10 Albums That Changed Rock Music Forever

10. Van Halen - Van Halen

Towards the end of the '70s, the second golden age of rock and roll seemed to be winding down a little bit. It may have started with amazing acts like Led Zeppelin, but the new influx of prog rock bands left a lot of the straightforward rock and rollers confused, looking for something simple to bang their head to instead of these long expanding solos. Around the same time that new wave was starting to enter the conversation though, there was a little band making some noise in California that were about to set the world on fire.

Long before hair metal was an idea in the minds of rock fans, Van Halen set the template for what the Sunset Strip sound was going to be in 1978, with Eddie Van Halen becoming everyone's new favorite guitar hero pretty much overnight. Armed with songs that they had to fill out their live set most of the time, there was a certain magic captured on this record, with David Lee Roth bringing mountains of charisma to the table, fronting songs that had traces of metal, rock and roll, and a little bit of Southern boogie mixed in for good measure.

Although the production for this record was a bit slapdash, what ended up on the record was the beginnings of a new genre of music, all while teaching the concerned parents of America an important lesson about the harsher side of rock. Metal might be a little bit scary here and there, but if you put it in the right context, it could be a hell of a god time too, and Van Halen's debut is practically the heavy metal party record.