80s Classic Albums (Featuring: King Crimson)

[Lolzeez]

never was a huge fan of him tbh

[hefdaddy42]

The reactions I often see to Prince's skills as a guitarist are interesting.

While I tend to not liking the terms underrated and overrated anymore...

I think he tends to be underrated by rock fans, who usually don't think of guitar players from non-rock bands or non-rock solo artists as being that great overall.

I think he tends to be overrated by non-rock fans, who give him extra credit for being as good a player as he is in a non-rock genre.

And I say that while not really knowing what genre to put him in.

His genre is "Prince."

[Calvin6s]

He's basically R&B/funk, but he has his own twist on it that really hasn't been properly imitated (or maybe I just haven't heard the Prince clones yet)

[KevShmev]

I think this has got to be one of the most recognizable album covers of not just the 80s, but all-time; you could take the words "Van Halen" off of the cover and most would still know what album it is.  The album is a classic for the music, too, obviously. "Jump" is insanely catchy, and was one of several monster 80s hits where the keyboard lead was the hook!  The other hits "Panama" and "I'll Wait" are totally awesome as well...turn on "Panama" at just about any bar and the entire place will scream "Panama!" every time the chorus hits.  "Hot for Teacher" has that classic drum intro, even if it ois overdubbed, and the video for this song was one of the best of the 80s; just hilariously entertaining, and I get the sense that once DLR went solo that he used this video as a template for doing his solo ones.  "Top Jimmy" is the clear standout of the lesser known songs, although the others are just fine.  Oh, and the title track, which kicks off the album as a keyboard-only intro to "Jump," is absolutely killer.  All in all, this is a damn fine record.

[bl5150]

Now we're talking     Although I'm a little sick of Jump and Panama just due to over exposure (but still adore the key/guitar solo and those pick slides towards the end of Jump) I pretty much love everything on it.   And the guitar leads on some of the deeper cuts (Girl Gone Bad , House of Pain , Top Jimmy) are some of Ed's most quirky and aggressive moments ever.

Van Halen I got the No 1 spot in my all time Top 50 and this wasn't too far behind in my deliberations.

I love the cover too and was wearing a 1984 shirt yesterday

[BlobVanDam]

Not my favourite VH album overall, but it has many of my favourite VH tracks, including Jump, Panama and HFT. Jump is a perfectly constructed pop rock song, and manages to rock based primarily on a synthesizer riff (which is fun to play). There's a lot of layering and complexity to those keyboard parts once you get to the pre-chorus.
Beyond the obvious tracks, you've got the heavy Drop Dead Legs that almost sounds like it could have come off Fair Warning, and Girl Gone Bad rocks like only VH can, with EVH at his finest.
I'll Wait is great too, but it feels like a transitional song to me, the kind of style that was more fitting to Hagar than Roth.
The only duds on the album are Top Jimmy and House of Pain, but the rest of the album easily makes up for it.

[El Barto]

Top Jimmy and GGB are really cool, but for the most part I consider 1984 the continuation of the slide they began with Diver Down. Not really because they're bad albums, but because they were huge drop-offs from the back to back masterpieces of WaCF/FW. After those I heard Jump and said "wow, what a bummer" and never paid much attention to VH again.

And in looking at the track listing for VH, I had forgotten that I'll Wait was even a thing. I seem to have completely blocked its existence from my mind.

[King Postwhore]

I'm with Barto.  DD and this album were pale in comparison to the first 5 albums.

[BlobVanDam]

DD is one of the first 5 albums.

DD and WACF are both duds, but all of the rest of the DLR albums are awesome, including 1984.

[jammindude]

Love this album....I *despise* Jump.  I'm sorry, but what a bunch of bubble gum obnoxiousness.    I like good pop.  ELO makes good pop, Jellyfish makes good pop...even "I'll Wait" is pretty decent pop.   But Jump just journeys too far into Britney Spears territory for my tastes. 

Drop Dead Legs is my favorite of the lesser known tracks.  Hot For Teacher is my favorite from the album.  Great song, and probably the second greatest video of all time.  (I'm still partial to the video for We're Not Gonna Take It for all time #1.  That speech at the beginning is pure gold.)

Drop the first track, and this album is right up there with the debut and Fair Warning.   

[jjrock88]

Love this album too!

I'll Wait is one of my favorite VH tunes

[Calvin6s]

Absolutely love Van Halen's 1984.  Never understood the keyboard hate.  Yes, he was carrying the torch for guitar heroes at the time, but he's a musician first.

Can definitely hear the transition into Van Hagar (which I thought was great as well).  Being a guitar nerd at the time, the idea of "Steve Vai" and "Billy Sheehan" teaming up with David Roth seemed like it was going to be the winner, but in the long run Van Hagar won out for me.  And it really pointed out which songs in the early catalog were more Roth and which were more Van Halen. 

Roth might have been a great front man, but the split made it obvious to me that he was more flash than substance.  Even his Becker collaboration "It's Showtime" is pretty bland.  I mean, how do you make Jason Becker and Steve Vai sound somewhat generic?  You put them in DLR's band.

