Van Halen Albums Ranked!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ส.ค. 2024
- New co-host Joe joins Jason and Ryan to discuss the discography of the iconic hard rock band, Van Halen. There are 12 albums for them to dig through and dissect and three different lead vocalists to debate. Who's better, Diamond Dave or the Red Rocker? Which album will come out on top? Whose list looks the most like yours? Leave your list in the comments below.
Albums discussed:
Van Halen
Van Halen 2
Women and Children First
Fair Warning
Diver Down
1984
5150
OU812
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
Balance
Van Halen 3
A Different Kind of Truth
Stock footage provided by Videvo, downloaded from www.videvo.net
The beginning of the 3 legends of Taste Like Music…
Fair Warning...greatest album by Van Halen. 'Mean Street', is a blistering underrated rock gem.
Amen 🙏
WCF and FW are the meaner, nastier VH. I guess some people don’t flock to that as much. I love those two.
Hear about it later.
So this is Love?
Dirty Movies
Sure it ends with some weird shit. But I’ll take that over the silly stuff on DD.
These guys don’t have any balls. I don’t want to hear about it later!
Fair warning was first van halen album I heard and blew me away after getting into metal via nwobhm...van halen's best album
Absolutely...Fair Warning is a high water mark
Those who grew up with VH and prefer the darker albums like myself will probably have these in top 3:
1.Fair Warning
2.VH1
3.Women and Children First
RIP Eddie Van Halen, so glad you guys covered this band
Aw, love the opening pic guys. Wow, Joe's first ranking. How far you've all come.
That picture of you three as teenagers had me on the floor 😂
Great video! I enjoy listening to each of your commentary on each album, and it's cool that you don't share your ratings with each other beforehand. Looking forward to more in this series.
12- 0U812
11- Van Halen 3
10- Diver Down
9- A Different Kind Of Truth
8- Balance
7- Women And Children First
6- Van Halen 2
5- Van Halen
4- 1984
3- For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
2- 5150
1- Fair Warning
This is just my list. Loved them all in a different way. Enjoyed the video.
I'm a huge Van Halen fan. I got into them in 2017 during my freshman year of college. Love them. If I had to rank their albums,
1. Van Halen (classic debut)
2. 1984 (great mix of synth-rock, pop and hard rock/metal - something modern rock should strive for)
3. Women and Children First (the first two tracks should have flipped, but otherwise great album)
4. Van Halen II (inferior to the debut but a great party rock album)
5. Fair Warning (this album is for the hardcore fans - has some excellent deep cuts)
6. 5150 (leans too much into the synth-side that it loses the hard rock edge, but still a good album)
7. Diver Down (it's a good album - it's get's too much bad press for being a cover's album when only 5/12 songs are covers. And those covers are done tastefully. And the original songs are fantastic).
8. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (it's decent. Not amazing)
9. Balance (just feels very tired and banal)
10. OU812 (it's ok).
11. A Different Kind of Truth (if Dave could still sing, this album would be way higher on the list)
12. Van Halen III (awful album)
Great to hear a younger view on this, with an objective view of the eras.
Van Halen should officially put out an assembly of their songs from the 1970's pre 1978. It would sell. Such an album may look like this:
1) Lets Get Rockin - The perfect lead off track
2) Voodoo Queen
3) Light In The Sky
4) Young And Wild
5) Woman In Love
6) We Die Bold
7) House of Pain
8) Running With The Devil
9) Gonna Take A Lot of Drugs
10) Real Go Getter
11) Angel Eyes
12) Put Out The Lights
The first Van Halen album was just incredible! Nobody had that sound like Eddiei! The guitar technique was just ear bleeding great! I am 64 years old, that first Van Halen album, during my time made alot of people professionally and newbies learn those licks! Eddie was King at this time!
I like the second best but the first is a close second
Jason, SPOT ON PERFECT call for OU812.
Fair Warning 10? ohhh lawwdy.
Great video with the three way ranking.
My list would be closest to Joes
Yeahhhh, Boyeeee - JS
Kramzer. I fuckin love you dude. I'm 100000% a Van Hagar guy and it just makes me happy when people even entertain the idea.
Starting this and gotta say: HOLY SHIT Jason looks the most different! (Looking good bro😂)
You guys are awesome. We can quibble but good for you for rating ‘84. It was “not cool” at the time for the diehards. And I can’t tell you how massive of a figure Roth was ... it was unthinkable he could be “replaced” so at that time 5150 was a mindblower.
1. 1984
2. Van Halen
3. Fair Warning
4. Women and Children First
5.Van Halen II
6. Balance
7. 5150
8. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
9. OU812
10. Diver Down
11. A Different Kind of Truth
12. Van Halen III
I'm older than you guys, so I'm really partial to the Roth albums.
I was never a huge Van Halen fan.
I'm more of a prog guy.
