One of the greatest debut rock albums of all time. Every song is 🔥.

You can't understand how huge this was in '78. It changed everything and ushered in the entire 80's rock scene.

Song 1. The world meets Van Halen. Music forever changes and rock music is never the same.

Now imagine that it's 1978, and disco rules the world... VH comes along and turns everything upside down! The Greatest Band of All Time!!!

Perhaps the greatest debut all time

Soul screaming is accurate! When David Lee Roth and Van Halen were kings.

A little historical perspective for you here , when this album came out in 1978 , Donna Summer and The Bee Gees ruled the radio. This being due to the popularity of the Saturday Night Fever movie. Disco was at its peak. Along comes Van Halen and this debut album. They single handedly saved rock n roll. Nobody had ever heard anyone play guitar like Eddie did. The swagger they had right out the gate was something else. As others have said , react to Eruption & You Really Got Me together. Eruption is short and almost serves as an intro for You Really Got Me.

Michael Anthony the most underrated backing vocals

This album changed things for a lot of us who hadn’t listened to hard rock yet.

The mastery of the instruments will melt your mind. All of them had thousands of hours playing together and it shows. Welcome to VH world my friend! Monster tone.

Hello my friend. This album is going to melt your brain. For me, eddie vh was the best rock guitarist ever. He was my childhood hero and inspired me to play guitar. I've been playing and teaching as a pro for 30 years now.😮( I'm old).

Blew us away !

Wow...what a ride this will be. The song title refers to life on the road as a musician. It's a hellish life. So, it's not as diabolical as you might think.

The greatest Rock and Roll record of all time, VH Forever

So it's 1978.... and my brother returns home from a concert in Cincy where "the opening band" featuring Van Halen, were phenomenal. They created a buzz among his peers saying "gotta get this album" . At the time, I was an Elton John fan. After my brother played VH's debut....on vinyl, I was stunned. New fav: Van Halen. Ohhh myyy . It's what I needed. Hope you enjoy!!! Ps: at that concert... the band VH outplayed was "Black Sabbath" . Wow .

You will love this album. It's a rollercoaster ride, sit back and have fun.

Just imagine... no one had even heard of VH and THIS Album drops....I was in awe like most people! I was fortunate enough to see them in concert not long after at the CWMF 😎

Man, I really enjoyed watching you deep-dive through Fair Warning. Fair Warning & Van Halen 1 are my favorite VH albums, and pretty close to being my two favorite albums PERIOD. I'll bet that you're going to enjoy your VH1 deep-dive as much as the Fair Warning one, or maybe even more. You're going to LOVE Eruption/You Really Got Me (do this as a two-fer), Also, and there is no strange/quirky ending like One Foot Out The Door. It's all fire, start to finish! I'm The One (probably the single greatest one-take song in guitar history), Atomic Punk, Ice Cream Man (you'll LOVE what they do with the blues on this one!) and On Fire - all barn burners! Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love, Jamie's Cryin', Feel Your Love Tonight, and Little Dreamer are all as catchy as any Top 40 songs! For my money, Van Halen is the greatest debut album ever, start to finish.

He he he - great way to start the album with Running with the Devil - hold on and get ready brother, you are going to freak out! This album is a nuclear bomb times 1000!!!! It changed everything in Rock and Rock! Can’t wait to see your face and comments. Ed’s sizzling guitar tone is epic!!!

My all time favorite song and album from these guys ! Oh Memories 1978 High School Senior

Powerful Dave and the boys bring it. This man knows when he hears something great.

I’m glad you’re listening to their first Album. It completely rocks! This was the first record they were recording. Eddie did not want to overdub. Mainly because that’s not the way they played live. But on running with the Devil and Jamie’s crying, there’s some overdubbing to have rhythm in the background while he plays lead over the top. But I think the rest of the album it’s all straight one guitar.

…..the more you turn up that volume…. the better it sounds 🔥❤️🎸 great reaction !

