1984 was a successful record not only because it contained solid, catchy hard rock, but also because it incorporated synthesizers into the mix, the first metal album to do so to any serious extent. Although the advances in electronic music make this material sound dated now, it's still a highlight of Van Halen's career. Songs like "Jump" contain a pop element that gave 1984 mainstream appeal, and David Lee Roth turned the frontman role into an art form on songs such as "Panama," "Hot for Teacher," "Drop Dead Legs," and "I'll Wait." To a large extent, it was 1984 that set the standard for '80s pop metal, and David Lee Roth who set the standard (or takes the blame, depending on your point of view) for the aggressively good-time attitude most pop-metal bands took for their own.

This album was the last one that David Lee Roth recorded with Van Halen and he definitely left on a high note. This is a very fun album. This song seems to have set the tone for a lot of bands in the years following.

Eddie Van Halen, well-known for his guitar prowess but also a classically-trained pianist, used 1984 as an opportunity to take the band into different territory. Eddie Van Halen's keyboard playing is more prominent on 1984 than on any prior Van Halen album, Additionally, 1984 was the first Van Halen album to be recorded at Eddie Van Halen's home studio, 5150. The studio lent its name to Van Halen's next album, the first with former Montrose vocalist/guitarist and solo artist Sammy Hagar.

1984 (written as MCMLXXXIV on the front cover) is the sixth album by American hard rock band Van Halen. One of the band's more popular albums (in terms of both record sales and chart performance), 1984 is the final album (to date) featuring singer David Lee Roth, who later left the band in the spring of the following year due to escalating tensions between him and guitarist Eddie Van Halen, as well as Roth's desire to pursue a solo career.

The success of the album, though, lead to the downfall of classic Van Halen. Roth left the band after they decided to move to commercialization, launching an unsuccessful solo career happered more by drug abuse than anything else. Sammy Hager became the new lead singer, and though he is a fine lead singer, he didn't have the bravado or attraction that Roth had on the stage or the muscle he brought into the songs. Van Halen also said goodbye to the metal lead hard guitar rock in favor of " hair pop-metal", a new genre that would take the late 80's by storm and flood the radio stations and MTV with so many clones they wouldn't know what to do with them.

TAB GUITARS INCLUDED

Download: