape with a barb wire fence round it and the only movement was the Cows jaws chewing their cud ', and the constant but slow swatting away the flys with their tails. Then from the sky , a strange spaceship. So unusal , so clean , so gleemingly beautiful chrome with great lights. It comes from somewhere else ., not of this earth with a attention grabbing look , and a infectious sound from what powered it. It then hovers over the desert pasture and slowly decends until touchdown. Its lights still flashing, and at its horizontal center like a belt' the center piece spins at an unreal speed but then as if someone turned it off but it had a great set of bearings n it takes its time to slow and just befote it reaches real slow you realize that its sound has changed a bit . It now sounds like car horns ', or an air raid siren , packing a punch and still formidable . As the siren sound slows way down it stalls at a certain tone that you really dig . Then a tapping wood hitting metal type sound comes from it and the the ship opens up and standing there are 4 alien youths that produce a grinding bsshing sound. You are in extacy instinctially knowing that this is not a dream ', no hallutionation the are real and you also know that theve have brought music with them accross the galaxy and you also know that the music is 50 to 100 years ahead of earth's music. About 50 to 100 years ahead of our time. You say to yourself many things , i cant really put my finger on it but there has always been something missing from the music ive been listening to all my life . I never knew what it was but this is it '! Mick Jagger would not have written Cant get no satisfaction if he was like me 17 high school and heard Van Halens first album. But to so many R n R fans it was here .Finally orgasmic musical Satisfaction if i could describe it like that. Imagine today a Rock n Roll band hitting and killing Rap music , making it so obsolete its ridiculous ! Thats what Van Halen did in their day . They didnt kill disco over night but when the public heard VH only a few times , disco's days were numbered. They hit like a meteor , the kind that wiped out the dinosaurs. It played at every party you went to it was on FM radio like crazy and it was the talk if the day. Then they came to town and when theres a show its like, yeah cool im going to a show tonight. But when VH was in town there was a different buzz in the air. Again it was different than all the others. It was a Super Bowl of music it was without a doubt a perfect '"" 10 "" everytime. We knew they were special and i dont think the world has finally got the full brunt of it even know. We all know Eddie's incredible talent and influence but what about the early and even the modern days of wrestling. Right before the W W F came out i had seen it before. Let me see , a Muscular guy with long blonde hair in tights jumping all over the place hair flyin around saying outrageous things during interviews ? Am i talking about the WWF or a m i refering to something that came just before that ? Im talking VH. ! I believe David Lee Roth's wardrobe influenced wrestlings out fits for years until they took on a life of their own and no one can tell me different. When they hit they had it all . They had the sleek cool name, they had the attitude , they had all the swagger of swash buckling Pirates, they definitely had the look , and most of all they had the sound. I remember getting in the pit of my gut the firsy time i seen them was a feelqing like you get when you hear that a couple of bad ass guys from the neighborhood are getting ready to fight. Its stimulating and that feeling hit me when the lights came on on the stage and eddie flying up and down the fret board and DLR leaping into the air . I thought ( i dont know what going to happen tonight , but something w/o a doubt is GOING TO HAPPEN ! And at that point who cares what happens because your in the musical garden of eden ! A life changing experience to sàay the least and your thankful that you'll never be the same ! Thanks for your time fellow Halenites ! Heres to hoping Wolfgang and his Uncle and DLR go to 5150 and listen to all that unreleased material and put some of it out because there has got to be some diamonds hiding in that rough. VH has always given us hope for new material and thats the only way that Eddie can contributed to new material. Im sure he left behind some material that will satisfy even the die hards like me and others. We wont complain ', we'll just be thankful . Take care all
Jump, introduced me to Van Halen, then I heard Panama.....holy crap. I was 13 and was like I need more of this guitar in my life and immediately started searching out previous albums. This lead to me eventually picking up the guitar myself in 1989 which led to 32 years of a love and expression that got me through my toughest times in life. Thank you Eddie Van Halen for giving me that gift, may God bless you and rest easy. You changed my life for the better.
I'm currently 51, so my high school years were from '83-'87. You are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT...THIS MUSIC IS THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES!!! I agree, 1984, the year, not the album, was the GREATEST YEAR IN MUSIC HISTORY!!! So many hits, that are still played today on classic rock radio, almost 40 years later, and unforgettable bands. THIS CHANNEL IS THE BEST THING ON RUclips!!! KEEP IT UP, PROFESSOR!!!!
For me. Nr 1Jump Nr 2 I'll Wait. In the year 1984, I did not play guitar or bass guitar yet: I played piano + percussion then. Although I was a kid, I could play the VH keyboard parts. I still can today! 😎
Same, I think the tone he had on Van Halen I is the best tone anyone’s ever gotten on a guitar. Absolutely groundbreaking. No ones ever gotten close but many have tried to copy eddies amazing tone and tapping techniques. I also think his rhythm guitar was super underrated. Everyone boasts his leads which is obviously groundbreaking but my god his rhythm was impeccable
Eddie is definitely in my Top 5. The one thing I believe he is superior at, above practically anyone else, is he knew when to throttle down his playing of a song, and when to jam it to the floor, elsewhere. Whatever sound he wanted to create for a song, he absolutely had no problem producing.
It was because of Eddie that I took up guitar in the first place. Aside from his prowess on the instrument, he will always be special to me even if I ended up adopting a very different playing style from his. My style ended up being a hybrid of Hendrix, Clapton and Zappa - with some rhythm guitar tricks I stole from Alex Lifeson.
Hi professor. Just noticed your shirt and it got me wondering - have you ever considered doing a series about album cover art? Your style would definitely bring these iconic images to life. Most people might enjoy knowing the background and inspiration that went into their favorite album covers. Thanks. I love your channel.
I saw that tour's show in Philadelphia. David put so much in the performance that he was carried off the stage. Plus, I never saw, either before or after, such an unending stream of bras hitting the stage.
Same. VH fan prior to so this wasn't an introduction. However, I didn't know there was a real top Jimmy, so I learned something new after all these years. OH JIMMY! 😁
I was working in the music industry during that time - and I got to meet David & Eddie in a professional setting. I was always meeting big stars at that time. > It’s only recently- looking back - that I can fully appreciate these experiences that - at the time, I took for granted. > I underestimated David as an “ air head “ David is actually a very deep person .. > All I can say, is that I was not able to read people back then. I was burnt at the time. > I met Eddie & David on New Years Eve. They were scheduled to host a party at MTV studio. I was invited. I had to decline bc I was over extended. Great band, great music, sad about Eddie . 🎸🎤🎧 > PS : At the time “ Jump” came out, I always felt that the message was very powerful & upbeat - and that the “ jump” was referring to - going out on a limb - and taking a chance to do something, make a big change in life direction, etc. I never took it as a dark message to harm myself. 🚨 ✅Great history o/t Van Halen band.
Thats awesome! no internet back then so we didn't get to see wnat people in bands were like. Now some get on RUclips and you can really get to know them. Do you have any pictures from those meetings?
In 1984 I was 10 yrs old, I was a kid into pop radio. I loved Prince and Madonna. When an older friend played 1984 for me, I instantly asked my Mom to get it for me. This is the album that sold me on rock n roll, and led me down the road to become the metalhead that I am today. This is EASILY in my top 5 albums of all time. (Coincidentally, Prince's Purple Rain is also in my top 5...what a great year for music!) Every track on 1984 is a killer. I especially love the deep cuts like Drop Dead Legs, Girl Gone Bad and House Of Pain.
I've always said 1984 was the greatest year in music...I was a Sophomore at Edison High in Huntington Beach California and had the most euphoric soundtrack to my life! From Wham to Culture Club and Big Country to Duran Duran... Glad you love 1984 too!!
