10 Perfect 1980s Rock Albums With No Bad Songs
9. Women And Children First - Van Halen
When Van Halen were first getting started, there was always a question surrounding what genre they fit into. As much as they could tear the roof off the place with their layers of guitar sounds, the tone of songs like Dance the Night Away stopped them from being a hard rock band most of the time. Once they knuckled down though, we weren't prepared for what they had in store for Women and Children First.
Arriving right as the '80s were getting underway, this was the heaviest thing we could have expected out of the David Lee Roth version of the band. From the opening piano licks of And the Cradle Will Rock, this is a darker look at what you were used to. And it just keeps coming, from the borderline punk sound of Loss of Control to the strange vibe of Romeo Delight, which sounds like you walked down the wrong alley on the streets of LA.
Even the throwaway songs on here are absolutely fantastic, with Eddie breaking out the acoustics for the bluesy romp Could This Be Magic and having the filler riff in Tora Tora sounding like it could have come off a Black Sabbath record a few years prior. While Van Halen always had a party vibe in their music, this is when the party starts to get a little more sleazy than you bargained for.