Published on Dec 24, 1998
Lately, I’ve been listening more to this album. It’s really
funny how stuff that’s been out for so long still catches your ear
and tells you something. Granted I wasn’t there, but from what I
understand, this album made one hell of an entrance into the
collective conscious of American youth when it came out back in
1978. The vocal stylings of David Roth (a.k.a. David Lee Roth), the
tough rhythm section of bassist Mike Anthony and drummer Alex Van
Halen and the thunder that was Eddie Van Halen are in full display
right here and made people notice. I guess that’s what busting your
ass in small clubs for years will do to you.
The album begins with the tough “Runnin’ With the Devil.” I love
Mike Anthony’s bass line on this song. That intro is so cool. Next,
you have the now-classic “Eruption” followed by their first hit,
“You Really Got Me.” Chances are when “Eruption” first played, you
went “what the hell??!!” Yet now, it seems to have always been
here.
One thing that strikes me is that there’s a toughness inside
this album. This isn’t a pop album like they would do later on. I
mean, “Runnin’ With The Devil,” “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,” “Atomic
Punk” and “On Fire” are all mean, tough songs. (Cool effect notice:
the intro to “Atomic Punk.”) Even the more pop-ish songs are filled
with that. “You Really Got Me,” the cool “I’m The One” and “Little
Dreamer” all have the mean underlying that I’m talking about. About
the only songs that don’t really have it are “Feel Your Love
Tonight” and “Ice Cream Man.”
Like I said before, this isn’t an album that got hammered out
for three years in a studio. This is stuff they were playing live
for months and you can sense the urgency and toughness they imbue
the album with. Kudos go to the rhythm section for adding that to
the bottom. Plus, Dave’s antics are still very much working with
the songs — notice, they never take away from the songs.
The band went on to make more accessible albums (I can’t think
of “Beautiful Girls” and not think Schmitts Gay), but here’s their
intro. You can feel and hear that this is a band that wasn’t going
to sit idle anymore or wait for a fad to sneak in. They kicked the
doors off and demanded to be heard and hear we did. We still
are.