My memory is of Roth doing multiple interviews and charming the masses, we discovered that he was and is intelligent, of course three videos in heavy MTV rotation helped
When you mentioned playing the record over and over...... yes!!!!! That record was just the best!!!!! I immediately went out and bought all of their albums after that. I could not get enough of Van Halen a teenager... it felt like I lost a good friend I knew .... when we lost Eddie Van Halen.... getting choked up...🙏🏻🤟🏻
I remember distinctly riding my bike with a small boom box bungee-corded to the handlebars blasting “Panama” as loud as it would go. It’s hard to imagine a greater feeling of freedom and happiness than that. Would that we could go back to those days.
I remember during my first year of college I was playing 1984 and hanging out with one of my dorm mates. As "Girl Gone Bad" was playing, he commented, "This kinda sounds like Rush." At this point Rush had not yet displaced VH as my favorite band, but in retrospect I think he was onto something. And speaking of that year, the guy in the next room over from me in the dorm had the exact same poster of Eddie hanging on his wall that I had on mine. I was fresh out of high school; he was 22 and had transferred from a junior college. We became friends almost immediately, not only because of that but because we were both majoring in mechanical engineering. Lost touch with him after I dropped out of that school.
I recently added GGB to my regular rotation after a long, long time, after revisiting many of the albums and realizing "Damn, this song just rocks like a MF..." Did that same thing with Judgement Day... not a hit but hits hard.
1984 ...both the VH album...and the year 1984 in music , did change EVERYTHING ! It was Mtv that got us to listen and expand our musical likes and learning. It was a smorgasbord pig-out banquet for young impressionable music lovers. Add some of music's greatest artists at their creative peak ---and you have a legendary 'stars aligned ' moment in history .
Many things can be described as science even guitar/instrument sound and even vocals, only for Van Halen, it went beyond science of sound.... IT WAS MAGIC! Once in your lifetime, maybe! The Magic of VH, and that Era will forever be, thanks to Our Professor and Archivist and You and Me! God bless all.
VH was 1984. I was a freshman in high school. Suddenly bandanas were everywhere, and worn on heads, arms, and legs. It was the total party, and that album was the sound track.
I was born in 1966, and graduated high school in ‘84.....two great years in music! The thing about ‘84 is a station could play a current hit by Van Halen, followed by Wham!.....but people like me enjoyed it all.
I also graduated high school in 1984 and this album was the soundtrack to one of the funnest times of my life! Absolutely love this album and think Van Halen was the greatest American rock band ever! Thanks to Van Halen, and especially, EVH, for the stellar music that I’ve listened to for the last 43 years of my life!
The 1st side of 1984 and the 1st side of Rush’s Moving Pictures are my favorite album sides of all time. Panama is one of the best rock songs of all time from any era. Hot for Teacher is the best boogie of all time. The Professor of Rock is the best RUclips channel of all time.
Thanks to the Professor here for keeping music alive from a meaning-filled decade that had deep feeling, and entertainment had real heart and soul, as exemplified by this masterpiece album.
When my dad used to pick me up on weekends the hour plus drive always was accompanied by some new cassette he got. Pat Benatar, Bryan Adams, and Van Halen’s 1984 were some of the highlights.
I’m in 8th grade, summer of 1984 in Mrs Govoni’s class with 3 class friends sitting at the same table. Steve Broom sitting across the table had a Walkman radio/cassette with head phones, I asked him what he was listening to he told me VH Jump from 1984. He gave me the head phones to listen to it and I was hooked to VH ever since that day. I’m in my 50’s and I remember like it was last week. Never forget.
One of my favorite songs off of that album is I’ll Wait. The guitar solo just proves that Eddie didn’t need all of his pyrotechnics for a solo to be good. He knew when to dial things back a bit and play what was right for the song. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still all EVH!
That song rocks, and I don't quite know what it is about it. Something about the way that synth riff works together with the awesome drums. I keep listening to it endlessly, much more than any other song on that album, even though I've listened to the whole album countless times also.
@@bigtechisbigbrother8690 I wholly agree. I adore that song, above and beyond any other VH song, and I can't even come close to explaining, even to myself, exactly why. Me Wise Magic is a close second, and for a very similar reason, that I can never put into words, even internally.
Not one weak track. Hot For Teacher is underrated i believe because of the cheeky music video, which I did love as I was a tween at the time of course. Listen to that song without the video. Each member is just out of this world on that song.
Thanks for doing this short doc,I was 13 when this album came out. I didn't like JUMP very much but couldn't get enough of DROP DEAD LEGS and I'LL WAIT. Just a great album, thanks again P O R... and VH
1984 has aged well like a fine wine. The self titled 1st track still sounds futuristic and showed that VH didnt rest on their laurels and all 4 members were at the top of their game. It was no surprise they were the best paid act at that time.
Dweezil Zappa had a great EVH story. He was in Jr High and doing a show and tell so he was going to play the guitar. But apparently there was a problem with the guitar or the sound system, Frank was out of town. They contacted Eddie who loaned Dweezil a guitar and came down and set it up. Imagine being in Jr High and having Eddie Van Halen as a roadie?
You never mistake Dweezil for top inovators of our time but i dont think i ever heard anyone , any guitarist clone Eddie sound as well as Dweezil Its incredible !
For my money, the trio of Drop Dead Legs, Hot For Teacher, followed by I'll Wait is the best isolated section of any VH record. IF IHAD TO PLAY 3 SONGS TO A NON-VH BELIEVER, IT WOULD BE THESE 3. I know most people will say the first 3 track of VH 1. And there are others, for SURE.... BUT... These 3 tunes capture the entire VH spectrum: The wild, wacky, IMPERFECT, hooky, and frankly un-coverable Drop D DDL, The one take, huge texas shuffle, zztop on steroids, baddassery of HFT that settled the debate forever, and finally the straight up epic keyboard driven pop tune with a synth bass groove and hook that are simply unmatched. Ear worms made of dynamite. Turn up I'll Wait extremely loud through a great system. That my friends is no sleepy 80's pop tune. That's an ass kicker from way back that gets better as it gets louder. LIKE WE USED TO DO!! Thanks Professor for all the great work you do!
Eddie was playing piano at a young age. First time I heard Eruption, it reminded me of some fast key work on a piano. Didn’t know he was playing piano at a young age until he passed. Also, EVH could not read music.
Eddie's impact on my life is beyond description. I didn't get into rock n roll music until I was in high school. Kiss was my 1st favorite rock back then I heard about Van Halen from a friend and I never looked back. I didn't start playing guitar until I got out of high school. I went to every Van Halen show I could go to. Later in life I fell into some dark times with my health and Eddie's music got me through it. I would spend hours listening to and watching everything about Eddie I could get my hands on. I do miss him so much. People say he was one of the greatest guitarist...not true, he was the GREATEST guitarist ever. PERIOD.
3:05 Eddie was experimenting with electronic instruments long before his 5150 Studios construction phase. Just look to the distorted Wurlitzer in ‘And The Cradle Will Rock’ (1980) or the Moog Minimoog in ‘Dancing In The Street’ (1982) for examples.
Superb job, Professor of Rock. Love these stories and man, do I miss Eddie van Halen. Favourite tracks on 1984: Panama, Hot For Teacher, Girl Gone Bad.
Had to play this album everyday fir my 3 1/2 yr old son my 10 month old daughter learned to walk by us all dancing to this album. My son who’s now in his 40’s remembers that this was his 1st real love! We lived in Ft. Walton Beach Fl. and Wave Side beach on Ocaloosa Island was the place to be...especially with children! Such a great time to live in and gave my children a Love of Music that’s stilled instilled today! Great music is a life saver in more ways than one... IT HAS HEALING POWERS IF YOU SURRENDER and JUST ENJOY! Love you piece of history of Van Halen! Thank You!☝️❤️
Van Halen is my favorite band of all time, the last time I cried? When Eddie pass away. I grew up listen to them, I was proud to be called Jimmy Van Halen in high school
Drop Dead Legs never recieves recognition. You are the first to bring attention to Eddie's beautifly played solo towards the end of this song. As a Van Halen Fan I was crushed when DLR left after this album. But in just 2 years Sammy showed up, & we got the Best Of Both Worlds!Looking forward to part 2 of 1984. Stay Well.