Great choice my friend this is what open my mind to rock and roll When it 1st came out in 78.... Headphones on with a cassette player and heard eruption Going into this oh my god

Should be on everyones play list

MugZ, You Listened to us! No worries, "Devil" is more figurative. Van Haleniacs are rabid...watch your views count up! I saw them in 83' at the "US Festival" with 350K of my closest friends! VH broke a record commanding 1 million (+) for this performance! Their live performances were "a sight to behold" and with Sammy Hagar as well, ( let's make it all the way there, MugZ). Thank you for continuing this iconic catalogue!

This had the same effect in 1978 that Nirvana and Cobain had on the 90’s generation. Eddie Van Halen had a classically trained Dutch father and an Asian mother. He and his brother lived music. It was their language from early on. Eddie had an engineer’s mind and a musical savant brain. Boy could he bring the groove and sound.

PRODUCER TED TEMPLEMAN and ENGINEER DON LANDEE deserve most of the credit for the SOUND they captured from Van Halen. Without them, this first and all the albums through 1984 wouldn't have sounded as good.

Little Dreamer is one of my faves from this album. I’m the one is the band rock in at 100+ mph

great reaction Mugs!....this is where it all began...when I was 12

This song on this album changed everything for me at 12 years old. June 1981 for me. I had a classmate named Brad who was blasting this out of his boombox on a 6th grade end of the school year class trip to the big town park. This was THE marker where my temperament changed and I found this a a blueprint for something different, something that said there’s no need to just do as you’re told and just go with the flow to the land of status quo. 43 years after first hearing this, It still rings that freedom to me in the same way. It breaks my heart that VH is over, if for no other reason, because nobody else makes music that good, and likely never will.

This album was explosive when it came out. It definitely changed the rock music scene at the time...and we all loved it! This is still my fav VH album.

Van Halen I = The Blueprint.

The First Van Halen record is a total classic. However, i prefer Fair Warning by just a tad. Its a special record. But VH1 is one of the greatest rock records of all time.

Wait until you hear the next track.

Car horns and reverse reverb! Hello world we are Van Halen!!

Great reaction! The beginning of a whole new era in rock music. Every teenager flipped off the bed, every rock band took a knee,record companies went scrambling to find someone like this and guitar companies threw up their hands. Ozzie Osborne of Black Sabbath at the time had them as their opening act and after just a few shows they were too much to follow. They became the main attraction very early in their career,this album was recorded in like 5 weeks live in the studio. The next Track “Eruption” arguably the greatest guitar solo ever. And if not the greatest it was the most influential for sure. He recorded it one take. The crazy thing about this was his guitar was the only one in the world at the time. Couldn’t buy this off the shelf. Fender strat meets Gibson. Everything on this guitar is heavily modified. The tone was not of this realm. The humbuckers of the Gibson in the strat was of genius thinking. Set aside this kids talent for music. I mean how many times do you hear of someone doing anything like this? Guitar teachers had no answer for this. They had no idea what he was doing. They didn’t have tablature for this yet. So they couldn’t cipher it to paper to be replicated. You take this guitar sound and then add the rest of the elements, Dave’s unmatched persona,Mike and Ed’s beautiful harmonizing,Alex’s unique approach to the drums and sense of keeping time is why this album is the best debut of any artist period. The stage was set for an entire decade to come. What you are about to witness is 1950’s rock meets back to the future on fire culture shock. The barber shop boys with electric toys.

I remember hearing this when it came out I was 12 and it blew my mind

Awesome you are playing VH albums front to back. They are truly a collective experience. VH1 only accelerates from here so have fun!

Soul scream 😂😂😂

The harmonies were sung by Ed (the G.O.A.T.) Guitar player and Mike the Bass Player. Those background vocals are amazing. You need to react to Eruption and You really got me in one video. Eruption is about one minute and forty seconds.

