1984

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1984
Studio album by Van Halen
Released	January 9, 1984
Recorded	1983 at 5150 Studios, Hollywood, California
Genre	Hard rock
Length	33:08
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Ted Templeman
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (B+) link Rolling Stone link
Van Halen chronology
Diver Down (1982) 1984 (1984) 5150 (1986)

1984 (written as MCMLXXXIV on the front cover) is the sixth album by American hard rock band Van Halen. One of the band's more popular albums (in terms of both record sales and chart performance), 1984 is the final album (to date) featuring singer David Lee Roth, who later left the band in the spring of the following year because of escalating tensions between him and guitarist Eddie Van Halen, as well as Roth's desire to pursue a solo career.

Background and recording

Eddie Van Halen, well-known for his guitar prowess but also a classically-trained pianist, used 1984 as an opportunity to take the band into different territory. Additionally, 1984 was the first Van Halen album to be recorded at Eddie Van Halen's home studio, 5150. Eddie Van Halen's keyboard playing is more prominent on 1984 than on any prior Van Halen album, particularly on the songs "Jump," "I'll Wait" and instrumental album-opener "1984."

The title track "1984", a short synth and effects instrumental (the effects had been used as part of Michael Anthony's live bass solo on the Diver Down tour); "Girl Gone Bad", parts of which previously had been played during the same tour during performances of "Somebody Get Me A Doctor" (most famously at the US Festival show); the hard rock "Drop Dead Legs", and "Top Jimmy", a tribute to James Paul Koncek of the band Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs. The album concludes with "House of Pain", a fast paced heavy song that dates back to the band's early club days of the mid '70s.

The engine noise heard during "Panama" was from Eddie revving up his Lamborghini. Microphones were used near the tailpipes.

During an interview for the King Biscuit radio show in 1985, Eddie claimed to have written, "Girl Gone Bad" in a hotel room that he and Valerie had rented. Valerie was asleep, and Eddie woke up during the night with an idea, he had to put on tape. Eddie grabbed a small cassette recorder and recorded himself playing guitar while in the closet. He didn't want to wake Valerie.

Eddie also claims to have written the arrangement for Jump years before the album was recorded. Roth said he came up with the lyric because it was leap year, and because he saw a man on television wanting to commit suicide by jumping off a building.

A slightly different version of, "House of Pain" had been recorded by the band years prior to the 1984 album being released. The song was demoed when the band recorded material for Gene Simmons.

Songwriting credits

The album's original release credits all songs to Edward Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth.^{[citation needed]} The label on the UK single release for "I'll Wait" (cat. # W9213) credited Michael McDonald as a co-writer, but he was not credited on the US version of the single (cat. # 7-29307).^{[citation needed]}

Songs from this album which appeared on compilations released after a royalty renegotiation with the band's label Warner Brothers (Best of Van Halen, Volume 1, 1996) and a lawsuit brought by David Lee Roth (during the preparations for the Best of Both Worlds compilation, 2004)^{[citation needed]}, were credited to Edward Van Halen, Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth, with Michael Anthony's name removed from the credits, as evident in the end song credits of the 2007 film Superbad. Subsequently, Anthony has been removed from all songwriting credits on the 1984 album.

The entry for the album on the ASCAP database (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) lists the songwriters for all songs as (alphabetically by surname) Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen and Edward Van Halen.^[1] The ASCAP entry for "I'll Wait" lists Michael McDonald as co-writer. Like many bands starting out on their career, Van Halen shared songwriting credit equally between all members (including guitar instrumentals, which were clearly composed only by Edward Van Halen), but subsequent claims would lend credibility to the view that all songs were entirely or predominantly written by Edward Van Halen (music) and David Lee Roth (lyrics and vocal melody).

In 2004, Roth discovered that the rest of the band had renegotiated a more preferential royalty rate with Warner Brothers for all releases made during his time as lead singer, giving them a royalty rate five times greater than his.^[2] It is likely that the removal of Michael Anthony from the songwriting credits results from Roth's claim to have a greater claim of the band's song publishing for this album, due to the fact that he had been cut out of the separate royalty renegotiation with Warner Brothers Records, which according to Roth happened around 1994.

Release and reception

1984 peaked at #2 on the Billboard Magazine album charts (#1 at the time was Thriller, which featured an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo on "Beat It," which Roth had criticized^[3]) and contained future hits "Jump", "Panama", "I'll Wait", and "Hot for Teacher". "Jump" reached #1 on the magazine's singles chart. 1984 is the second of two Van Halen albums to have sold 10 million copies in the United States.

"Jump" was one of the most successful songs of 1984 and was on the 10 most played songs on the radio that year^{[citation needed]}. As a single, it sold over three million copies alone, making it one of the most popular rock songs of that decade. "Panama" was the third single from the album and reached number 13 on the singles chart in June. The keyboard-driven "I'll Wait" was another single, reaching number 13 on the singles chart in March 1984. "Hot for Teacher", a humorous song about a grade-school crush, was also a hit, reaching #56 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as spawning a popular MTV video starring pre-teen lookalikes of the band members. It's also featured on the game Guitar Hero: World Tour.

Some retail stores in the UK refused to stock the album due to the album's artwork being a cherub smoking.^{[citation needed]} A sticker was placed over the artwork.

Track listing

1. "1984" – 1:07
2. "Jump" – 4:04
3. "Panama" – 3:32
4. "Top Jimmy" – 3:00
5. "Drop Dead Legs" – 4:14
6. "Hot for Teacher" – 4:44
7. "I'll Wait" – 4:45
8. "Girl Gone Bad" – 4:35
9. "House of Pain" – 3:19

Personnel

• David Lee Roth – lead vocals
• Eddie Van Halen – guitars, keyboards, background vocals
• Michael Anthony – bass, background vocals
• Alex Van Halen – drums, percussion

Production

• Producer: Ted Templeman
• Engineers: Ken Deane, Donn Landee
• Remastering: Chris Bellman, Gregg Geller
• Project coordinator: Jo Motta
• Production coordination: Joan Parker
• Art direction: Pete Angelus, Richard Seireeni
• Lighting: Pete Angelus

Charts

Album

Singles

Certifications

The album has received the following RIAA certifications:

• Gold: March 12, 1984
• Platinum: March 12, 1984
• Multi-Platinum:
  • October 22, 1984 (4x)
  • January 23, 1985 (5x)
  • July 1, 1987 (6x)
  • July 11, 1994 (7x)
  • August 8, 1996 (8x)
• Diamond: February 8, 1999

References