I had just gotten my new jam box for Christmas and by sheer luck it was the loudest one in the neighborhood (everyone had one then. It was imperative) 84 was the first new cassette in that thing and I made sure everyone in my town heard it regularly (daily)
I knew from the first time I heard 'Eruption' that Eddie was of incredible greatness. Being a musician myself at a younger age, and I could hear the difference between the 'picking' and 'noodling' and I literally said WOW when I heard it. I may not know of what hammer-on or any of that is, but Eddie changed the way we think of "what's possible" having to do with a musical instrument. He took "I wonder what would happen if I ..." and created the FrankenStrat, and yes created. The rest is history. He may be 8th as far as Overall guitarist of all time, but as far as a Guitar Innovator, and a Guitar Player, he is #1.
Awesome video! Somehow I owned a copy of Van Halen 1984 on vinyl when I was in grade school. I listened to "Jump" over and over. Partly because it was the Chicago Cubs theme in that Era and also because it just simply made me feel good inside. As a child I didn't appreciate it for the musicianship but for the joy it gave me. After Eddie passed, Ben Eller put out a glorious tribute video breaking down why Eddie was the greatest. One of the reasons was for his songwriting. There were many other guitar virtuoso bands out there, but there crowds were mostly male guitar player fans. Eddie wrote catchy pop songs that could hook anyone... male, female, young, old... it didn't matter. They played to packed arenas with very diverse crowds. Eddie's death has been the hardest celebrity death for me. He played with joy... always. There was almost always a smile on his face. He is missed... Side note - I believe the only bigger 1-2 punch combo would possibly be "We Will Rock You" into "We Are The Champions" of Queen's News of the World. .
1984 awoke all my senses as a 12 year old kid. I still remember playing football in my cousins front yard when he played that record. We stopped playing football and walked over to the window where this music was coming from and I couldn’t get enough. Jump and Panama blew me away.
The lyrics to Jump may have been initially inspired by a man on a ledge, but the song's lyric was an encouraging anthem to all young people to seize the day on something good---take a chance--JUMP at that chance. Kudos to Dave for not wasting Eddie's genius composition, and wrote an excellent lyric to it.
I’ve read a lot of these comments and I have to say it makes my heart feel good THIS BAND WAS ALL I HAD BACK IN 1978 . RIP MR. HALEN ! I sure do miss you.
"Hot For Teacher", "Panama", and "Jump" were all amazing songs, and I never got tired of hearing them on the radio, and would crank it any time I heard them. But "I'll Wait" almost never got played, in my area,and when I bought 1984 on tape, I kinda felt like it was my own, private Van Halen hit discovery. Every band has a song that when you listen to it, you have no connection to it. You don't understand what made them record it, or the motivation behind it. But I loved every song on 1984, and I couldn't understand why "I'll Wait" wasn't getting air time. I wore out my 1984 tape, walking to and from school, as a kid.
Agreed. 84 was the apex imho. The mountain top. Some brilliance was produced on the way down, but creativity was never the same. Especially in the modern era.
I remember walking to the music store in January when it came out. I was 13 and used my paper route money to buy it. I put the cassette into my Walkman and stepped out into the cold winter wind. Thats when I heard the intro of 1984. The synth swirled between my ears while the icy breeze blew against my face and it was like magic. This is one of the few albums that gave me such a vivid experience!
How the fuck could you not like this?! Van Halen 1984 is by far the best album that they ever did and no COVER TUNES!!! All the songs on that record were great and deserve the accolades awarded to them for it. 1984 was a watershed album. I remember Eddie saying that he would sneak down to the studio at 4:00 (Pacific Time) and would record. This is how a lot of 1984 came around. He said "I love dicking around with keyboards" he was always in love with weird noises. This is why he would do the high pitched harmonics and squeals along with scraping his pick against the tremolo springs in the back of his Kramer Baretta. Keyboards were simply a way for him to extend his chops he was quoted as saying in Guitar Player Magazine. What an amazing talent and human being. I too can't believe that he's gone and now that part of my life died with him and a huge piece of my sould with it. I remember that Jump was everywhere and no commercial that I remember was without this song or a lame parody of it on T.V. and in movies. What a brave soul that he was to not be afraid to play the keyboards in their studio songs. One of my earliest memories was that David Lee Roth once sneered - "Nobody wants to hear you play keyboards man!" How wrong he was....... Thank you Adam for this - you are a legend in the music industry now and forever.
Believe it or not, the first time I listened to 1984 was after Ed’s passing. I saw so many tributes to him on social media that I was curious and started listening to VH’s albums. Of course I knew the classics (Jump!, Panama etc) but oh boy... I can’t believe I lived all these years not knowing I’ll wait, Girl gone bad, or the debut album! Look what I was missing out!! I absolutely feel in love with Ed and the band, they are just amazing. Thank you, Professor of Rock for bringing such fascinating stories and in-depth in information about one of the greatest bands in the world!!
I remember that this is the first cassette tape my brother every bought. We listened to it all the time. Just to listen to it now brings me back 30+ years to sitting in our basement rec room and playing an atari or Apple IIe or hanging around outside on our BMX bikes.
One thing people forget, by 1983, EVH as a musician was getting board with guitar. People talk how the Sammy era wasn't real van halen, but the split with Dave was inevitable because both he and Eddie were going different ways musically.
@@soggypaws4944 There was a lot of that (it was the 80's, after all, "the decade of excess"), but he's right. Eddie had moved past being the fastest guitar on the block, and wanted to grow musically. Dave wanted to "stick to the formula". As much as fans would have liked them to stay together, the split was inevitable, as Eddie didn't want to remake the first four albums over and over again.
Listening to that LP for the first time and hearing those songs back then at the age of 11 was like jumping into a time machine and Instantaneously , realizing this was a sound from another time!!! Couldn’t stop playing them. Revisiting the music now on You tube and hearing the stories associated with them is like going back in that same time machine. Wow 🤩.......RIP EVH
Eddie Van Halen the most gifted muscician EVER¡¡ an innovator a genuis¡¡ Van Halen as a band revolutionized everything Forever¡¡ Thank You Professor of Rock¡ Congrats from Colombia
(Right now) this is one of the 'BEST' Professor of Rock stories about Van Halen.
Good one! Thanks for watching!
I’m having Déjà Vu ‘cause my formative years included a lot of Van Halen...thanks!
@@prescriptivereasoning I have a Van Halen story as well, but it's probably really dull compared to yours.
@@prescriptivereasoning Actually, I jst told it to someone on Twitter. You on there? I Can link you (if YT lets me use s link)
@@prescriptivereasoning yes best one.
Mikey's harmony vocals are the secret weapon in every band he's played in. 😎👍
Yawn, settle down with the Mikey rah rah crap
zzz...zzz...zzz... 😴😴😴 Trolls are boring.
its true but some of these ppl are up dave roths ass (he'd prob like that)..lol
Seriously, those vocals are fantastic.
@Craig Strickland Michael's screaming high notes were iconic.
What an amazing thing to say. The most perfect description of Eddie I've ever heard. "He was so blissfully unaware of how great he was." Respect!
Single most influential electric guitar player ever.
@@seanfried5583 single most influential? I would say that was Randy Rhoads... You know that other guitar player that Eddie claims stole everything from him...
