Honoring EVH - My Top 10 Van Halen Songs

A week ago today, one of the most undoubtedly influential guitarists of all time, Eddie Van Halen, passed away from cancer. As someone who was born well after Van Halen’s prime, I honestly didn’t expect the news to affect me as much as it has. However, seeing the vintage photos of Eddie with his red Frankenstrat guitar with its signature black-and-white stripes at sharp, random angles, it unlocked a nostalgic appreciation for the icon.

In sixth grade, I was big into 80’s rock (mainly because that’s what my parents had on the radio all the time). As is with every 80’s rock station to ever exist, “Jump” is guaranteed to be a staple, so I, of course, ate it up when I first heard it. But when I fell in love with their other well-known hits, such as “Panama” and “Runnin' With the Devil”, something inside of me clicked. These guys were not only great musicians, but they're unique, and I craved to dig into whatever else they had hidden from me in their catalogue. Thus began my first love for a rock and roll band.

I obsessed over the guys – specifically their six albums with David Lee Roth at the helms. The first CDs I ever bought (or, more accurately, asked my parents to buy) were those same six CDs. Eddie Van Halen fascinated me, not only with his craftiness and extraterrestrial creativity with a guitar in his hands, but with his juxtaposing presence that didn’t seem near as boisterous as his guitar solos. Then there was David Lee Roth, the lead singer that entranced me with a charisma that was three decades old. The fact that I wasn’t alive to see these guys at their peak will forever be a dream that I wish I could experience.

Simply put, Van Halen was my first favorite rock band, and they shaped my love for rock music that I still hold on to today. EVH’s influence goes much further to others, as some kids actually picked up a guitar for their first time, in hopes of one day conquering Eddie’s iconic and equally insane finger-tapping. For me, his music ignited my taste for rock music, and I’ll forever be grateful to him for that.

With that said, I’ve compiled my personal top 10 list of Van Halen songs. This was tough to put together, but as with all of my lists, remember: my opinions are actually facts, and if you disagree, then you’re simply and unfortunately wrong. Anyway, here we go.

Honorable mentions: "Romeo Delight," "I’m the One," "Hear About It Later"

10. “Mean Street,” Fair Warning, 1981

There are deeper reasons why this song makes my list other than the sound. Yes, the 33-second intro is absolutely mesmerizing – what with its galloping beginning that gradually mimics a pursuing predator, and then morphs into a frantic electrifying ambush. And yes, the subtly hardcore riff that immediately follows is hard and evocative enough to make you want to ram your head against a brick wall just like the guy on the album’s cover. But when you consider that this is the album’s first song and that this intro is the first thing that attacks the listener, that amplifies this song’s magnificence. The album’s dark tone is set-up perfectly by the first things the listeners experience: the album’s cover (a snippet of the psychologically dark and grotesque painting The Maze by William Kurelek) and this song. The icing on the cake may be David Lee Roth’s spoken warning towards the end of the song.

See a gun is real easy

In this desperate part of town

Turns you from hunted into hunter

Gonna hunt somebody down

Wait a minute, now, somebody said “Fair Warning!”

Lord, strike that poor boy down

9. “Dancing in the Streets,” Diver Down, 1982

So fun fact about me: I was not born in the 80’s. Therefore, I do not know if “Dancing in the Streets” was Van Halen’s first departure from heaviness in regards to a more pop-influenced lean, but from my extensive 6th grade obsessed research, I gathered that it is. Back in 1982, people were apparently not huge fans of Van Halen’s heavily cover-drowned Diver Down album, which has always been surprising to me, because cover albums can go much worse. This song, just as Van Halen’s other covers, wasn’t butchered or insulted, but instead was added with an individual flare that only Van Halen could add. To me, this song has some of David Lee Roth’s cleanest and strongest vocals, as he relies more on his singing ability to carry the song than he does his improvised howls, as was the case in earlier albums (granted, you’ll find some howls in this song, but I’m not saying that’s a bad thing).

8. "Somebody Get Me a Doctor," Van Halen II, 1979

Unlocked only to the Van Halen vinyl divers, “Somebody Get Me a Doctor” is one of Van Halen’s more under-appreciated songs. It invokes everything that makes a Van Halen song great: a sound riff to begin the song, a terrific Michael Anthony background-vocal carried chorus, an irrefutably great EVH guitar solo, and DLR vocals that couldn’t be repeated in a million tries. On the DLR howls meter, this one ranks pretty high, which like I mentioned above, is not a bad thing.

7. "Hot for Teacher," 1984, 1984

There are many, many, many memorable things about this song. The drums at the beginning are probably the first thing that comes to mind when this song is mentioned, and that’s saying something. The fact that:

a.) the cigar-lounge guitar interludes,

b.) the verses literally being DLR forgetting to bring paper to a high school class,

c.) the absence of an article in the song’s title, and

d.) the scandalous and oh-so-hot music video

are afterthoughts when compared to Alex Van Halen’s drumming is an impressive testament to how much is going on here.

