10 Perfect Albums That Changed Rock History
4. Van Halen - Van Halen
Around the same time that the punk movement was starting to have its big revival, there was still a market for the raw forms of rock and roll out in the wild. Deep Purple and Aerosmith were still big names at the time, and California was still considered one of the epicenters of the greatest rock and roll ever made. In the era of Bowie and T Rex though, we also got a good helping of rock and roll swagger from Van Halen on their debut.
The minute that you hit play on this vinyl album, the rules of the game had slowly started to change for anyone who wanted to pick up a guitar. In the first few minutes of Eruption, Eddie Van Halen fast tracked his way to being the go to guitar god, making rapid scale runs in no time by using his signature tapping technique across the fretboard.
Aside from the guitar god in their arsenal though, every one of these songs is enough to be one of the greatest in Van Halen's catalog, capturing the fun and the danger of West Hollywood all at the same time. And when we're talking about spectacle, you better believe David Lee Roth gave Eddie a run for his money with his magnetic charisma. Though you can't really call Van Halen a hair metal band in the truest sense, the entire Sunset Strip scene still lives in the shadow of this album.