Blissfully unaware couldn't be further from the truth.. he was an egomaniac, claims everything Randy did was stolen from him
@@lexannaamnell6593 Randy borrowed tons if not stole from Eddie. Eddie already had hit records and Randy waa still in Quiet Riot. Randy was using a whammy bar set up Eddie helped develop.
Randy was great but Eddie came first. Eddie changed the playing AND building of guitars. I love Randy but as far as electric rock guitar goes there is Hendrix and Eddie and everyone else is just filling in the cracks
@@seanfried5583 actually Randy used a tremo system designed by Karl Sandoval. Eddie had nothing to do with the "invention" of the Tremolo system. Eddie is only known for it because Van Halen was the first to hit the spotlight. Randy didn't even know who Van Halen was until after he had already been playing
Drop Dead Legs has one of the best rock guitar tones of all time! It is absolutely sublime for guitar players. I really enjoyed this episode of Professor of Rock!
I was a huge fan at 15/16 years old working my first job at Generals Chicken in Kennesaw GA... I was mopping the floor in the dining room and had the rock station on. They announced the new VH album and played Jump... Wow... I begged friends to come with me but couldn't get any to go so I went alone at 17 to the Omni in Atlanta to see my idol EVH on the 1984 tour. I drove my 1972 Buick Riviera to the big city to see them and I'll never forget it.
“a mammoth success...” Well played Professor, well played... 😎😏🤘🤘🤘
The great thing about music is it doesn't matter when the first time you hear it is. I wasn't born until 1987, but I remember the first time I heard van halen. My uncle was jamming to Eruption and I remember hearing it and asking "who is that?!?" He told me "thats Eddie Van Halen." I was blown away. I couldn't have been much more than 10 years old. After that I went into a Van Halen rabbit hole (my uncle used to have every rock and metal cassette tape you could imagine). Whether you heard 1984 for the first time in 1984, 1987, 1997, or 2097, you'll be blown away! Van Halen is timeless. Thats about the best thing a musician or band could hope to be. Eddie Van Halen will be inspiring guitarists in 2084!
There's definitely truth to that! I was privileged enough to have grown up with Van Halen. When "1984" came out, i was really starting to pay attention to music, as a little kid. I was diehard fan once 1984 debuted.
Similarly to your story, I'm sure I had heard Led Zeppelin on the radio, in the background as a very little kid, but once I really started paying attention to music,the first time I heard Robert Plant sing;
🎵 "Hey-hey mama, said the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove!" 🎶
It sent chills down my spine! I thought "that dude's voice is amazing!"
Have loved their hits ever since, even though they're WAY before my time.
The same is true with movies. I never appreciated the classics like "Casablanca", "A Touch Of Mink", "Maltese Falcon", "North By Northwest" and many others, until I took an "Intro To Film" class.
Those films make 95% of movies today, look like trash.
I'd like to think he will be. I think sometimes, he'll be forgotten. 1984 is indeed a great album.
I agree. 1984 was a golden year of popular music!
Back in the day, my friends and I would get together during the weekend and play music throughout the evening. We would get complaints from one of our neighbors, from time to time, because we would always crank the volume on "Jump" when we put it on.
I've said for about 20 years that 1984 was the pinnacle of entertainment. Look at the movies that came out then. The music, cartoons, tv, and Mtv. The only thing missing in my book is Nintendo, which came out the next year.
1984 was an amazing year in pop culture. Van Halen, Prince, Madonna, Huey Lewis and the News, The Cars, the Olympics in LA, the list goes on and on,
I'm actually a bigger fan of '83, but like he said, many of those albums were carry-overs from '83 that just kept delivering new radio hits along the way. When he flashed that photo of all of those albums though, I don't think there was a single one of them that I didn't own! I liked every one of those albums. And it really does make you think, "Wow! What was goin' on at that time to spark so much musical magic?!"
1983 is when it all took a dive. After that, rock became a caricature of itself.
In 1984 I was 14. My top artists at the time, as featured in my yearbook were Journey, Asia, Van Halen and Def Leppard. Nice to know that my musical taste withstood the test of time.
As an 80's HS kid (81-85), I always knew that a lot of the music then was going to be immortal. I believed that MTV, which premiered as I entered HS would confirm it. The video imagery along with the wide array of uses of the drum machines, synthesizers, and traditional live instruments fused together made the 80's sound unique.
Ditto
@@seanswinton6242 Class of 84 here; It's almost like everyone could sense that this music was something beyond the ordinary at the time
Hey! I am the same age as you. The music of our youth was amazing. So much variety and talent in the 70s and 80s. I am going to wear my Journey shirt to work today. Glad my employer lets me wear my favorite musician tees. 😊
Yes sir!
I was 19 and life was one big party. Society at large was happy... content, optimistic, and always looking for the next good time, and nobody knew or gave a damn about what was happening in washington.
Rock on brother.
I had the privilege to score a Not for Resale promotional copy of VH's debut. The program director at the radio station where I was the DJ for the graveyard shift on weekends refused to put any of the tracks on the playlist. No one knew the band. But I put it on the turntable in the audition room. After listening to the first track, I decided to take it home. Of course, I listened to the whole thing on my home system. My roommate liked it. He probably played it a few times when I was not around. About a month later, a girl I knew who lived four doors down from me in my apartment complex asked me if I wanted to serve as her escort to a concert in Indy. She wrote for Radio Free Rock and was assigned to interview Firefall, the headliner for the show. Her father refused to let her go solo for backstage interview sessions, so she always got two passes, and frequently I served as her bodyguard. Hey, I got to meet some rockers. But I asked her who was the opener on the bill that night. She said, "I never heard of them, some dutch band." I said, "Van Halen?" I know, right? Van Halen opened for Firefall. What was the promoter thinking? Anyway, I met the band before they were huge. And as Steve indicated in your interview, Eddie's guitar was an appendage. Dave did most of the talking, no surprise. My friend asked how he would describe the band's lifestyle. Dave said, "Some people burn the candle at one end, some burn the candle at both ends. We take a blowtorch to that sucker."
Great story ..I really enjoyed it..Thanx for sharing that ..🤘😎💨💨💨
Wow! What a shaweet memory, I bet they were F'n good too....
Awesome story good sir. I was 8 in 1978 and was just developing my taste in music. I was given a used radio with a tape player by one of my dads co workers. I would love taping songs on a variety of stations. One day they started playing songs off VHs debut. Jamie's Cryin' came on and I was awestruck by the music and the harmonies. VH sealed a spot in my musical taste and several years later I would finally get to see them live in 1986.
I like Firefall, but that must have been brutal for them having to follow Van Halen! After hearing "I'm the One" and "Jamie's Crying" they had to play "Just Remember I Love you!"
@@TonysMusic1974 Yeah, I missed most of Firefall's set. But they kind of put the crowd to sleep. What was funny was the audience was probably 90% Firefall fans. Van Halen was virtually unknown at the time, at least in Indy. But they did blow the doors off the place. I also met Firefall, as she did an interview with them as well. The VH interview was a kind of - while I'm going to be there, let's see if I can interview them as well - sort of thing.
I was just talking about this album to my 20yo son. It was a HUGE deal. Jump came on the radio, then Panama, then Hot for Teacher. One after the other, and each song and video was plastered all over the radio and MTV. They became superstars with 1984.
and "son" realized not a thing. Don't waste your time Daddio
@@bjmcmahon722 * son respects the greats. He's a guitar player and plays classic metal and rock. My other 2 boys are the same way. There's still good artists in the younger generations.
@@HoosierDaddy_ That is good to hear....
Don't forget I'll Wait
I graduated high school in 1984, and the song Jump was chosen as our class song and to be played on graduation night. Needless to say even our parents could not stand still. That song just set you free.... Go ahead and JUMP, for our glass it meant jumping into the next stage of our life. RIP. ED. Certainly one of the best guitarist in the world, and will be sadly missed, but never forgotten!
