10 Hard Rock Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
3. Van Halen - Van Halen
At the end of the '70s, rock and roll was starting to look like a much scarier place to be. As metal started to find its legs and most of the party bands of the time were falling apart due to drug abuse, fans were seeing a lot more casualties than they were hits. Even though most bands couldn't get arrested at this time, Van Halen exploded onto the scene with their debut.
In lieu of the typical hard-edged metal you would hear in the underground, these songs had the perfect amount of grit and hookiness to get played on the radio. While you might not be able to get something like Rainbow or Black Sabbath on the mainstream charts, songs like Runnin with the Devil became staples in the rock scene, with riffs that didn't have to sacrifice any of their heaviness to get the listeners to pay attention.
Along with giving us one of the greatest frontmen in David Lee Roth, the arrival of Eddie Van Halen on the rock scene marked a turning point in rock guitar playing, as his tapping technique became the blueprint for every hair band going forward. Punk may have initially broke through the layers of pretentiousness in rock, but this was the wake up call we needed to enjoy rock and roll again.