But 1984 was and still is a masterpiece to me.  Even the "not as good songs" are still great.

[Big Hath]

a tremendous album. 

Regarding "I'll Wait" . . . it was written by Van Halen in collaboration with . . .  wait for it . . . Michael McDonald!

[jammindude]

Absolutely love Van Halen's 1984.  Never understood the keyboard hate.  Yes, he was carrying the torch for guitar heroes at the time, but he's a musician first.

Can definitely hear the transition into Van Hagar (which I thought was great as well).  Being a guitar nerd at the time, the idea of "Steve Vai" and "Billy Sheehan" teaming up with David Roth seemed like it was going to be the winner, but in the long run Van Hagar won out for me.  And it really pointed out which songs in the early catalog were more Roth and which were more Van Halen. 

Roth might have been a great front man, but the split made it obvious to me that he was more flash than substance.  Even his Becker collaboration "It's Showtime" is pretty bland.  I mean, how do you make Jason Becker and Steve Vai sound somewhat generic?  You put them in DLR's band.

But 1984 was and still is a masterpiece to me.  Even the "not as good songs" are still great.

To be fair....when he HAD Sheehan and Vai, I think the material was at least Van Hagar's equal...if not even better.    Too bad it only lasted two albums. 

[Calvin6s]

To be fair....when he HAD Sheehan and Vai, I think the material was at least Van Hagar's equal...if not even better.    Too bad it only lasted two albums. 

I actually found the Roth-Vai-Sheehan collaboration a big let down. 
Eat 'em and Smile v. 5150: 5150 by a mile.
Skyscraper v. OU812:  OU812 wins
A Little Ain't Enough v. F.U.C.K.:  The biggest slaughter of them all

I was actually more excited about the Jason Becker addition, and that was even worse than the Vai collaboration.  Obviously Becker was going through some serious stuff, but I don't think Becker was going to be allowed to be Becker outside the solo spot just as Vai really wasn't Vai except his solos.

Now you want to talk about an 80s Classic Album:  Jason Becker's Perpetual Burn.  I blasted that thing to and from my 5am swim and water polo practice for days on end.  My "rap" friends that bummed a ride from me probably know this album to this day they heard it so much.

[jammindude]

A Little Ain't Enough was Becker

[Calvin6s]

I know (when it wasn't Steve Hunter)

[jammindude]

I was only referencing the Vai albums, and I don't think it's the blowout you do.   Eat Em and Smile and 5150 are nearly a dead heat, and Skyscraper wipes the floor with OU812. 

[BlobVanDam]

Love this album....I *despise* Jump.  I'm sorry, but what a bunch of bubble gum obnoxiousness.    I like good pop.  ELO makes good pop, Jellyfish makes good pop...even "I'll Wait" is pretty decent pop.   But Jump just journeys too far into Britney Spears territory for my tastes. 

WTF.
Even if there was the slightest similarity there, VH predates it by so many years that it's an irrelevant and ridiculous comparison.
Such an underrated song.

[jammindude]

Love this album....I *despise* Jump.  I'm sorry, but what a bunch of bubble gum obnoxiousness.    I like good pop.  ELO makes good pop, Jellyfish makes good pop...even "I'll Wait" is pretty decent pop.   But Jump just journeys too far into Britney Spears territory for my tastes. 

WTF.
Even if there was the slightest similarity there, VH predates it by so many years that it's an irrelevant and ridiculous comparison.
Such an underrated song.

OK....The Brady Bunch, if that makes you feel better.   

EDIT: maybe Donnie and Marie?

[BlobVanDam]

How about none of the above?

[King Postwhore]

DD is one of the first 5 albums.

DD and WACF are both duds, but all of the rest of the DLR albums are awesome, including 1984.

I meant 4 you trouble maker.

[hefdaddy42]

Top Jimmy and GGB are really cool, but for the most part I consider 1984 the continuation of the slide they began with Diver Down. Not really because they're bad albums, but because they were huge drop-offs from the back to back masterpieces of WaCF/FW. After those I heard Jump and said "wow, what a bummer" and never paid much attention to VH again.

I get this viewpoint, looking back now.  But at the time this album came out, I was only 12, and this was my first VH album, and I thought it was the best thing I'd ever heard in my life.

I now agree with your assessment of the relative strengths/weaknesses of these album.  But 1984 will always have a place in my heart.

[KevShmev]

I have to say, I am really surprised to not see more love for I'll Wait.  While keyboard-heavy, I think it is utterly fantastic.  And on my list of "drum fills I can never not air drum," those right before the first verse are on the list.

[bl5150]

Am I the only one here who rates A Little Ain't Enough??  Although Eat Em and Smile would possibly rate higher when I take everything into account (including its meaning to me back in the day) ,  I think ALAE was a mature album - if DLR has such a thing  - with some great songwriting and for me I think it's aged the best of the DLR solo albums.