Roth took a huge chunk of Jim Dandy's act as a dick-swinging, swaggering frontman. Black Oak Arkansas was the band that Dandy fronted. He was like....Dave's dad. He was friggin' hilarious to watch onstage. Especially when he played a washboard. Priceless !
I mean.....who else would grind a washboard while the band cranked out high volume, bluesy, funky hard rock music ! I pissed myself laughing when I saw that in concert performances.
Anyway, thanks gentlemen. I really enjoyed listening to you discuss your favorite VH albums. It's good to have a different perspective.
CHEERS!
I was 10 when VH 1 came out and it's hard to describe how huge it was to us kids. Looking back I realize how lucky I was to grow up in such a rich musical time for rock music. The mid to late 70s is filled with so many classic bands. Maybe that's why I never warmed up to Van Hagar, although I did see them in 86.
I can only rank the classic DLR era as not a fan of the post that era I'm afraid
1) Fair Warning. (By far their best for me. Experimental, funky and their most consistently great and intense tune for tune. Dirty movies, Hear About It Later and Mean Strets are 3 of their best and I love the almost New Wave approach of the final closing tracks )
2) Diver Down. ( I don't listen to a lot of Heavy music anymore and this album works brilliantly as it show how apart from most of the bands of their field they were. Plus Secrets is easily my fav song by them )
3) 1984. (I cant listen to Jump anymore and was never a massive fan of it but Drop Dead Legs . I'll Wait and Girl Gone Bad are great and this album has a lasting vitality plus again shows of ahead they were of all their peers)
4) Van Halen 1 . Obviously a classic in it's field . My favs are the poppier tunes Jamies Crying and Runnin
5) Van Halen 2. One For rediscovery
6) Women And Children First (Underrated and showing them moving into a more varied approach)
My top three are: the debut album, Fair Warning and A Different Kind Of Truth. I love all three.
Random thoughts: Mike's background vocals are crucial to the VH sound. "Runnin' with the Devil" (esp. the easy, melodic guitar solo) is like a change-up pitch that sets up the heat-seeking fastball, "Eruption". "Push Comes to Shove" on Fair Warning has a top-5 EVH guitar solo. My top 3 are 1984, VH1, and 5150. Fun video!
Check out our video of our top 5 EVH guitar solos to see me agree with you about Push Comes to Shove. -Jason
It is endlessly fascinating how polarizing this band is. I respect everyone's opinion, and honestly makes me want to revisit certain albums. For me, however, Fair Warning is my favorite, with Women and Children First in second. This is a subversive, dark VH and it really works. Perfect? No, but enough for me to make them must listens. Thank you for a great panel discussion! Cheers!
Peter Kier that is certainly a unique ranking. Thanks for watching!
I feel like W&CF is loaded with filler. I hate Everybody Wants Some and Loss of Control and always and have it's my least revisited Dave era album.
My Ranking:
6. 1984
5. Diver Down
4. Fair Warning
3. Women and Children First
2. Van Halen II
1. Van Halen
I think Michael Anthony's background vocals are overlooked - especially on the first 4 albums
Fully agree with that.
It seems that Wolfy can sing. However, that doesn't mean it's the same thing Mike did. Mike and EVH's voices combined created a helluva sound.
And it absolutely is a large enough component of their sound that it was noticeable when it was missing.
Wolfy is plenty talented. But he can't force his voice to replicate someone else's.
I've about this Kitchen sink idea for a while(as im sure many have). But I though they'd have Mike come back, and have WVH play rhythm guitar, especially since so many VH songs have multiple layers of guitars. But it sounds like he wouldn't have been on stage.
They’re not overlooked by the 10 million of however many people bought those albums when they came out !
11: Van Halen III
10: OU812
9: Fair Warning
8: Van Halen
7: For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
6: Van Halen II
5: Women and Children First
4: Balance
3: 5150
2: Diver Down
1: 1984
Spotify only has these 11 available which is sad but it looks like I didn’t miss much. I know the first two albums are low but I honestly can’t hear what other people hear in it I guess
I love that picture.
I did live through the changes in the band. I remember being disappointed about Dave leaving the band but curious about Hagar joining the band. To be honest I can't imagine Dave being the singer on those albums. Sammy found his place and the band found a new sound.
I'm definitely in Jason's camp here, though like others put Fair Warning much higher. Maybe the debut just beats it. I like Running With the Devil as opener. I only care for the albums up until 1984. Perhaps the reason for such thin sounding albums as duscussed was like many other mid to late 80s albums engineers really had no grasp of the digital technology yet. I hate those harsh thin sounding recordings of the period. 70s analog rock albums are almost always warmer, richer and with more dynamic range than 80s recordings. Not always but it's often the case. Early CDs of 70s albums often sounded awful too so perhaps it was in the mastering. Dunno. Good video guys, really enjoying the different perspectives even when I disagree. Cheers!
