10 Overrated Rock Albums Of The 80s
9. Van Halen - 1984
The enduring charm of Van Halen over many of their hair metal brethren was that they always seemed to be in on the joke. There was a playful silliness to the band, which excused and justified many of their indulgences, making the outre guitar stylings of Eddie a circus act as much as musical expression.
On 1984, the band made the baffling decision to blunt that potent weapon, adding a big brash synthesizer which immediately dated the music terribly. In a sense, it worked - “Jump” was by far the band’s biggest hit - but the music sounds cheesy instead of cheeky, simplistic and even childish rather than the roaring output of a prodigious guitar talent.
“Hot For Teacher” is far better, but for every fretboard shredding workout there’s a dull spot like “I’ll Wait”, or the crunching but uninspired “Panama”. It’s not difficult to see why this became the group’s most acclaimed work. It’s accessible, bright, and fun, but it often strips away Van Halen’s USP, and the more synth they layer on, the less interesting the tracks become.