Oh can't you see what I mean?
I can barely see the road from the heat comin' off of it
Ah, you reach down, between my legs and ease the seat back
She's blinding, I'm flying
Right behind the rear view mirror now
Got the feeling, power steering
Pistons popping, ain't no stopping now.
1984, stylized with Roman numerals as MCMLXXXIV, is the sixth studio album recorded by American hard rock band Van Halen. It was released through Warner Bros. Records on January 9, 1984.
In 1983, Eddie Van Halen opened up a private recording studio for the band, 5150 Studios. It was named for the section of the California penal code regarding temporary psychiatric holds.note During its construction, he started working heavily with synthesizers; he wanted to include keyboards in his band's repertoire for a while, but David resisted.
Interestingly enough, this permitted the next album to have a compromise between the new sound Eddie wanted, and the more instrumental hard rock Diamond Dave desired to stick to.
Hilariously, producer Ted Templeman, who was on David's side in the conflict, would later reflect unironically that the reason Van Halen became huge in The '80s—and, perhaps, survived Roth's departure—is because "Eddie Van Halen discovered the synthesizer".
Keep reading; you'll see that wasn't exactly true.
It was well-received. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice graded MCMLXXXIV a B+, and noted that it avoided the "fluff" and "schlock", creating "an all-purpose mise-en-scéne" for Eddie's guitar work. J.D. Considine of Rolling Stone, in particular, noted that its biggest hit song, "Jump", was not the kind of song you'd expect from such a band, but was put together by Roth's singing and Alex Van Halen's drum work to become an exemplar of Van Halen's catalogue.
It was ultimately rated 5 out of 5 stars by AllMusic, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine reflecting that the hoopla caused by the synthesizer work had actually been building since Van Halen's third album, Women and Children First. Ultimately, Rolling Stone would include the album in their list of 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s, at #81.
Commercially, it was a monster hit, going ten-times Platinum (later Diamond) in the United States. It also went quintuple-Platinum in Canada, and earned them their second Gold record in the United Kingdom. But it would hit a brick wall on the Billboard 200 album chart, only reaching #2.
That brick wall was Michael Jackson's Thriller. Which Eddie performed on with the song "Beat It".
It would still reach #6 on the year-end Billboard 200 for 1984, and was still in the top half of the year-end chart for 1985.
The album was supported by four singles: "Jump", "I'll Wait", "Panama", and "Hot for Teacher". The first three were all big hits in the US, with "Jump" becoming the band's only #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. While it wasn't exactly a hit on the pop charts (it did hit #24 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart), "Hot for Teacher" earned notoriety for its music video, which became popular on MTV.
Ironically, this turned into a springboard for David Lee Roth's solo career. Desiring greater creative control—with differing stories on other specifics—he quit the band after this album's promotional tour.
Tracklist
Side One- "1984" (instrumental) (1:07)
- "Jump" (4:01)
- "Panama" (3:31)
- "Top Jimmy" (2:59)
- "Drop Dead Legs" (4:14)
Side Two
- "Hot for Teacher" (4:42)
- "I'll Wait" (4:40)
- "Girl Gone Bad" (4:35)
- "House of Pain" (3:19)
Personnel
- David Lee Roth – vocals
- Eddie Van Halen – guitars, keyboards, background vocals
- Michael Anthony – bass guitar, synth bass on "I'll Wait", background vocals
- Alex Van Halen – drums
"I've got it made, so made; I'm hot for tropes":
- And Starring: Michael McDonald helped the band write "I'll Wait".
- Big "OMG!": During the Big Rock Ending in "Hot for Teacher".
- Big Rock Ending: "Hot for Teacher".
- Double Meaning: "Panama" could alternatively be about a Cool Car, or Auto Erotica, or Auto Erotica in said Cool Car.
- Instrumental: The Title Track which starts the album.
- Smoking Is Cool: The album cover shows a young angel holding a lit cigarette, with a couple open packs in front of them.
- Teacher/Student Romance: The subject of "Hot for Teacher", though perhaps more one-sided and tongue-in-cheek than other examples.
- Title by Number: The album shows the title in Roman numerals. The song is the Arabic numerals.
- Title Track: "1984", naturally.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The video for "Hot for Teacher" ends with this:
- Alex becomes a gynecologist
- Michael becomes a sumo wrestler
- Eddie gets committed to a mental institution
- David becomes a game show host
- The geeky kid in the video, Waldo, is said to have disappeared, but the video suggests he opened up socially and became a pimp.