My favorite VH album has always been Fair Warning, their heaviest and it's the one I always used to compare VH to any "evil" badass metal band. I'm really hurt seeing it in the first 5 minutes of the video so I'm just going to watch another of your videos now and maybe I'll comback to this one someday lol
I’ve seen enough people have Fair Warning really high to know I need to give it a relisten. - Joe
@@TastesLikeMusic You need to, you'll se there aren't really any clunkers on it and the sound is cohesive. I even like the instrumental and his placing on the album, it builds up to the last song when everythig explodes, almost like a fast trash tune.
I appreciate you guys sticking up for Van Hagar. Even Jason spoke warmly of Balance. And whomever mentioned the HSAS album should take a bow, as that was a great project that unfortunately flopped sales-wise.
The dude in the top left asked the appropriate question, “would we view this differently if we lived thru it?” The answer is yes. Let’s not be absurd and suggest Balance is better than any early Roth. Your credibility is gone. And for anyone who suggests that Michael Anthony is “not that good,” clearly doesn’t know what they are talking about. As a bass player myself, he not only wrote perfect lines to compliment Eddie’s playing, which is not easy, but embellished those lines live with super tasty riffs. Not to mention Van Halen would not be the same without his sweet harmonies.
From someone who lived thru it:
1. Women and Children First
2. Fair Warning
3. Van Halen
4. Van Halen II
5. Diver Down
6. 1984
7. OU812
8. Different Kind of Truth
9. 5150
10. For Unlawful
11. Balance
12. 3
Well, I don’t know if I’m right on this so don’t take this for official information. But, I think that I heard Eddie (Van Halen) talking in an interview and saying that he had to show Michael Anthony EVERYTHING. So, technically, those bass line were All from Eddie.
I couldn't believe the Listography guys shit on Women and Children First like they did. You put it at #1 in their catalog, and I put it there also. And it ages well. It just gets better & better with repetition. VH and VH2 were sort of, "HERE WE ARE!! AMERICA'S FAVORITE PARTY BOYS!" W&CF was sort of the first "Let's get serious" project. It's also a record that established them as more than just a fad or a flash-in-the-pan. When you heard this album in their third year on the world stage, you were left thinking that Van Halen was here to stay as a top level, A-flight band. They haven't shot their load yet, so to speak.
@@thomasricher1414 I had read something similar that Eddie showed him some lines to play, which makes a lot more sense. Also, if you listen to live tracks from those early years you can hear Michael going off and playing some incredible riffs. He’s fantastic.
Really digging your channel. I love that you will rank literally anything... Here's my ranking:
1. VH1 - one of the best debuts ever. They never even came close to surpassing this.
2. Fair Warning - man, couldn't believe how some of you guys shorted this. It's such a dark, moody album and has possibly their two best songs ever - "Mean Streets" and "Unchained"
3. Women and Children First - smoking album - the first I ever owned by them - also has another contender for best VH song ever: "Romeo Delight"
4. 1984 - I always want to put this one lower because I'm burnt out on the hits - but it's just too good. The deep cuts are amazing too.
5. VH2 - "You're No Good" suuuuucks - such a lame-o opener and one of their least essential covers. I'm also not a big fan of party songs like "Bottoms Up" and "Beautiful Girls" which is why it's so low on the list. "DOA" is another killer deep cut.
6. 5150 - the best Hagar record by far - "Dreams" is sooo underrated - it's like VH does Journey and it's Sammy's best ever vocal performance. Title cut is amazing and "Why Can't This Be Love" - man, what a weird song from them but it's just fantastic. "Summer Nights" is really bad - Sammy trying to be DLR, boo... but mostly this is totally solid.
7. Diver Down - the worst DLR album from the classic era - full of stupid covers - some good deep cuts like "Secrets" and "Little Guitars", but still pretty mediocre.
8. For Unlawful - decent record. Love "Judgment Day" and "Right Now". "Poundcake" is a lyrical travesty - Spinal Tap minus the wit - but musically it rocks pretty hard.
9. A different kind of truth - I saw VH on this tour and DLR cannot sing - he never could really but he was decent in the early days. Also, F--- them for kicking Michael Anthony to the curb even though Wolfie is totally solid and can sing backup well too - I like the old timey shit they revived for this, but the vox stink and "Tattoo" is VHIII level terrible.
10. OU812 - from here on out, the records have no redeeming qualities. This and Balance are equally boring, but I think Balance is longer so...
11. Balance - ugh.
12. VHIIII - yuck. Saw this tour for free and I still felt ripped off. Eddie looked f--ed up but he still was on fire and that was cool, and Michael Anthony sang lead on "Somebody Get Me A Doctor" and it makes me wish they'd just had him sing lead - the rest was just cringeworthy as Sharrone tried to do a DLR impersonation...
Van Halen was a party band (with Roth). They’re not supposed to be dark or moody or gritty.
Great stuff lads , not a huge fan , but enjoy some albums , think they maybe a band who's greatest hits are excellent 👍
Interesting opinions.