[BlobVanDam]

Am I the only one here who rates A Little Ain't Enough??  Although Eat Em and Smile would possibly rate higher when I take everything into account (including its meaning to me back in the day) ,  I think ALAE was a mature album - if DLR has such a thing  - with some great songwriting and for me I think it's aged the best of the DLR solo albums.

A Little Ain't Enough is my favourite DLR album. It's good stuff. A couple of tracks aside, I don't like the Vai ones at all.

[Calvin6s]

I have to say, I am really surprised to not see more love for I'll Wait.

I love it.  I recall being young and  wearing big AKG headphones as I combined my drafting and art class with the Van Halen 1984 CD playing on repeat.  This song always seemed to stand out.

[Kotowboy]

Am I the only one here who rates A Little Ain't Enough??  Although Eat Em and Smile would possibly rate higher when I take everything into account (including its meaning to me back in the day) ,  I think ALAE was a mature album - if DLR has such a thing  - with some great songwriting and for me I think it's aged the best of the DLR solo albums.

A Little Ain't Enough is my favourite DLR album. It's good stuff. A couple of tracks aside, I don't like the Vai ones at all.

I can't stand Vai or Satch. They both seem to favour overplaying and tricks above songwriting.

Same with Guthrie Govan. He'll start off with a nice riff and melody and then just go "fuck it" and just

start shredding all over it.

[SystematicThought]

Top Jimmy and Drop Dead Legs are all very underrated in my opinion. The entire album is solid with, in my opinion, not one bad song on the album.

[KevShmev]

So could be considered a classic merely on the strength of "Sledgehammer," which was not only a number 1 hit on the charts, but featured one of the most popular and ground-breaking videos we've ever seen; the album is so much more than just this one monster hit, though. I always thought "Big Time" was the more interesting video and song; that bass line by Tony Levin is nothing short of jaw-dropping.  But I get why "Sledgehammer' was more popular, although "Big Time" was still a pretty big hit, too.  "In Your Eyes" wasn't the big hit you would have thought it would have been - it didn't even break the the top 20 on the pop charts - but, thanks to his many iconic live performances and it being covered many times, is perhaps the biggest enduring classic from this record.  Personal favorites of mine are definitely "Red Rain" and "Mercy Street," the latter of which is one of those songs I am floored by every time I hear it, still this many years later.  I actually prefer the live version of "Don't Give Up" with Paula Cole, but the original here with Kate Bush is pretty fantastic, too, of course. Interesting thing about this album is that this was the first time Peter Gabriel actually give a title to one of his albums - the first four were all given unofficial titles by the record companies to reflect the albums' covers - and he took the piss by giving it a two-word title, So.  That aside, this is undoubtedly an art rock classic.

[King Postwhore]

This album still sounds modern now and I'm still amazed it was recorded in the 80's.  Don't Look Back & That Voice again are my favorite tracks from this album.

[bl5150]

I think you mean Don't Give Up king.

This is an album I can appreciate but wouldn't listen to these days -just a bit too light for my taste.  Ironically , given the last entry, I bought it back in the day on the strength of an interview with EVH where he said how much he liked it.

[King Postwhore]

Yup.  My bad

[Jaq]

It always amuses me, to this day, when people get all over Genesis for their 80s pop success (and usually point at Invisible Touch as being the nadir of those days) and then go on to praise Peter Gabriel for his experimentation and dedication to being a More Serious Artist, to think of how Invisible Touch, the song, was knocked out of the top spot on the Billboard charts...by Sledgehammer. 

While I think you could argue that Gabriel found ways to fuse his experimentalism with pop better than Genesis did. there's no denying that this is a brilliant album with a ton of good old fashioned pop-rock on it. To this day I can be found going "HI THERE" in imitation of the start of Big Time.

[Calvin6s]

Well, you can't mention Gabriel without Genesis.

I was both early and late to the Genesis/Gabriel game.  When I was a little turd, my dad was always playing Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and Trick of the Tail.  My mom was always playing late era Beatles (mostly Sgt. Peppers).  I loved the songs, but really didn't know who the artists were.  Good musical foundation though.

Still pre-teen, my first attachment/repulsion to the Genesis crew was:
Genesis: Land of Confusion (1986)
Phil Collins: Sussudio (1985)
Peter Gabriel: Sledgehammer (1986)
All, of course, on MTV.  I liked the dopey videos, but really thought the songs were kind of lame.

I had a friend that was a huge Genesis/Collins/Gabriel fan.  And he would try to convert me with these songs.  It only pushed me away.  A few years later he played Genesis' Dancing on a Volcano.  It brought back all my young turd years with my dad blaring it on the stereo.  "I know that song.  I friggin' love that song.  Who is that?"  He told me it was Genesis and I responded "why didn't you just play me this stuff?  You would have converted me in milliseconds."  Keep in mind, there was no internet, google or youtube.  You had friends, radio and MTV (and guitar magazines) to discover new music.

Sledgehammer and Big Time were wonderful hits for Gabriel, but terrible introductions for me.  Once I finally heard the whole album, I realized he had somehow managed to put garlic on the albums doorstep.  Love the album immensely.  Probably my