One of my favorite VH albums❤️

as a mostly Jazz R&B guy, sometimes head back to the only rock album that stayed on the playlist, bc man, it'll be go time after that

...and God said...Let there be Edward Van Halen...

DEBUT ALBUM, DEBUT SONGGGGGG MUG, WAYYYY TO GO !!! 💯😊DAVID LEE ROTH! 👍

There's an isolated vocal track out there of this one worth hearing. The whole track is posted by Daveshmadecalabria

Love your vids brother. Keep them coming. he's admitting that living the fast life, running with the devil, is gonna kill him.

You are going to enjoy the Mighty Van Halen. As stated already by most of the previous comments, this album changed the music world, literally!

Man you are the coolest. Can't wait to hear you do "I'm the one"

I remember my older brothers bought this album and after school the Next day we all went to my house with friends and listened to this every second on tapes and records best of times van halen is number 1! ❤

My favorite 80s band! Although Zeppelin remains my favorite for life...in the 80s i loved VH! I was 18 in 1978 when thus came out ..i ran out to buy it! RIP to Eddie Van Halen..what a great guitarist!

Interesting fact about this album. One of only two debut albums that sold over 10 million copies (other one was Boston). Later Guns N’ Roses did the same with Appetite For Destruction.

I heard this album for the first time in '79 on the Jersey shore boardwalk. Saved and bought my first cheap striped guitar in '81 when I was 14yo because of this album. In '83 I bought my first real Kramer guitar because of this influence. Like many others have said in your comments, you have to put the songs in perspective of the date and era they hit the world. At that time it hit the world like lightning because it was was so innovative and sounded so new and so good. His playing influenced my style for a lifetime as a musician, although I could never hold a candle to the master.

Ice cream man and Atomic Punk are two of my favorites from this album.What in hell am I talking about?I love the whole album.KILLER!

Excellent reaction. Yes, David has a lot of soul in him.

I chopped firewood as a teen to this on my cassette player, it’s a great workout song too.

Masterful reaction to a classic song. Well done!

The last time it was tallied it sold 17 million worldwide

Next song "Eruption" is the greatest guitar solo Ed ever did..........it ends and slides right into "You Really Got Me" - play them both together.......CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOUR REACTION !

I'm really enjoying your reactions to the greatest band of all time!

Your breakdowns are right on point sir👍🏻

Love your reactions bro

Awesome that you’re moving to this album, I like it a little more than fair warning

Before Bon Jovi and Guns and Roses and Motley Crue this is where arena rock started. Big sound big guitars.

I don’t run with the devil but I have to admit this song is 🔥

The thing about most all time great bands is that they have many influences. Roth definitely inspired by blues and funk singers and the band mixes rock and blues and groove. Just like Black Sabbath isn't just a heavy metal band, there are definitely blues, jazz, folk influences in their music, but often bands inspired by Sabbath hone in on the heaviness of the music, not all the idiosyncrasies. A lot of guitarists in the 80s said EVH was an influence and you could hear it in the soloing. What their missing is the grooviness of his rhythm playing.

One of the Greatest Debut Albums of All Time!!!! Whole album is 🔥

Bingen on your Van Halen reactions 🔥🔥🔥 Thank you man 🙏enjoying your journey 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

Excellent reaction! I'm with you on the D word. Can you imagine hearing this as a 15-year-old in 1978? It was such a macho sound. Van Halen just sounded way different than everybody else at that time

This sounded like a bomb went off when I first heard it.

@justme7185 is absolutely right on. I was 13 in 1978 when this thing dropped like a bomb. No one had ever heard anything quite like this before. This is one of the greatest debut albums up there with Boston's.

This hit my freshman year of high school. Nothing sounded like Eddie Van Halen in ‘78.

Michael Anthony, Alex Van Halen, and Eddie Van Halen had some great harmony. This is them this isn't auto tune.

This album is amazing!

You should have seen them live on this Album OMG!!!!