Your Beatles taste is pretty similar to mine, great list! I would rank Abbey Road even a bit lower.
1. 1984
2. Fair Warning
3. Van Halen
4. Van Halen II
5. Women And Children First
6. Diver Down
7. 5150
8. A Different Kind Of Truth
9. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
10. OU812
11. Balance
12. 3
I probably would have put the Hagar albums a bit higher when first getting into the band in 1995, but they haven’t held up as well to me (what happened with the super thin sound on OU812 in particular?) while 1984 has only gotten better. After going a longer time without hearing them I can still get into “Jump”, “Panama” and “Hot For Teacher”, but my favorite deep track on there has always been the almost proggy sounding “Girl Gone Bad”. With the addition of the synths put to by far the best use on any VH album and his guitar playing still at a prime level, I feel like this album is Eddie’s most complete work and it felt like an emotional experience listening back to it for the first time since his death.
You can probably figure out who I think committed the biggest sin in this video from my list. 😜
Yes!
Day made by this!
Lol at the pic 🤣 n the beginning.
Joe looks like Joe is a line cool who has worked 12 hours and stepped out to the dining room and sees that more late night guests are coming in to eat and he has another 2 hours of work before he's going home.
* line cook
Born in '69 so I was young during the Roth era but I remember it well, I liked Van Halen a lot but I was into a few other bands a lot more, so I didn't think much about when Roth left and Hagar joined, so as the years went by I found myself getting into the Roth era albums much more and skipping nearly everything of the Hagar era albums, and it's still pretty much that way today. The Roth era album that I seemed to get into the most one time was Van Halen 2, played it to death for months, I liked it more than the first album because it wasn't so party Rock, it had a little more mature sound about it, I've always been pretty much lukewarm about Women and Children first, it just kind of hangs in the middle and I end up skipping songs here and there, I like most a fair warning especially hear about it later, the last couple of songs on there do sound like throwaways except for maybe that short solo by Eddie at the end. I love Diver Down and rarely skip a song but I find myself skipping a few on 1984. Never could get into the Hagar era albums other than a song here and there because I'm just not big on Hagar's vocals and the way they do love songs when he was in the band, too sappy, but Roth has a little more of an edginess that I like.
You see, to me, this is your best video.
Good thing you’re a music critic and not a video critic.
Blasting “Light up the Sky” right now. Love VH2
1. Van Halen II
2. Van Halen
3. 1984
4. Fair warning
5. Women and children first
6. 5150
1. Van Halen I
2. 1984
3. Van Halen II
4. Women and Children
5. Fair Warning
6. Diver Down
7. Balance
8. 5150
9. Different Kind of Truth
10. F.U.C.K.
11. OU812
12. VH III
1984 (Too many good memories, gets the top spot for that reason.)
Van Halen 1
Van Halen 2
Diver Down (too many covers, but still solid)
Women and Children first
A Different Kind of Truth.
Fair Warning
The Sammy Hagar albums are practically a different band. He's a very good singer, but the sound changed.
1) Women and Children First
2) 1984
3) 1
4) 2
5) OU812
6) Fair Warning
7) Balance
8) Diver Down
Great discussion. Thanks. OU812 is a killer
Women and Children just amazing
That pic of Jason at the beginning! Looks like he could've been the second guitarist in Nirvana!
Every album was great all of them even vh 3 (pay attention to the guitar work) Everyone’s got their own tastes I get that but the last album, a different kind of truth, that was Edward Van Halen’s greatest work, and I think he had fun with it because I think he knew how special that album was
"Right Now" just sounds like a total commercial to me, ever since I heard it in a commercial.
Sucks!
12. Van Halen III
11. Balance
10. OU812
9. A Different Kind of Truth
8. 5150
7. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
6. Diver Down
5. 1984
4. Van Halen
3. Van Halen II
2. Fair Warning
1. Women and Children First
R.I.P. to the greatest rock guitarist ever. 🤘
1. Fair Warning
2. Women and Children
3. Debut
Isn’t it crazy how so many VH fans rank albums differently?
yeah it is? one of the guys who made a video has 1984 as his worse album except 5150 he said the worse of the Roth albums?
I also find it strange that some people or should I say a few people have 1984 in 7th place
somebody else has Van Halen 1 in 6th place he made a video
somebody who made a video put Diver down in 10th place
somebody else who made a video put Balance in first place.
but your right some people have Van Halen 2 in 5th place some have it in third some around 6th place
The way I see the things Diver down isn't a 10th place album it's also not a 4th place and isn't a first place album either
I would say Diver down is around any where from 5th place up to 7th?
I would say 1984 isn't a 7th place album it's also not in the top 4 but I would say around 5th or 6th place?
some even have a different kind of truth around 6th place, 7th , 8th to me I think either 10th or 11nth
ou812 some have it in 10th place , 9th and so for I don't think anybody has it in there top 5 to me I would say
anywhere from 6 to 8? but your correct the list are ranked very differently ?