6. "Poundcake," For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, 1991

Spoiler alert: “Poundcake” serves as the only Sammy Hagar-lead Van Halen song on this list, which isn’t surprising if you look at any Van Halen list. Sammy Hagar’s replacement of DLR is a huge divisive line for Van Halen fans. The shifts in music style feel like the equivalent of breaking up with your naughty, cocaine-loving girlfriend that made your life a fun hell, in order to date the equally attractive teacher that has her life together and that your parents approve of. Sammy Hagar actually fit with the other three members of Van Halen astonishingly well. He made the band more well-rounded and slicker, brought to the band an ability to explore and broaden their style, while also adding new flavors to their existing sounds. The thing is, Van Halen fans loved Van Halen because they weren’t well-rounded and slick. They loved the edgy grittiness that DLR brought, and in some fans’ eyes, Hagar never stood a chance. Truthfully, that grittiness is still evident with Hagar at the mic, thus is the case in "Poundcake." A song that is nothing about the desert and is instead about, ahem, desert, all you have to do is listen to the lyrics to realize that your new, clean girlfriend is secretly a little dirty.

5. "Panama," 1984, 1984

There aren’t many songs that tackle you immediately once you hit “play” quite like “Panama” does. And it continues tackling you every time you stand back up for the next three and a half minutes. I’m convinced that it is physically impossible to listen to this song in your car without rolling your windows down. And once the chorus hits and you wail “PANAMA” at the top of your lungs, an incomparable bliss is unlocked, and you’re suddenly sent back to 1984 when times were simpler, everything was an adventure, and you didn’t have bills or kids to worry about. The fact that I have experienced none of the above, yet somehow feel it when this song comes on, makes absolutely no sense but also makes all the sense in the world. And who can forget the provocative DLR spoken word as he revs his car’s engine (which is actually Eddie's 1972 Lamborghini)? Few things in this world are as masculine as those twenty seconds.

4. "Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love," Van Halen, 1978

Speaking of DLR spoken words, let’s talk about the song with my favorite one. There are a lot of solid DLR speech breaks to choose from (i.e. “Unchained”, “And the Cradle Will Rock…”, “Panama” and “Mean Street” mentioned above), but something about the weight of the break in “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” makes it feel real and reflects the thoughts of someone who has withstood struggles and darkness:

I’ve been to the edge

There I stood and looked down

You know I lost a lot of friends there, baby

I got no time to mess around

So if you want it, got to bleed for it, baby!

Now, is there a chance DLR pinned these lyrics only because they sound violent, deep, and cool? Absolutely. But to me, it speaks volumes. That, paired with yet another remarkably heavy and catchy EVH guitar intro, is what ranks this song so high for me.

3. "Could This Be Magic?," Women and Children First, 1980

This song ranking at #3 may be a huge shocker for people who follow Van Halen, and if you don’t follow the band, then you probably have never heard of this song. “Could This Be Magic?” serves as Van Halen’s first fully acoustic lyrical song to appear on their studio albums, and as a borderline folk song, it serves as a breath of fresh air that you weren’t even looking for. The simplicity and coziness that this song carries is unlike anything that the band had recorded before (and really will record until 1982’s Diver Down). Plus, the album’s title is found in the song’s lyrics, which in itself makes this song much more essential than at first glance.

2. "Jamie’s Cryin’," Van Halen, 1978

Years before Tone Loc’s “Wild Thing” was able to somehow turn this song’s drums and guitar licks into a very bad and oddly popular 90’s hip-hop song, “Jamie’s Cryin’” was a tremendous song in itself. My first favorite Van Halen song, this is also where I learned what a “one-night stand” was. I had initially thought this song was about Jamie’s singular nightstand beside her bed that someone must’ve stolen, but oh my, was I embarrassingly wrong. In my defense, I was twelve, but also, I’m not sure if twelve-year-olds should know what one-night stands are by that age or not. Anyway, that’s not the point. The point here is that this is a catchy song that tells a story that's still relatable 40 years later (even though I feel fairly confident that Jamie would’ve sent a text today instead of writing him a letter).

1. "Dance the Night Away," Van Halen II, 1979

There’s something about this song that screams an innocent zeal, a glimpse of what first-loves experience, a reminder of what it felt like to dance the night away. This is more than a beautiful song filled with inviting sounds and enjoyable melodies. It’s a song where you can actually hear the musicians having fun performing it, and as a listener, it’s almost impossible not to have fun with them. The combination of David Lee Roth’s vibrant vocals, Eddie’s warming guitars, Alex’s inviting percussions (and cowbell), and Michael Anthony’s groovy and melodic chorus makes this – in my opinion – the perfect song that nobody could ever replicate.

There's my list of my favorite Van Halen songs. Eddie Van Halen was the true definition of a legend, and his legacy that he left will forever be adored and remembered for centuries to come. Rest easy, EVH.