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.

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.

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)

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.

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

That picture of you three as teenagers had me on the floor 😂

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!

Jason, SPOT ON PERFECT call for OU812. Fair Warning 10? ohhh lawwdy.

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!

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.

Really enjoyed listening to y’all’s individual rankings and really glad to see some love for 1984 so high up at the top across all of them! Balance at #2 is a take I respect as I love that record. Everything else is really up to personal taste. My ranking would probably have to be (at this moment, totally subject to change): 1984 Van Halen Women and Children First For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge Balance Fair Warning Van Halen II OU812 5150 Diver Down ADKOT VHIII Stark jump between VHIII and ADKOT, and a stark jump between ADKOT and Diver Down upwards

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.

I think Michael Anthony's background vocals are overlooked - especially on the first 4 albums

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)

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

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.

My Ranking: 6. 1984 5. Diver Down 4. Fair Warning 3. Women and Children First 2. Van Halen II 1. Van Halen

Great video with the three way ranking. My list would be closest to Joes

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!

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 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.

1. Fair Warning 2. Women and Children 3. Debut Isn’t it crazy how so many VH fans rank albums differently?

My top three are: the debut album, Fair Warning and A Different Kind Of Truth. I love all three.

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

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!

(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

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!

1. Van Halen II 2. Van Halen 3. 1984 4. Fair warning 5. Women and children first 6. 5150

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

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

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. 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. 😜

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.

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.

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. 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

"Right Now" just sounds like a total commercial to me, ever since I heard it in a commercial.

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

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 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

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.

Your Beatles taste is pretty similar to mine, great list! I would rank Abbey Road even a bit lower.

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

Starting this and gotta say: HOLY SHIT Jason looks the most different! (Looking good bro😂)

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

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

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

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.

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...

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

In no way would ADKOT be better with Hagar, or would've even happened. Half the tracks are reworked demos from the 70's which Sammy has no place on. Putting W&CF and Fair Warning below ANY Van Hagar album is pure heresy.

Balance at 2 is criminal I think

For anyone to put Fair Warning so low is>>>>>>>>>>Special Needs

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

FAIR WARNING #1 if you grew up with them.

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

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

Van Halen 1 / 1984 Fair warning Women and children first Van halen 2 5150 ADKOT Diver down FUCK OU812 Balance Van halen 3

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!

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.

I love that picture.

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

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

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

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

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.

Yes! Day made by this!

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.

That pic of Jason at the beginning! Looks like he could've been the second guitarist in Nirvana!

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.

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.

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

Oh My GaWWWD. W&CF .... Cradle, Romeo Delight, Fools, Everybody Wants Some...... all VH classic FW: Hear about it Later, Unchained, Dirty Movies, Mean Street DD is half covers and silly songs. The original songs are great, but there's not many of them. 1984 was not rediscovering their sound. That was the sellout, made for MTV record. I don't hate it, but that's definitely what it is. 12. 3 (they played well on the tour anyways. Gary was willing to play way more dave songs than sam was) 11. OU812 (horrible; the rockers don't rock, the pop stuff is tooooooo syrupy) 10. a differenet....truth (a bunch of nice playing and moments; not horribly memorable songs, which makes sense because they were almost all songs that were rejected for previous records) 9. F u c Knowlege (this record is a little bit of editing from being much higher; several songs are 75% killer, but have a part that kills it: top of the world is built on the closing guitar bit in Jump) 8. Diver Down (The originals are great, just too many covers and silliness) 7. Balance (balance is the 'darker' sammy record, FW the darker dave record) 6. 1984 (some of the best work by EVH on the record is on the deeper cuts) 5. 5150 (written with dave in mind initially) 4. VH2 (songs that weren't quite on par with one, which is no insult. some great tunes) 3. Fair Warning (where eddie started to develop his 'brown sound' that he carried mostly from then on) 2. Women and children (VH2 was most of the debut's leftovers. WCF is when they had to really write again) 1. VH1

Interesting opinions.

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

Is that picture at the beginning you guys in high school/college?

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!

Great stuff lads , not a huge fan , but enjoy some albums , think they maybe a band who's greatest hits are excellent 👍

Putting fair warning that low makes me physically ill.

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.

You see, to me, this is your best video.

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

1. Van Halen 2. Fair Warning 3.Women and Children First 4, Val Halen 2 5. 1984

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

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

I realize music is subjective, but Ryan c’mon??? How could you put Women and children first and Fair Warning towards the end of your list? Two of the greatest Van Halen albums and most old-school fans would agree. You’re just not a VH fan period. You actually would put Diver Down before those two albums? That album was just slapped together last minute and Eddie hated it. All the DLR albums are better than any Sammy album and I saw the band live eight times

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.

Come on now. Runnin with the Devil is classic.

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.

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!

1. Van Halen II 2. Van Halen 3. Women and Children First 4. Fair Warning 5. Diver Down 6. 1984 7. A Different Kind of Truth

Joe nailed it: Different Kind of Truth has a few asskickers (stay frosty, chinatown) but DLR sounds bad. Frosty should have been the single.

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!

Um Van Halen 3 is very good! I'm sick of hearing the hate on this. Only how many say I is the only bad song.

Blasting “Light up the Sky” right now. Love VH2

Kramzer has Fair Warning at 10! That's almost as bad as Foxtrot at 12 Or Wherever Joe has Tales from Topographic Oceans (AKA the GOAT album) Only kidding boys!

Fair warning at number 10 WHAT??????