I think it boils down to your age and whether you like the darker stuff. I have the same top 3 as you except Vh1 ranked ahead of WCF.
Is that picture at the beginning you guys in high school/college?
Yep
Inspired to comment because I was born the year that Van Halen 1 came out, and Being 6 years old as 1984 took over the world was VERY formative, my parents were watching "Jump" and "Panama" and loving it, and the Hot for Teacher's video is iconic and I... Once I turned 11 and decided it was time to leave behind The Beatles, Stones and The Who and get into "Metal" which VH was still considered at the time, I dove into Van Halen I, Van Halen II and 1984 HARD, and they became three of my favorites.
My other favorite "still semi current" rock band was Aerosmith, and unlike VH I bought EVERY ONE of their albums, which I think attests to the lesser status of the other 3 OG Lee Roth albums, which I didn't hear till the next century. Also, for whatever reason, I didn't buy 5150 or hear it til the age of Spotify (it's fine, but robbed of nostalgia value to me is pretty weak. But did buy 0U812 and For Unlawful during their chart reigns and liked both of those... for a youngster who grew up through both versions of VH, I liked both, but as an adult rock/metal listener, the Hagar side has fallen in my opinion GREATLY. It's just more cheesy, almost impossible to argue the opposite imo.
ALSO, I do put A Different Kind of Truth higher (closer to where Jason puts it), AND saw them on that tour in Tacoma and it was actually AMAZING how well Lee Roth was able to handle vocal duties live. Yes, he changed melody's, brought things down an octave etc, but it worked, AND he played acoustic guitar and sung the beginning of Ice Cream Man solo and it was DOPE. Also, he was doing splits and dancing all over the place so still had an energy that was as you said Lightning in a Bottle. Also, Wolfgang was good, and locked in well with Alex and he and Eddie's backing vocals were great. Also, I'd say that Eddie's performance that night the best single Guitar performance I have ever seen live. Eddie's tone and soloing in that room was about the best I've ever heard, and I've seen Allman Bros, Santana etc. He's THE BEST. RIP. A friend saw that show and a show in Vegas on the same tour and said the Tacoma show was much better special so I feel fortunate. ALSO an older "Karen" type VH fan tried to get me and my friends in trouble for smoking weed during the show which was a hilarious irony to us.
Anyways, sorry for rambling. Oh I haven't listened to Balance, so I guess I have to go do that now to see why Kramzer and Jason like it (and haven't listened to III and still won't). PS THANKS FOR THIS STATION, now officially obsessed, so, glad there is a lot of content to get through. Y'all do hot takes with humor and without being mean about it which is quite a talented feat. Keel it up!
My ranking
12. Van Halen 3 (1998)
11. A Different Kind Of Truth (2012)
10. OU812 (1988)
9. Fair Warning (1981)
8. Women And Children First (1980)
7. Diver Down (1982)
6. Balance (1995)
5. 5150 (1986)
4. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991)
3. Van Halen 2 (1979)
2. Van Halen (1978)
1. 1984 (1984)
1. Van Halen I - Favorite songs: Ain't Talking about Love, I'm the One, Jamie's Crying, Atomic Punk, Ice Cream Man and On Fire.
2. Van Halen II Favorites: Favorites: Dance the Night Away, DOA, Someone Call me a Doctor, Light up the Sky,
3. Women and Children First- Favorite songs: And the Cradle Will Rock, Everybody Wants Some, In a Simple Rhyme and Fools
4. 1984 Favorites: Jump, Top Jimmy, Hot for Teacher, Wait
5. Fair Warning- Favorites: Mean Street, UnChained, and So This is Love
6. 5150- Dreams
7. Diver Down
8. Balance
9. Different Kind of Knowledge
10. UCK
11. OU812
12. Van Halen III
I came to Van Halen later on, so a totally different ranking for me:
1) 5150 (the only VH album of which I like each and every song)
2) 1984 (when I first heard of Van Halen, and they blew me away)
3) OU812 (could have benn as good as 5150, but for me there are some filler songs on it)
4) Fair Warning
5) Van Halen
6) Van Halen 2
7) Women and Children First
8) F.U.C.K.
9) Balance
10) Van Halen III
11)A Differen Kind of Truth
12) Diver Down (This for me was always like an unnecessary "filler album" in their discography)... the only VH CD I ever sold again to friend, after buying it.
I just can't get into Van Halen without Roth. The four Hagar albums are basically interchangeable.
1. Fair Warning
2. Van Halen II
3. 1984
4. Women and Children First
5. Van Halen
6. Diver Down
7. A Different Kind of Truth
8-11. 5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, Balance in no particular order.
12. Van Halen Three
I 100% agree. It's literally like 2 different bands. With DLR, they made history, with Sammy they just amassed a huge mall crowd fan base and it certainly made them even more popular and rich, but the original lineup is simply untouchable.