These were recorded live...

Strap in for what's coming next! Spoiler, it's one of the most famous, replayed, and influential pieces of music in modern music history. Enjoy the ride! Also can't wait till you get to Ice Cream Man. I think you'll like that one a lot.

Dynamics (soft/loud) are 1 of the main "go-to" vibe changes for rock bands.

That bass line and that lil glass break keys sound in beggining always gets me. 🔥

Yep the fast life

Ayyyyyyyy nice. Next song is both track 2 & 3 in a pair usually - think you did the live of Eruption right?

This album was a game changer as a debut album. It did the same for music as Sabbath and Zeppelin did with their debuts back in their day to name a few

One of the biggest reasons they were able to come out so strong on the debut album was because they had paid their dues for years. Show after show after show up and down the west coast. They were able to hone their chops and figure out just what they wanted to be well before the point this was released. This is something that's lacking in American music for a good while now...the time and space to kind of marinate and slow cook while being below the radar. This is one of the best true rock bands of our lifetime, because it was always about the songs.

Something volcanic is right around the corner, my friend.

When this record came out it was an explosion. First memory -- I was a kid at a typical overnight summer camp. There was one camp counselor who played this at full blast every day at the same time for an entire week.

Nice. Reaction. Those screems at the end of the song. He's burning if you know what I mean. They're trying to warn ya about running in the streets. Van Halen came out swinging. Right off the bat. When folks heard this back in the 70s they knew this was something different and they were testifying.

This is the album that the original members of GNR were listening too which laid the groundwork for Appetite for Destruction

10 million just in the U.S. not worldwide.

FYYYYRRRRR DEBUT ALBUM MUG! 👍😊ICE CREAM MAN, JAMIES CRYIN,

Dave was an awesome front man 🇺🇸👍🏼

We all remember where we were the first time we heard VH

No overdubs

I was 14 years old in 78 when this came out..before this,in the hard rock vein,you had Kiss,Ted Nugent,Aerosmith,Styx,Boston,etc…VH 1 was like a sledgehammer..NOTHING sounded like this!!it changed everything..Charvel/Jackson probably would not have been such a huge guitar company if not for EVH…prior to that,you played a Gibson or a Fender,but then this kid comes along,with a homemade guitar consisting of parts from other guitars,and turned the music world on its head…after VH,”hot Rodded “guitars became all the rage…he was instrumental in helping create the Floyd Rose bridge..Ed changed music and the tools to make music in so many ways,even to this very day….He re-defined what we thought a guitar was supposed to sound like….but it was the songs that made Van Halen into what they were…those of us that were around when this record came out,it’s hard to overstate just what an impact this had…Completely jaw dropping at the time….

I was 18 when this album came out…..my buddies and I went WTF is this? The seventies were filled with unbelievable bands

I thought he said ........Face that Guilt ...but pace that kills is cool too

I really like these videos you are doing with Van Halen. I have listened to them for 40 years now and I rarely hear what dave is on about because I am so drawn to the guitar and drums work. this is the first time i tried to understand what dave is singing about lol. usually i have no idea what dave talks about let alone what hes singing about ( sometimes i dont think he knows either lol)

My understanding is when they recorded this album - Eddie learned that typically guitar solos needed a backing track so those were written on the spot with just the simple power chords. He had written songs for live performances and one guitar player. I contrast that to Fair Warning where I believe there are several solos with just the bass and drums (my theory is he had enough credibility by 1981 to do it his way versus submitting to what was "normal") ..

This is how a lot of us heard Van Halen for the first time back in 78 !

Nice 👊🏽⚡️ Yeah as a Christian the chorus lyric is a bit abrasive. But when this came out I was right there with the lyric. Now when I listen I just remember my mind set back then am am crazy thankful I survived and chose God instead. Impossible to ignore the God given talent in the music.

That scream you hear is the bass player Micheal Anthony!!!!!