Wow I remember it from 6th grade it was amazing if u had that cassette you were the s*hit!!! ☀️🔥⚡️🎉
I was in grade 7 that year. My school banned that song at the end of year dance because it encouraged suicide....
Fair Warning is Van Halen's "Animals." It's practically a concept album it's so tight.
Nice comparison. True.
Never thought about Fair Warning that way before but you are right on the money.
No doubt the most underrated VH in my opinion.
Totally agree, fair warning at that point still had that basement feel and no commercial overtones, that album kicked ass on so many levels!!! Hell to the chief Eddie!!! And mates!!!
It is my favorite album of VH
I am so blessed to have been a teenager during that time and seeing them live was epic. The brilliance of Van Halen's music has made life so grand.....
Ed is the king, and will always be. The way the music industry is now, kids will never get to feel what we felt back then. I loved VH from the first time I heard them, and still do. Keep on rocking, and bringing us this great content.
Kory Anderson ' i couldnt have said it better myself. First song i heard was the flip side of the album , for you youngsters out there that would be ( side 2) first song Jamies Cryin , i knew it was different. I lived thru that baron wasteland of R n R that was the pre- V H period. Lets face it to us VH fans there's only 3 major periods in R n R history. BVH, DVH & AVH Before Van Halen, DURING Van Halen and After Van Halen. Only those of us who lived thru it , know what i talking about. I mean i went to High School 1974 - 1978. My first taste of R n R was Zeppelins Whole Lotta Love an i partied all thru and heard all the others like Zep, Aero, ZZ, Purple, UFO , Kiss , and Eagles etc . By the time my Senior year rolled around Aerosmith and Zeppelin were having Internal problems Frampton"'s Zenith was on its way down and recent albums by all of the usual bands were so - so and the biggest hottest group at the start of 1978 was Ted Nugent. He released a unit called Double Live : Gonzo. Again for you youngsters out there he may not look it now but during the late 70's Nugent was pretty bad ass.
He was part Eddie cuz he could play some good guitar, part DLR because he was doing the most outrsgeous interviews at the time ', and he was definitely part Ozzy cuz that MF was and still is Crazy !
So that was the landscape at the time. R n R had become a wasteland. Picture a baron desert landscape with a barb wire fence round it and the only movement was the Cows jaws chewing their cud ', and the constant but slow swatting away the flys with their tails.
Then from the sky , a strange spaceship. So unusal , so clean , so gleemingly beautiful chrome with great lights. It comes from somewhere else ., not of this earth with a attention grabbing look , and a infectious sound from what powered it. It then hovers over the desert pasture and slowly decends until touchdown. Its lights still flashing, and at its horizontal center like a belt' the center piece spins at an unreal speed but then as if someone turned it off but it had a great set of bearings n it takes its time to slow and just befote it reaches real slow you realize that its sound has changed a bit . It now sounds like car horns ', or an air raid siren , packing a punch and still formidable . As the siren sound slows way down it stalls at a certain tone that you really dig . Then a tapping wood hitting metal type sound comes from it and the the ship opens up and standing there are 4 alien youths that produce a grinding bsshing sound. You are in extacy instinctially knowing that this is not a dream ', no hallutionation the are real and you also know that theve have brought music with them accross the galaxy and you also know that the music is 50 to 100 years ahead of earth's music. About 50 to 100 years ahead of our time. You say to yourself many things , i cant really put my finger on it but there has always been something missing from the music ive been listening to all my life . I never knew what it was but this is it '! Mick Jagger would not have written Cant get no satisfaction if he was like me 17 high school and heard Van Halens first album. But to so many R n R fans it was here .Finally orgasmic musical Satisfaction if i could describe it like that. Imagine today a Rock n Roll band hitting and killing Rap music , making it so obsolete its ridiculous ! Thats what Van Halen did in their day . They didnt kill disco over night but when the public heard VH only a few times , disco's days were numbered. They hit like a meteor , the kind that wiped out the dinosaurs. It played at every party you went to it was on FM radio like crazy and it was the talk if the day. Then they came to town and when theres a show its like, yeah cool im going to a show tonight. But when VH was in town there was a different buzz in the air. Again it was different than all the others. It was a Super Bowl of music it was without a doubt a perfect '"" 10 "" everytime. We knew they were special and i dont think the world has finally got the full brunt of it even know. We all know Eddie's incredible talent and influence but what about the early and even the modern days of wrestling. Right before the W W F came out i had seen it before. Let me see , a Muscular guy with long blonde hair in tights jumping all over the place hair flyin around saying outrageous things during interviews ?
Am i talking about the WWF or a m i refering to something that came just before that ?
Im talking VH. ! I believe David Lee Roth's wardrobe influenced wrestlings out fits for years until they took on a life of their own and no one can tell me different. When they hit they had it all . They had the sleek cool name, they had the attitude , they had all the swagger of swash buckling Pirates, they definitely had the look , and most of all they had the sound. I remember getting in the pit of my gut the firsy time i seen them was a feelqing like you get when you hear that a couple of bad ass guys from the neighborhood are getting ready to fight. Its stimulating and that feeling hit me when the lights came on on the stage and eddie flying up and down the fret board and DLR leaping into the air . I thought ( i dont know what going to happen tonight , but something w/o a doubt is GOING TO HAPPEN ! And at that point who cares what happens because your in the musical garden of eden !
A life changing experience to sàay the least and your thankful that you'll never be the same ! Thanks for your time fellow Halenites ! Heres to hoping Wolfgang and his Uncle and DLR go to 5150 and listen to all that unreleased material and put some of it out because there has got to be some diamonds hiding in that rough. VH has always given us hope for new material and thats the only way that Eddie can contributed to new material. Im sure he left behind some material that will satisfy even the die hards like me and others. We wont complain ', we'll just be thankful . Take care all
Jump, introduced me to Van Halen, then I heard Panama.....holy crap. I was 13 and was like I need more of this guitar in my life and immediately started searching out previous albums. This lead to me eventually picking up the guitar myself in 1989 which led to 32 years of a love and expression that got me through my toughest times in life. Thank you Eddie Van Halen for giving me that gift, may God bless you and rest easy. You changed my life for the better.
I'm currently 51, so my high school years were from '83-'87. You are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT...THIS MUSIC IS THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES!!! I agree, 1984, the year, not the album, was the GREATEST YEAR IN MUSIC HISTORY!!! So many hits, that are still played today on classic rock radio, almost 40 years later, and unforgettable bands. THIS CHANNEL IS THE BEST THING ON RUclips!!! KEEP IT UP, PROFESSOR!!!!
Did you finish high school? Your comment says no you didn't.
My favorite track off of 1984 has always been I'll Wait. I will always associate it with a girl I had a crush on in high school.
SAME!!!!!!!!
For me.
Nr 1Jump
Nr 2 I'll Wait.
In the year 1984, I did not play guitar or bass guitar yet: I played piano + percussion then. Although I was a kid, I could play the VH keyboard parts. I still can today! 😎
@@SonnyGTA Wss
Man!! i drove my parents crazy playing it on my keyboards!!
same here ! 84 was awesome.
RIP Eddie Van Halen he is by far the best guitarist of all time in my opinion
yea rip eddie
Same, I think the tone he had on Van Halen I is the best tone anyone’s ever gotten on a guitar. Absolutely groundbreaking. No ones ever gotten close but many have tried to copy eddies amazing tone and tapping techniques. I also think his rhythm guitar was super underrated. Everyone boasts his leads which is obviously groundbreaking but my god his rhythm was impeccable
@@Junkiescum Couldn’t be said any better
Eddie is definitely in my Top 5. The one thing I believe he is superior at, above practically anyone else, is he knew when to throttle down his playing of a song, and when to jam it to the floor, elsewhere. Whatever sound he wanted to create for a song, he absolutely had no problem producing.