1. Van Halen
2. Fair Warning
3. 1984
4. Women and Children First
5. Van Halen II
6. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
7. Diver Down
8. A Different Kind of Truth
9. 5150
10. Balance
11. OU812
12. Van Halen III
I have to go with van halen 2...my favourite from hagar was balance...great band...
1. Fair Warning
2. Van Halen 2
3. Van Halen I
4. Women and children first
5. 5150
6. 1984
7. Balance
8. OU812
9. Diver Down
10. FUCK
11. A different kind of truth
12. Van Halen 3
(1) Van Halen
(2) Fair Warning
(3) Van Halen II
(4) Women And Children First
(5) 1984
(6) 5150
(7) Diver Down
(8) A Different Kind Of Truth
(9) OU812
(10) For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
(11) Balance
(12) Van Halen III
The Roth era is all I care about. I prefer the heavier, more riff based Van Halen. The Sammy stuff was too commercial with too many sappy love songs.
1. Fair Warning
2. Van Halen
3. 1984
4. Women & Children First
5. Van Halen II
6. Diver Down
My favorite Van Halen album is 5150. The song 5150 from that album is my all time favorite rock song of all time as well
If only Van Halen was called 5150, you’d have the trifecta. - Joe
Holy moley .... Fair Warning at #9 & #10! I personally stopped with their catalogue at 5150. So I have a top 7
Van Halen 1
Fair Warning
Van Halen 2
1984
Women & Children First
Diver Down
5150
I’ve had enough people question that that I may need to take a few more listens. - Joe
Women and Children First is immense, and still is to this day.
Fair Warning not a mile back from it either : )
I agree with a few here, in that this seems like a darker period of their catalog. And to be frank, and in the minority i guess too, i wasn't that enamoured with 1984 at all!
12 Different kind of Truth
11 Van Halen 3
10 Balance
9 Diver Down
8 Women & Children First
7 Van Halen 2
6 Van Halen 1
5 Fair WarninG
4 OU812
3 For unlawful Carnal Knowledge
2 5150
1 1984
My Ranking:
12. Van Halen III
11. A Different Kind of Truth
10. Diver Down
9. Women and Children First
8. Balance
7. OU812
6. Van Halen 2
5. 1984
4. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
3. Fair Warning
2. 5150
1. Van Halen
Interesting ranking. Too many synths in 1984? - Joe
@@TastesLikeMusic no I love when they added them, probably why I like the Hagar years as much, if not more than Roth years. Probably it's bumped down for the overplayness of Jump, Hot For Teacher, and Panama. Fair Warning and 5150 and very close, but as you guys said the closers on FW drop it. Diver Down just doesn't do it for me, I like the solos, but only original song that's good is Little Guitars. WCF and Balance are pretty close, but Seventh Seal may be my favorite Hagar song, so brings it up.
FAIR WARNING #1 if you grew up with them.
12 Van Halen 3
11 A Different Kind Of Truth
10 Diver Down
9 Women And Children First
8 Fair Warning
7 Balance
6 For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
5 Van Halen 2
4 Van Halen
3 1984
2 5150
1 OU812
My list :
12. Van Halen III
11. A Different Kind Of Truth
10. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
9. OU812
8. 5150
7. Balance
6. Diver Down
5. Van Halen II
4. Fair Warning
3. Women And Children First
2. 1984
1. Van Halen
Can we just save time and put Van Halen 3 at the bottom? 😂 I usually agree more with Kremzer but on Van Halen we really were far apart, I am totally with Jason when it comes to VH. But you guys all ranked Fair Warning so low it hurt.
Fair Warning is easily my #1
Pretty wild to hear these opinions
. I’m one of the classic, conventional VH people. There is the real Van Halen - untouchable - a great initial Van Hagar album, an interesting second album, and the rest below average or flat out bad.
Heres the correct list
12. Van halen 3
11. Different kind of truth
10. Balance
9. For ullawful carnal knowledge
8. ou812
7. 5150
6. Diver down
5. 1984
4. Fair warning
3. Woman and children first
2. 2
1. 1 Debut
You guys are crazy: Running With the Devil is a FANTASTIC OPENER! Yeah, the chorus is kinda dumb, but that opening: Descending Sustained Horn sound into Bass and Drums, that little Piano Fill and then Eddy's AWESOME GUITAR!
That wasn’t a piano fill. It was actually Eddie strumming the strings behind the nut of his guitar which produced a high pitched sound.
Van Halen 1 / 1984
Fair warning
Women and children first
Van halen 2
5150
ADKOT
Diver down
FUCK
OU812
Balance
Van halen 3
12. Van Halen III
11. Balances
10. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
9. A Different Kind of Truth
8. OU812
7. Diver Down
6. Women and Children First
5. 5150
4. Van Halen II
3. Fair Warning
2. 1984
1. Van Halen
The thing about Fair Warning is it's the Eddie album, so a lot of us guitar players put it up there with the first album, with II, 1984, and WACF right behind it. 5150 is the only good album with Hagar. For casual music fans, FW songs are okay but not great, heavy on rhythm, light on melody.
