Album of the day (#1104): Van Halen by Van Halen

[Goodsir]

There is some great guitar work here! I can see this being an influence on many hard rock bands to come after. A great album, but not quite amazing.

[Goodsir]

[Guest]

[NickVolos]

Pretentious or not, some may disagree: "Among revolutionary rock albums, Van Halen's debut often gets short shrift. Although it altered perceptions of what the guitar could do, it is not spoken of in the same reverential tones as Are You Experienced? and although it set the template for how rock & roll sounded for the next decade or more, it isn't seen as an epochal generational shift, like Led Zeppelin, The Ramones, The Rolling Stones, or Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols, which was released just the year before. But make no mistake, Van Halen is as monumental, as seismic as those records, but part of the reason it's never given the same due is that there's no pretension, nothing self-conscious about it." (allmusic)

As for me, this is the best Van Halen album.
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"And can’t you see you’re in on it?
You were born though you need not
And is that not some cause
For worship, being born among these trees?"

[nutso42]

Second fave Van Halen album (after Diver Down, which is odd considering it's generally regarded as their weakest)

[mickilennial]

It's a bit of an overblown self-indulgent record, but a lot of rock musicians of the era were self-indulgent so I can't really slant it for that. I can appreciate it for it's influence but I can't often enjoy Van Halen even at their best.