Van Halen - Van Halen

Among revolutionary rock albums, Van Halen's debut often gets short shrift. Although it altered perceptions of what the guitar could do, it is not spoken of in the same reverential tones as Hendrix's Are You Experienced? and although it set the template for how rock sounded for the next decade or more, it isn't seen as an epochal generational shift, like Led Zeppelin, The Ramones, The Rolling Stones. But make no mistake, Van Halen is as monumental, as seismic as those records, but part of the reason it's never given the same due is that there's no pretension, nothing self-conscious about it.

Sheer visceral force is one thing, but originality is another, and the still-amazing thing about Van Halen is how it sounds like it has no fathers. Plenty other bands followed this template in the '80s, but like all great originals Van Halen doesn't seem to belong to the past and it still sounds like little else, despite generations of copycats. 

The album went on to sell 10M copies in the US alone driven by the hit singles "You Really Got Me", "Runnin' With The Devil" and "Ain't Talkin' About Love".

Heavyweight audiophile vinyl pressed by Warner Records. Remastered from the original analog tapes. Lacquers cut Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering.