10 Perfect Albums That Will Make You Love Metal

In the beginning of metal music, this was not meant to be a fun genre by any stretch. Part of the reason why the genre got such a raw deal in the early days was because of what it's perception was to most people: scary people singing about scary things. Metal was about more than just the darkness within you though, and it took one band out of California to turn the entire scene into the biggest party imaginable.

Though hard rock might be a better definition for what Van Halen would do later down the road, their first step up to the plate gave us the best of both worlds, combining the bluesy styles you came to expect in rock and roll with the breakneck intensity and virtuosic playing of metal music. Before acts like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest started to make names for themselves, Eddie Van Halen became everyone's favorite guitar hero overnight with his tapping skills, along with David Lee Roth being the trademark frontman that everyone tried to emulate from the minute that he stepped onstage.

While it's understandable for pop fans to not get into a genre that feels this abrasive, playing this record for them is the moment where everything clicks and they see what the genre really has to offer. And it didn't take the rest of the world long to take notice, as the entire hard rock scene shifted to California with bands that started projects of their own trying to match the intensity that these guys brought to the stage. Even with Van Halen continuing on for decades with and without Roth, this is the kind of lightning in a bottle energy that only comes to a band once every generation.