It was because of Eddie that I took up guitar in the first place. Aside from his prowess on the instrument, he will always be special to me even if I ended up adopting a very different playing style from his.
My style ended up being a hybrid of Hendrix, Clapton and Zappa - with some rhythm guitar tricks I stole from Alex Lifeson.
Hi professor. Just noticed your shirt and it got me wondering - have you ever considered doing a series about album cover art? Your style would definitely bring these iconic images to life. Most people might enjoy knowing the background and inspiration that went into their favorite album covers. Thanks. I love your channel.
Saw Van Halen for the very first time on the 1984 tour, never missed another. RIP King Edward!🎸
I saw that tour's show in Philadelphia. David put so much in the performance that he was carried off the stage. Plus, I never saw, either before or after, such an unending stream of bras hitting the stage.
17 years old when 1984 was released.. Great album from the best of times...
I was 17 as well. Kickass year for kickass rock.
@@kenmecone8010 I'll make it a trifecta as I was 17 as well. Agree with the rest of your statement.
ditto, 17 in 1984.
I had just turned 18 a month earlier.
Same. VH fan prior to so this wasn't an introduction. However, I didn't know there was a real top Jimmy, so I learned something new after all these years. OH JIMMY! 😁
I was working in the music industry during that time - and I got to meet David & Eddie in a professional setting. I was always meeting big stars at that time.
> It’s only recently- looking back - that I can fully appreciate these experiences that - at the time, I took for granted.
> I underestimated David as an “ air head “ David is actually a very deep person ..
> All I can say, is that I was not able to read people back then.
I was burnt at the time.
> I met Eddie & David on New Years Eve.
They were scheduled to host a party at MTV studio. I was invited. I had to decline bc I was over extended.
Great band, great music,
sad about Eddie . 🎸🎤🎧
> PS : At the time “ Jump” came out, I always felt that the message was very powerful & upbeat - and that the “ jump” was referring to - going out on a limb - and taking a chance to do something, make a big change in life direction, etc.
I never took it as a dark message to harm myself. 🚨
✅Great history o/t Van Halen band.
Thats awesome! no internet back then so we didn't get to see wnat people in bands were like. Now some get on RUclips and you can really get to know them. Do you have any pictures from those meetings?
Dave is no air head as you know now .when you hear him talk after awhile you realize how smart he really is .Thanks
The verse lyrics to jump make NO SENSE. How did you deduce those meanings?
In 1984 I was 10 yrs old, I was a kid into pop radio. I loved Prince and Madonna. When an older friend played 1984 for me, I instantly asked my Mom to get it for me. This is the album that sold me on rock n roll, and led me down the road to become the metalhead that I am today. This is EASILY in my top 5 albums of all time. (Coincidentally, Prince's Purple Rain is also in my top 5...what a great year for music!) Every track on 1984 is a killer. I especially love the deep cuts like Drop Dead Legs, Girl Gone Bad and House Of Pain.
I've always said 1984 was the greatest year in music...I was a Sophomore at Edison High in Huntington Beach California and had the most euphoric soundtrack to my life! From Wham to Culture Club and Big Country to Duran Duran... Glad you love 1984 too!!
My memory is of Roth doing multiple interviews and charming the masses, we discovered that he was and is intelligent, of course three videos in heavy MTV rotation helped
ABSOLUTELY!!!
Dude I have to admit I cannot get enough VH stories. You/or guests are telling some great ones. Thanx for what you do.
Legendary album, legendary year. Glad to have lived it back then. VH exuded party spirit from every pore.
Yep...Makes an old man long for younger days.
When you mentioned playing the record over and over...... yes!!!!! That record was just the best!!!!! I immediately went out and bought all of their albums after that. I could not get enough of Van Halen a teenager... it felt like I lost a good friend I knew .... when we lost Eddie Van Halen.... getting choked up...🙏🏻🤟🏻
I remember distinctly riding my bike with a small boom box bungee-corded to the handlebars blasting “Panama” as loud as it would go. It’s hard to imagine a greater feeling of freedom and happiness than that.
Would that we could go back to those days.
Find a worm hole is my only suggestion! I'd go back for a week for sure - if not a couple of years, LOL.
Girl gone bad. The best and tightest intro ever, also the most overlooked song in VH catalog. #1 on my list
Yeah, I love that song!
Girl Gone Bad is probably the most criminally underrated VH song ever
I remember during my first year of college I was playing 1984 and hanging out with one of my dorm mates. As "Girl Gone Bad" was playing, he commented, "This kinda sounds like Rush." At this point Rush had not yet displaced VH as my favorite band, but in retrospect I think he was onto something.
And speaking of that year, the guy in the next room over from me in the dorm had the exact same poster of Eddie hanging on his wall that I had on mine. I was fresh out of high school; he was 22 and had transferred from a junior college. We became friends almost immediately, not only because of that but because we were both majoring in mechanical engineering. Lost touch with him after I dropped out of that school.
Not underrated with me - love that riff!
That has ALWAYS been my favorite track since the album was first released!
And we’ll as house of pain.
I recently added GGB to my regular rotation after a long, long time, after revisiting many of the albums and realizing "Damn, this song just rocks like a MF..."
Did that same thing with Judgement Day... not a hit but hits hard.
I graduated high school in 1984 and completely agree that was an amazing year for music.
1983 to 1985. There was a blip of greatness again in the mid-90s but that was quickly stamped out.
This was my senior year! There was Van Halen, the Cars and Prince. They blew me away.
DITTO...but add Bruce Springsteen and the E street band
@@DRUMTOY2002 how could I forget him?
1984 ...both the VH album...and the year 1984 in music , did change EVERYTHING ! It was Mtv that got us to listen and expand our musical likes and learning. It was a smorgasbord pig-out banquet for young impressionable music lovers. Add some of music's greatest artists at their creative peak ---and you have a legendary 'stars aligned ' moment in history .
Many things can be described as science even guitar/instrument sound and even vocals, only for Van Halen, it went beyond science of sound.... IT WAS MAGIC! Once in your lifetime, maybe! The Magic of VH, and that Era will forever be, thanks to Our Professor and Archivist and You and Me! God bless all.
VH was 1984. I was a freshman in high school. Suddenly bandanas were everywhere, and worn on heads, arms, and legs. It was the total party, and that album was the sound track.
I was born in 1966, and graduated high school in ‘84.....two great years in music! The thing about ‘84 is a station could play a current hit by Van Halen, followed by Wham!.....but people like me enjoyed it all.
I also graduated high school in 1984 and this album was the soundtrack to one of the funnest times of my life! Absolutely love this album and think Van Halen was the greatest American rock band ever! Thanks to Van Halen, and especially, EVH, for the stellar music that I’ve listened to for the last 43 years of my life!
We had a melding of genres into an almost singular american music and cultural scene that will probably never happen again.
Same here. 1984 was my senior year and the music of our time cannot be matched!! Of course, VH is at the top of the list.
Another 84 graduate here! Definitely a great year in music!
1 year older then you and I agree 100% with you
There are not enough superlatives to describe the awesomeness of this album
The 1st side of 1984 and the 1st side of Rush’s Moving Pictures are my favorite album sides of all time. Panama is one of the best rock songs of all time from any era. Hot for Teacher is the best boogie of all time. The Professor of Rock is the best RUclips channel of all time.
The entire album brought so much joy to my life. "JUMP" got me up every morning.
Thanks to the Professor here for keeping music alive from a meaning-filled decade that had deep feeling, and entertainment had real heart and soul, as exemplified by this masterpiece album.
Can't get enoughof this and can't get this stuff no more! RIP EVH!
