10 Rock Bands That Almost Killed Each Other In The Studio

When you're talking to any rock fan about Van Halen, chances are they'll bring up either Eddie himself or David Lee Roth. Throughout their '80s run, both Roth and Van Halen were able to act as virtual co-frontmen of the group, with Roth being the mascot/party animal and Eddie being the mad scientist wowing crowds with his guitar tapping. However, when you've been playing the same riffs over and over, you're bound to want to branch out a little more.

Even though the formula put forth on albums like Van Halen I and Women and Children First were pretty much air-tight, Eddie's accentuations with the keyboards started to really creep in on 1984. Despite Roth wanting the uncut rock and roll of previous outings, this is where Eddie put his foot down and insisted to have keyboards as the dominant instrument on tracks like Jump.

Given the chances for this to be considered a sellout, this ignited the fire all over again for Van Halen, with keyboard cuts like I'll Wait being balanced perfectly with riff-heavy tracks like Panama and Hot For Teacher. Then again, the turmoil did boil over once VH went on tour, with Roth quitting and moving onto his solo career shortly afterward. The internal tensions might not have been able to keep these hard rock giants together, but if you have to go out with a bang, you can't really do much better than this.