I don't really like Running with the Devil either, Eruption as the opener is a helluva an idea.
Now I'm interested in vh3
I realy like fair warning and women and children. diver down is underrated too. for me everything up to 1984 belongs above everything after it
I mentioned this on the Van Halen songs page. I like the Van Hagar years and kind of despise the DLR ones. I'm sorry but DLR annoys me. I used to avoid any Van Halen song when he was the frontman. Now, I'm starting to get over my annoyance a little. I've listened to all the Van Hagar albums and some of the DLR ones.
The two DLR albums I actually like are 1984 and Van Halen I. I think Van Halen II is a major step down from the first and I don't even bother w/Diver Down because I'm not a huge fan of covers albums. However, I can rank the Van Hagar albums I like in this order:
1. 5150
2. F.U.C.K.
3. Balance
4. OU812
Joe nailed it: Different Kind of Truth has a few asskickers (stay frosty, chinatown) but DLR sounds bad. Frosty should have been the single.
Fair Warning
VH1
1984-girl Gone Bad alone was worth it! Top Jimmy, Panama, I’ll Wait, House of Pain….great songs!
VH2
WACF
Diver Down
ADKOT
5150
Fuck
OU812
VH3
TDL
Live RHRN
Balance….i wanted fire and got smoke. So disappointed.
VH for life here! Also, VH3 had some good stuff, but it was a guitar players album. Fire In the Hole was a great rocker.
Rock on.
Spanked is "pretty bad" but Jason applauds Big Bad Billy? A little biased.
Look, DLR era is definitely more "rock". But, to dismiss Sam's so quickly? More mainstream and Pop, to be sure. But, I would put Balance, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and 5150 up against any other early era albums aside from their debut.
Definitely agree with Jason's list the most. I much prefer David Lee Roth.
For anyone to put Fair Warning so low is>>>>>>>>>>Special Needs
1. Van Halen
2. Women and children first
3. 1984
4 van Halen 2
5 fair warning
6 for unlawful carnal knowledge
7 different kind of truth
8 balance
9 diver down
10 ou812
11 5150
12 van Halen 3
VHII isn when Ed found the "brown" sound. It also emphasizes the other members' skills more than the first album. IMO, they peaked with Fair Warning though. Definitely not the pop fare that you guys tend to favor.
Really enjoy Jason’s subtle expressions as the Van Hagar albums are praised. I’m older and grew up with both bands (and I completely believe they were totally different bands) but have to agree with Jason here. The raw power of first Van Halen albums were unlike anything before it and a totally different animal than all the guitar shredder hair metal band that emerged following them. A few points I disagree with: Diver Down IMO is the David Lee Roth album (Dancin in the Streets, Big Bad Bill) while Van Halen 2 just kills, musical diversity began with Women and Children First for me, Fair Warning is #2 for me as its EVHs best guitar performance and he has said that publicly (the solos on it are perfect, the rhythm guitar hits a new level - ie Mean Street) & it takes a different tone than the first 3), and no way Balance can be that high but to each his own.
Van Halen 1
Fair Warning
Van Halen 2
Women and Children First
1984
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
A Different Kind of Truth
Diver Down
5150
Balance
OU812
Van Halen 3
I agree with the two guys that ranked OU812 in the upper tier. Very complex record and mixed together several styles. Couple songs on her are duds (see Source of Infection, A Apolitical Blues) but the B sides like Cabo Wabo and AFU are memorable. In terms of love songs/ballads, When It’s Love is hard to top. Aged better than the ones from 5150 imo.
My ranking!
12. Van Halen III (1998)
Well... It's Van Halen III haha. No but seriously. I think the band wanted so much to make a success without David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar that they didn't see the whole picture. Gary Cherone is proud of the live-shows which I am sure was quite good but the record should never have been done.
11. OU812 (1988)
The band went more complex, in a way, and probably searched for something more adult. Can't blame that but I agree with Jason that the production is off. It seldom feels or sounds like a Van Halen record to me. With a totally different production it might rank higher (and I'd love to hear it) but as it is now.. I think it's okay but not much more.
10. A Different Kind of Truth (2012)
I am glad that this was to be the last Van Halen record. It definitely has its moments but as you all said... David Lee Roth doesn't sound, for most part, like he should or as someone should. All the effects around make it a much weaker record than it needed to be. With a good remaster and perhaps totally without vocals this could be a rather cool record.
9. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991)
Totally onboard with the fact that this sounds much better than OU812 and 5150 but I think it has a bit too much fat on it. The classic records are short and sweet.. Bascially no song overstays its welcome. I think a few do that here. If they'd just trim away thirty seconds or a minute here and there this would be a really solid record.