When my dad used to pick me up on weekends the hour plus drive always was accompanied by some new cassette he got. Pat Benatar, Bryan Adams, and Van Halen’s 1984 were some of the highlights.
I was in grade 8 when 1984 rolled out and i remember it well. So many of the albums of that year are iconic. Ah nostalgia.
I’m in 8th grade, summer of 1984 in Mrs Govoni’s class with 3 class friends sitting at the same table. Steve Broom sitting across the table had a Walkman radio/cassette with head phones, I asked him what he was listening to he told me VH Jump from 1984. He gave me the head phones to listen to it and I was hooked to VH ever since that day. I’m in my 50’s and I remember like it was last week. Never forget.
One of my favorite songs off of that album is I’ll Wait. The guitar solo just proves that Eddie didn’t need all of his pyrotechnics for a solo to be good. He knew when to dial things back a bit and play what was right for the song. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still all EVH!
That song rocks, and I don't quite know what it is about it. Something about the way that synth riff works together with the awesome drums. I keep listening to it endlessly, much more than any other song on that album, even though I've listened to the whole album countless times also.
@@bigtechisbigbrother8690 I wholly agree. I adore that song, above and beyond any other VH song, and I can't even come close to explaining, even to myself, exactly why. Me Wise Magic is a close second, and for a very similar reason, that I can never put into words, even internally.
@@bigtechisbigbrother8690 Underrated. 🙄
@@evilcam I’m like that with Me Wise Magic, too. I think it’s because of the 12 years between songs with DLR.
EVH's solo is just such a _MOOD_ in that song, which is already moody to begin with. My fave is Drop Dead Legs, though. That ending solo...
Love that you included Steve S in this episode. With Steve being one of the best understated and underrated 🎸 out there.
Not one weak track. Hot For Teacher is underrated i believe because of the cheeky music video, which I did love as I was a tween at the time of course. Listen to that song without the video. Each member is just out of this world on that song.
Thanks for doing this short doc,I was 13 when this album came out. I didn't like JUMP very much but couldn't get enough of DROP DEAD LEGS and I'LL WAIT. Just a great album, thanks again P O R... and VH
1984 has aged well like a fine wine. The self titled 1st track still sounds futuristic and showed that VH didnt rest on their laurels and all 4 members were at the top of their game. It was no surprise they were the best paid act at that time.
Bought this album when it came out in 1984, such a great album, nearly wore out the vinyl and needle on the old record player
Same here.
I love 1984! Not only because it was an awesome Album by Van Halen, but it was an awesome year in general.
I born in 77 & jump is the 1st song I can ever remember hearing from VH!🤘
Dweezil Zappa had a great EVH story. He was in Jr High and doing a show and tell so he was going to play the guitar. But apparently there was a problem with the guitar or the sound system, Frank was out of town. They contacted Eddie who loaned Dweezil a guitar and came down and set it up. Imagine being in Jr High and having Eddie Van Halen as a roadie?
priceless!!
You never mistake Dweezil for top inovators of our time but i dont think i ever heard anyone , any guitarist clone Eddie sound as well as Dweezil
Its incredible !
I was 10 years old. Bladerunner and 1984 were pivotal for me. And Dune.
Me too
*Blade Runner was 1982 though.
For my money, the trio of Drop Dead Legs, Hot For Teacher, followed by I'll Wait is the best isolated section of any VH record. IF IHAD TO PLAY 3 SONGS TO A NON-VH BELIEVER, IT WOULD BE THESE 3. I know most people will say the first 3 track of VH 1. And there are others, for SURE.... BUT...
These 3 tunes capture the entire VH spectrum: The wild, wacky, IMPERFECT, hooky, and frankly un-coverable Drop D DDL, The one take, huge texas shuffle, zztop on steroids, baddassery of HFT that settled the debate forever, and finally the straight up epic keyboard driven pop tune with a synth bass groove and hook that are simply unmatched. Ear worms made of dynamite. Turn up I'll Wait extremely loud through a great system. That my friends is no sleepy 80's pop tune. That's an ass kicker from way back that gets better as it gets louder. LIKE WE USED TO DO!!
Thanks Professor for all the great work you do!
Maybe but top Jimmy is hands down the best song on the album
@@jonathanlund6708 Now that's a spicy pick.
my 3 would be unchained, push comes to shove, & so this is love
That's a poll I haven't seen yet.
"Best isolated section of {enter band name}'s album, {enter album name}
I imagine the feedback would be interesting.
None of those tracks are as good as any of the songs off the first album
EVH pulling off such a heavy synth track at this point is a greater feat than anything Houdini ever did.
Eddie was playing piano at a young age. First time I heard Eruption, it reminded me of some fast key work on a piano. Didn’t know he was playing piano at a young age until he passed. Also, EVH could not read music.
My favorite song off this album was I’ll Wait!! SUCH A GREAT SONG!!!
True, true.
Play "Panama" at a crowded basement or backyard party!
Eddie's impact on my life is beyond description. I didn't get into rock n roll music until I was in high school. Kiss was my 1st favorite rock back then I heard about Van Halen from a friend and I never looked back. I didn't start playing guitar until I got out of high school. I went to every Van Halen show I could go to. Later in life I fell into some dark times with my health and Eddie's music got me through it. I would spend hours listening to and watching everything about Eddie I could get my hands on. I do miss him so much. People say he was one of the greatest guitarist...not true, he was the GREATEST guitarist ever. PERIOD.
3:05 Eddie was experimenting with electronic instruments long before his 5150 Studios construction phase. Just look to the distorted Wurlitzer in ‘And The Cradle Will Rock’ (1980) or the Moog Minimoog in ‘Dancing In The Street’ (1982) for examples.
I was thinking about the intro to Dancing in the Streets also. He was an all around innovator, let’s just be clear. Not just on the guitar ❤️🔥🤘
The 5150 studio gave him the freedom to what he wanted instead of having others tell him no. Weren't they wrong.
I graduated from high school in 1984 and Jump and Panama are still, to this day, two of my all time favorite songs. Love it!
Superb job, Professor of Rock. Love these stories and man, do I miss Eddie van Halen. Favourite tracks on 1984: Panama, Hot For Teacher, Girl Gone Bad.
Had to play this album everyday fir my 3 1/2 yr old son my 10 month old daughter learned to walk by us all dancing to this album. My son who’s now in his 40’s remembers that this was his 1st real love! We lived in Ft. Walton Beach Fl. and Wave Side beach on Ocaloosa Island was the place to be...especially with children! Such a great time to live in and gave my children a Love of Music that’s stilled instilled today! Great music is a life saver in more ways than one... IT HAS HEALING POWERS IF YOU SURRENDER and JUST ENJOY!
Love you piece of history of Van Halen! Thank You!☝️❤️
Panama & the song about club legend Top Jimmy are my favorites on this awesome album.
Cruising around with my mates in rural Australia, this album was always pumping out in our car stereos, singing at the top of our lungs.
Love these album breakdowns!! Great job Professor!
Glad you like them!
Van Halen is my favorite band of all time, the last time I cried? When Eddie pass away. I grew up listen to them, I was proud to be called Jimmy Van Halen in high school
I loved watching 1984 on MTV. 1984 was a great summer for me.
I remember when 1984 was released. A truly great record, IMO.
Drop Dead Legs never recieves recognition. You are the first to bring attention to Eddie's beautifly played solo towards the end of this song. As a Van Halen Fan I was crushed when DLR left after this album. But in just 2 years Sammy showed up, & we got the Best Of Both Worlds!Looking forward to part 2 of 1984. Stay Well.
Drop Dead Legs is my favorite guitar track from that one.
I fucking love Drop Dead Legs.
It’s direct n to the point, yet so out there.
