Good Enough!

40 years ago, Van Halen introduced its new singer and I lost a cassette case

My that went fast.

40 years ago this week, Van Halen dropped 5150. I’ve written about this album before, and probably will again, and I look forward to writing about it even more in another 40 years at age 96.

I cranked the album on Wednesday morning on the way to the doctor for routine maintenance (we aren’t 16 any more!)

Good Enough, the leadoff track, states intent. Sammy does a Big Bopper “Hello Baby” to introduce himself and we’re off to the races. I think they nailed this one. It’s fun like the previous regime, and it sounds like Van Halen. This is peak Van Hagar, which is both awesome and a shame because it is Track 1 which also means it’s all downhill from here.

Let’s talk about the previous regime for a second. Clearly David Lee Roth Van Halen is “better” than Van Hagar in the way that Jim Kirk Star Trek is better than Jean-Luc Picard Star Trek. Sure Sammy can out-sing Dave the way Sir Pat can out-act Shatner, but there’s just something better about an average TOS episode than an average TNG episode. I like Dave, I like Sammy. Dave is “better” and yet I think 5150 is Van Halen’s best album.

Why Can’t This Be Love was our first intro to Van Hagar on the radio. It’s a nice pop song but it was a weird choice as it didn’t sound like Van Halen at all. If they wanted a radio friendly hit, they could have chosen Dreams.

Dreams showed what Van Halen could be.

Dreams and Sammy took us to a place that Dave would never have been able to. There was so much potential in Dreams, and a cool unofficial video with the Blue Angels to keep our eyes busy. Why they picked Love over Dreams as the lead single still confounds me.

Another choice for the single would have been Get Up, which would have quieted the “this doesn’t sound like Van Halen” crowd - a lesson well learned by Dave who chose Yankee Rose as his first single - and Yankee Rose sounds more like Van Halen than Van Hagar ever did.

Let’s talk about the keyboards for a second. Sammy gets blamed for this. Have you listened to any of Sammy’s work before or after Van Halen? Not a lot of keyboards. In fact, it’s mostly uptempo rockers.

We can gloss over the keyboards on Dave’s Jump, but because it’s Jump….but remember the other hit single from DLR-era 1984, a song called I’ll Wait? I’ll Wait is a “Van Hagar song” if I’ve ever heard one. The keyboards were coming, and the keyboards were driven by Ed. Don’t blame Sammy. Also Dave’s California Girls cover would have been one hell of a Van Halen single coming off 1984, and that has keyboards.

I skipped over Get Up but I have been skipping over Get Up since that first listen 40 years ago. It’s Hot For Teacher done less well, and I never cared for Hot For Teacher.

Summer Nights is the song that vibes. It’s the song that a lot of us like to pretend Dave sang in the never-released long-rumored “1986 Album With Dave” sessions. It’s not the greatest crafted song by any means, but it hits the spot every time, and Michael Anthony’s backing vocals made it sound like old school Van Halen.

I had forgotten how good Best of Both Worlds was until yesterday morning. Kool and the Gang should have asked for royalties over the lift of Celebration’s riff, but Sammy is in the pocket here and Eddie handed in a catchy riff, if not an original one.

Love Walks In is the song that hasn’t aged well. There was a time I considered it to be the sister song to Dreams, keyboards and all, but 40 years later it just drags.

The title track 5150 has really grown on the fanbase over the years, and these days tends to be the song everyone fanboys over. Great guitar work by Eddie, nice lyrics, good hook. Yeah.

The album wraps with Inside. Clearly a throwaway track on an already short album, but I liked it then and I like it now. In modern times fans tend to dump on this one, but I still find is musically interesting behind the not-trying lyrics, and I can still connect with my younger self listening for all the digs at Dave.

It’s Van Halen’s best album.

….

40 years ago this week I bought 5150 on cassette at Numbers record store. On the way home I listened to it, and stopped for a slice at Tommy’s pizza. Somewhere between 77th street and grabbing that slice (through the window) on 83rd street I had lost the cassette cover, and never did find it. That cassette got played a LOT that summer. At some point the cassette was replaced by a CD, and then sometime this century a bunch of 0s and 1s in my iPhone.

Today is Mets Opening Day. The Mets also gave us quite a thrill in the summer of 1986. As I drove around yesterday I thought how in maybe ways I’ve been chasing that summer’s buzz for 40 years now. We’ve made it through the cold, let’s hope it’s a good summer.