Imagine, it is February 10, 1978. You are a young man or woman again. Disco has ruled the airwaves of American radio for about two years now and Studio 54 is alive and where all the hotshots and who's who hang out doing lines of coke.

Today in 1978 an album was released that changed the face of Rock N' Roll. You go to your little Mom and Pop record store and there, on the New Releases shelf, sits Van Halen on vinyl. Taking the money you made on your paper route or selling drugs to Tommy Simpson out behind the school, you rush home and crack open the virgin vinyl. The first song you hear is this Van Halen classic: (let this play as it also contains Eruption and You Really Got Me)



What the fuck is this? Loud thumping basslines that are so thick it is reminiscent of a 70's muff. The second thing that hits you is the blistering guitar fret work laid down by Eddie Van Halen. His finger work so fast your teenage mind can't handle the input. "How is he doing that?" And then comes the crooning of Diamond David Lee Roth, his smooth as bourbon voice screaming nonsense as the two part harmonies of Michael Anthony and Eddie Van Halen repeat the name of the song.

The second song on Van Halen is Eruption and if your mind couldn't comprehend Eddie's early work on Runnin' With the Devil, your head will "asplode" listening to Eruption for the very first time.

Dust off Van Halen today and try to place yourself back to the very first time you heard it. Had you heard anything like it at the time? If you were a child in the 70's, probably not. If you discovered Van Halen later in life, well you were probably familiar with the imitators. But rest assured, there is only one...ONE Van Halen.

P.S. Fuck you Sammy Hagar.