It’s beautiful. 🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽
I had just gotten my new jam box for Christmas and by sheer luck it was the loudest one in the neighborhood (everyone had one then. It was imperative) 84 was the first new cassette in that thing and I made sure everyone in my town heard it regularly (daily)
I knew from the first time I heard 'Eruption' that Eddie was of incredible greatness. Being a musician myself at a younger age, and I could hear the difference between the 'picking' and 'noodling' and I literally said WOW when I heard it. I may not know of what hammer-on or any of that is, but Eddie changed the way we think of "what's possible" having to do with a musical instrument. He took "I wonder what would happen if I ..." and created the FrankenStrat, and yes created. The rest is history. He may be 8th as far as Overall guitarist of all time, but as far as a Guitar Innovator, and a Guitar Player, he is #1.
Awesome video! Somehow I owned a copy of Van Halen 1984 on vinyl when I was in grade school. I listened to "Jump" over and over. Partly because it was the Chicago Cubs theme in that Era and also because it just simply made me feel good inside. As a child I didn't appreciate it for the musicianship but for the joy it gave me.
After Eddie passed, Ben Eller put out a glorious tribute video breaking down why Eddie was the greatest. One of the reasons was for his songwriting. There were many other guitar virtuoso bands out there, but there crowds were mostly male guitar player fans. Eddie wrote catchy pop songs that could hook anyone... male, female, young, old... it didn't matter. They played to packed arenas with very diverse crowds.
Eddie's death has been the hardest celebrity death for me. He played with joy... always. There was almost always a smile on his face.
He is missed...
Side note - I believe the only bigger 1-2 punch combo would possibly be "We Will Rock You" into "We Are The Champions" of Queen's News of the World. .
Hell's Bells and Shoot to Thrill from AC/DC's "Back in Black"..is another legendary 1,2 punch .
@Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. that's Brian Johnson first AC/DC album. Bon Scott's last album was Highway to Hell
1984 awoke all my senses as a 12 year old kid. I still remember playing football in my cousins front yard when he played that record. We stopped playing football and walked over to the window where this music was coming from and I couldn’t get enough. Jump and Panama blew me away.
The lyrics to Jump may have been initially inspired by a man on a ledge, but the song's lyric was an encouraging anthem to all young people to seize the day on something good---take a chance--JUMP at that chance. Kudos to Dave for not wasting Eddie's genius composition, and wrote an excellent lyric to it.
I’ve read a lot of these comments and I have to say it makes my heart feel good THIS BAND WAS ALL I HAD BACK IN 1978 . RIP MR. HALEN ! I sure do miss you.
So many hidden innuendo in this video. Well played sir.
"Hot For Teacher", "Panama", and "Jump" were all amazing songs, and I never got tired of hearing them on the radio, and would crank it any time I heard them.
But "I'll Wait" almost never got played, in my area,and when I bought 1984 on tape, I kinda felt like it was my own, private Van Halen hit discovery.
Every band has a song that when you listen to it, you have no connection to it. You don't understand what made them record it, or the motivation behind it. But I loved every song on 1984, and I couldn't understand why "I'll Wait" wasn't getting air time.
I wore out my 1984 tape, walking to and from school, as a kid.
1984 is undeniably a year of music excellence. It might even be the crescendo in American music history.
And movies!
Agreed. 84 was the apex imho. The mountain top. Some brilliance was produced on the way down, but creativity was never the same. Especially in the modern era.
@@BigBass-xf5yi maybe
So on point with every observations. So true. 1984 was an iconic year and Van Halen’s 1984 was, is, and forever will always be an epic album.
Every...single...song...pure VH badassery!
I remember walking to the music store in January when it came out. I was 13 and used my paper route money to buy it. I put the cassette into my Walkman and stepped out into the cold winter wind. Thats when I heard the intro of 1984. The synth swirled between my ears while the icy breeze blew against my face and it was like magic. This is one of the few albums that gave me such a vivid experience!
How the fuck could you not like this?! Van Halen 1984 is by far the best album that they ever did and no COVER TUNES!!! All the songs on that record were great and deserve the accolades awarded to them for it. 1984 was a watershed album. I remember Eddie saying that he would sneak down to the studio at 4:00 (Pacific Time) and would record. This is how a lot of 1984 came around. He said "I love dicking around with keyboards" he was always in love with weird noises. This is why he would do the high pitched harmonics and squeals along with scraping his pick against the tremolo springs in the back of his Kramer Baretta. Keyboards were simply a way for him to extend his chops he was quoted as saying in Guitar Player Magazine. What an amazing talent and human being. I too can't believe that he's gone and now that part of my life died with him and a huge piece of my sould with it. I remember that Jump was everywhere and no commercial that I remember was without this song or a lame parody of it on T.V. and in movies. What a brave soul that he was to not be afraid to play the keyboards in their studio songs. One of my earliest memories was that David Lee Roth once sneered - "Nobody wants to hear you play keyboards man!" How wrong he was....... Thank you Adam for this - you are a legend in the music industry now and forever.
I remember my high school setting up large speakers outside during lunch and blasting the song Jump back in 84.
Believe it or not, the first time I listened to 1984 was after Ed’s passing. I saw so many tributes to him on social media that I was curious and started listening to VH’s albums. Of course I knew the classics (Jump!, Panama etc) but oh boy... I can’t believe I lived all these years not knowing I’ll wait, Girl gone bad, or the debut album! Look what I was missing out!! I absolutely feel in love with Ed and the band, they are just amazing. Thank you, Professor of Rock for bringing such fascinating stories and in-depth in information about one of the greatest bands in the world!!
VH1 through 1984 are all my favorite song. All of them! Miss you Edward!
A classic album!
I remember that this is the first cassette tape my brother every bought. We listened to it all the time. Just to listen to it now brings me back 30+ years to sitting in our basement rec room and playing an atari or Apple IIe or hanging around outside on our BMX bikes.
RIP Ed. Forever missed
Diver Down was my first VH album, LOVED IT! And still do :)
One thing people forget, by 1983, EVH as a musician was getting board with guitar. People talk how the Sammy era wasn't real van halen, but the split with Dave was inevitable because both he and Eddie were going different ways musically.
It also had a lot to do with cocaine and alcohol unfortunately.
@@soggypaws4944 There was a lot of that (it was the 80's, after all, "the decade of excess"), but he's right. Eddie had moved past being the fastest guitar on the block, and wanted to grow musically. Dave wanted to "stick to the formula". As much as fans would have liked them to stay together, the split was inevitable, as Eddie didn't want to remake the first four albums over and over again.
By far my favorite album of the entire 80s....love every song!!! Simply the best...RIP EDDIE
Girl Gone Bad is probably my favorite VH song
Same here, best build up song intro since Heart's Barracuda. The musicianship to me is just amazing.
@@timmmahhhh GGB typically in my Top 3 VH songs always. brutal start to finish
Listening to that LP for the first time and hearing those songs back then at the age of 11 was like jumping into a time machine and Instantaneously , realizing this was a sound from another time!!! Couldn’t stop playing them. Revisiting the music now on You tube and hearing the stories associated with them is like going back in that same time machine. Wow 🤩.......RIP EVH
Yup, 1984 was far and away the best year in music. You could turn on the radio and listen for hours and not hear a bad song.
@Greg's Retro Channel 2 1987 was when it died.
@Greg's Retro Channel 2 Billboard charts. Rock died in 1987
1984 is one of the only albums I can listen to back to back and love every song. Absolutely legendary album
You can tell from your voice that you're still not 100%. I hope you get all the way better, bro. Don't push yourself too hard.
Eddie Van Halen the most gifted muscician EVER¡¡ an innovator a genuis¡¡ Van Halen as a band revolutionized everything Forever¡¡ Thank You Professor of Rock¡ Congrats from Colombia