8. Diver Down (1982)
The first Van Halen record I got and I loved it directly. I still like it but the usual critique is hard to ignore... Too many covers. I don't mind the more cheesy moments but Where Have All The Good Times Gone! and Dancing in the Street sound very hollow to me. Like they just did it and then "next song". I overall feel they could put more time into the record. However. Still very enjoyable.
7. Balance (1995)
I like the sound of this record and here I think their mature sound works. I like most of the songs but some filler to me. I really wouldn't mind a few more records with Sammy Hagar if it had the same quality as this one.
6. Women and Children First (1980)
I too wrote this off as b-sides from the first two records but with time I really like this one. It has a slightly different sound and shows some progress. This might have ranked this as 11 at one point... Now it is here.
5. 1984 (1984)
My biggest sin on the list? I love the album cover, I love the synth intro to say "Here's something new" and I like all the tracks but with time I rarely listen to it. I don't think all the songs, while good, are good enough (pun) to rank it higher. If I was to make a list of top to bottom songs many here would be in the middle somewhere.
4. 5150 (1986)
It does suffer from 80's production and some filler but I love most of this album. New singer and a very good way to solidify the 80's.
3. Fair Warning (1981)
The brown sound! I love the sound and playing here but yeah... The last two songs make it feel like they were in a rush. I absolutely love the rest of the album though. Remove the last two and put in three on the level of the rest and it might have been #1 for me.
2. Van Halen II (1979)
More of the same as the debut? Maybe but that is not a bad thing. I think most of the songs are great and the rest feels more like guitar-tricks that while impressive doesn't impress me enough. I do prefer well-written tracks.
1. Van Halen (1978)
The end of your discussion I think would make a difference here. If you guys and I were decades older.. Would this have had a bigger impact? I love this album but the way some older fans talk about it is something won't really understand I believe. Like with Van Halen II I don't rank the songs that are more guitar-wizardy on the same level as the more well-written songs but yeah.. It's great. Also: Runnin' with the Devil could have been a strong CLOSING track instead of opening. Opening should have been Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love and then Eruption.. That would been sweet!
I do love my Van Halen. The distance between choice 11 and 1 isn't THAT big as it can be with other bands. I enjoy all those records. With some better production and some less filler this is a very solid catalog.
5150 is my favourite Van Hagar album...
Jesus Kramz, was that '04!?
1. Van Halen 2. Fair Warning 3.Women and Children First 4, Val Halen 2 5. 1984
I VH1
2 VH2
3 1984
4 FAIR WARNING
5 DIVER DOWN
6 WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST
7 DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH
THERE IS NO OTHER VAN HALEN! LOL
Enjoy both eras of the band.
1. 1984
2. 5150
3. VH I
4. VH II
5. Fair Warning
6. For Unlawful
7. OU812
8. Diver Down
9. Women and Children First
10. Balance
11.. Different Kind of Truth
12......same as everyone else
@Lloyd Bonafide great album and would agree their overall best and one of best hard rock albums ever As far as my rankings just have a lot of personal memories with 84 and 5150 ....as was in 1st grade when first album came out.....was more into music later of course.......not quite a youngster anymore 😃, take care. Good take.
RIP Eddie!
When I was a kid I thought Roth sang, "and all I got-a head of steel!" instead of, "and all I got I had to steal" on "Running with the Devil." I thought 'head of steel' was so weird and dumb it just might be brilliant.
1. Van Halen
2. 1984
3. Van Halen 2
4. Women And Chrildren First
5. Balance
6. Fair Warning
7. 5150
8. A Diffrent Kind Of Truth
9. OU812
10. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
11. Diver Down
12. Van Halen 3
WOW! Soooooooooooooooooo off base on all the Runnin' With The Devil hate!?
It's a PHENOMENAL opener! That unbelievably PHAT open-E bass note, just BAWWWWNCK BAWWWWNCK BAWWWWNCK. That takes BALLZ! And it's so HEAVY and so DARK.
Moreover, you know, right from the get go, this is something different. VH threw out the instructions, shattered the mold, and created the new musical template for the next decade.
You're also listing to it with the benefit of hindsight. I gather all three of you were born a good decade or more after this record arrived. Meanwhile, when VH I first hit the airwaves, with Runnin' With The Devil as the first cut, it was revolutionary!
You're also off-based with Fair Warning. It's the heaviest, meanest album in the VH discography. And easily third or forth in their overall ranking. Top 5 goes either...
1. VH I
2. 1984
3. Fair Warning
4. 5150
5. F.U.C.K
Or
1. VH I
2. 1984
3. 5150
4. Fair Warning
5. F.U.C.K
Come on now. Runnin with the Devil is classic.
The guy with the darker hair is pretty spot on, but the other two of you are ridiculous. Imagine being the kind of person who likes Balance THAT much!
It’s mind boggling. - Joe