13. Van Halen / 5150. 1986. 3.5/5

There is an exchange in the movie Airheads that has Chazz asking Harold Ramis’s character “Whose side did you take in the big David Lee Roth/Van Halen split?”, and when he eventually answers “Van Halen” Joe Mantegna’s character immediately replies “He’s a cop”. Even though this movie was released a decade after the events it references, it was still a touchy subject and hot topic. Who made the better music – Van Halen fronted by David Lee Roth or Van Halen fronted by Sammy Hagar? As a teenager at the time, I can tell you the fight was real, and whichever side you took you would find yourself in an argument with someone. After the commercial success of 1984 and DLR’s departure, was there any hope for the next album, which happened to be 5150?

When this album came out, there was a bit of the residual shying away from allowing this album to be good to my ears. It would be traitorous to let myself actually enjoy this album, as a protest to DLR moving on from the group. Still, it didn’t take much for me to be won over to the dark side for a time. In essence, about three or four listens to the first side of this album was enough to convince me that the ship could continue on its course. And, all hysteria aside over the vocalist, why wouldn’t it continue? The rest of the crew was exactly as it had been through those first six albums, and surely they would be the posse that led the charge. And Hagar could sing, which on the first side of this album he showed with gusto. The opening stanza of “Good Enough” is a solid opening track, incorporating enough of the good vibe Van Halen sound to keep the optimism high. This is followed by the big selling single “Why Can’t This Be Love?”. The energetic “Get Up” is then overwhelmed by the high quality second single “Dreams”. In all of these tracks, the further infusion of keyboards and synths into the music is an attribute that slightly confused at the time, though perhaps not so much all these years later. It was the age of synths, and Eddie has a passion for the instrument as well. It’s just that most fans wanted to hear him playing the guitar rather than the keyboards, and these songs – especially the two singles – had him contributing a lot of one and only a slice of the other. The opening side was finished off by “Summer Nights” which always sounds as though it should have been performed by DLR.
The second side of the album falls apart a little bit. “Best of Both Worlds” is a reasonable song, though a bit standard tracked and without a lot of energy which could have been added. This becomes irrelevant as the dud ballad “Love Walks In” comes on. Seriously, Van Halen playing a true soft rock ballad? I still don’t think I’ve forgiven them for this. Sure there may have been songs in the past that have skidded close, but nothing on this scale. “5150” is a better rock track, living up to the more noticeable ideals of the band, while “Inside” is fine for what it is.

In the long run, I think this album probably highlighted its ideals better when it was released than it does now. And it probably never provided an answer to that burning question over the better prospects of Hagar or Roth. When running a rule over both 1984 and 5150 they seem to be on a similar path, one that has forked away from the guitar heavy earlier albums. Whichever man was helming the vocals for 5150 you would expect a similar result from the album. The music was changing, and while my feelings over the album haven’t changed since its release, that change is still obvious.

Rating:  “It’s got what it takes…”  3.5/5