10 Perfect Metal Albums Everyone Tried To Copy

10. Van Halen - Van Halen

As much as rock was in its golden age in the '70s, it was also about to enter a pretty big slump towards the tail end of the decade. While bands like Led Zeppelin may have still been on top of the world before John Bonham's death, seeing prog rock being thrown into the mix got way too tired for its own good, with bands playing songs that became too long for their own good. There was a different stripe of metal on the horizon though, and Van Halen created the blueprint for what the Sunset Strip scene would look like.

Going through the band's self titled debut, you can hear the building blocks for what glam metal was going to become, from the flashy leads coming from Eddie's guitar work to David Lee Roth's unmatched sense of swagger, along with a healthy respect for Southern boogie put into the mix as well. While they were just intending to capture their live set, there's a certain magic that comes with this record, going from the party jams like Feel Your Love Tonight to some of the more harder leaning stuff like I'm the One or Atomic Punk.

This may have been a bit dangerous in the late '70s, but this sound really belonged in the decade that followed, as bands like Motley Crue and Quiet Riot rose to prominence with the same kind of crunchy singalong songs that Van Halen had become known for. There were bound to be a few more classics to come out of the woodwork, but for the genre at large, you're only going to make this kind of record once.