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5150
Studio album by Van Halen
Released	March 24, 1986
Recorded	1985-1986 at 5150 Studios, Hollywood, CA
Genre	Heavy Metal, Hard rock
Length	43:02
Label	Warner Bros. Records
Producer	Mick Jones, Donn Landee, Eddie Van Halen, Van Halen
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (C+) link Rolling Stone (favorable) link
Van Halen chronology
1984 (1984) 5150 (1986) OU812 (1988)

5150 is the seventh album by American heavy metal/hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1986. This was the first album recorded with new lead singer Sammy Hagar, who replaced David Lee Roth.

It was named after Eddie Van Halen's home studio, 5150, which is a California police term for a mentally disturbed person (a reference to Section 5150 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code). The 5150 name has been used several times by Van Halen. It is the name of Eddie Van Halen's private studio, the name of a custom Frankenstein striped Kramer Pacer Special used by Eddie Van Halen throughout the 80s, and the model name of a signature guitar amplifier endorsed by Eddie for his own EVH brand.

Overview

Before the album was released, Van Halen was having considerable difficulty finding a replacement for the popular David Lee Roth. To make matters worse, Warner Bros. Records advised them to discontinue the Van Halen name; they refused. The trio even considered a series of temporary singers to replace him, including Patty Smyth and Jimmy Barnes. However, Eddie Van Halen met former Montrose singer Sammy Hagar while getting a mechanic to work on his Lamborghini. The pair hit it off and the new singer and band immediately began work on new songs^[1]. In November 1985, the band went to work on the album; it would be finished in February 1986, just one month before its release.

The album was notable for a number of love songs and ballads, which were not a feature of the straight-forward rock stylings of the Roth-fronted era of the band. Many who had heard the previous incarnation of Van Halen called the new iteration "Van Hagar" either derisively or affectionately. Further increasing criticism was the loss of Ted Templeman, who left Van Halen after producing every previous Van Halen album in order to produce David Lee Roth's solo LP debut, Eat 'Em and Smile. Templeman would return to produce Van Halen's For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album a few years later. Donn Landee took over producer duties after having served as an engineer on the previous albums. However, many noticed that the production on this album was markedly different from their earlier albums with Templeman. Eddie's guitar, which previously sat high in the mix and frequently pushed to the left channel (to simulate a "live" sound"), now sat equal in the mix and its overall sound had changed. This may have been his doing, as he was not a fan of the "live mix" that Templeman created with the Roth band.^[2]

Mick Jones was also brought in as a producer. According to Jones, the Van Halen brothers were "going through a particularly charged emotional relationship at the time, and there were some crazy situations that went on there." Jones feels that his biggest contribution to the album was drawing out the feelings in Hagar's vocal performances.

To further introduce the new era for the band, a new Van Halen logo was introduced on the cover of the album. The new icon retained the VH of the original logo, but now it had curved, rather than straight, "wings".

Despite the controversy associated with replacing a legendary frontman, the album itself was the first album by the band to hit #1 in sales. Although each prior Van Halen album had gone platinum, the band had not managed previously to top the album sales chart. The 1984 album certainly had the sales and momentum to do so but had the unfortunate timing of being released when Michael Jackson's Thriller album, the best selling album of all time,^[3] was at its commercial peak. The album was also Hagar's first #1 album, as stated by Hagar on the "Live Without a Net" concert video.

A live video was created during the tour for this album, which was released as Van Halen - Live Without a Net, which is today available on DVD. The tour itself was a significant change from previous tours. Where Van Halen had previously had years of material to work with, even on tour supporting the first album, Sammy Hagar was uncomfortable performing a number of Van Halen's Roth-penned hits. Therefore, almost all of the band's back catalog was dropped from the setlists. Instead, the band's live shows consisted almost the entire 5150 tracklist, a few Sammy Hagar solo hits ("I Can't Drive 55", and "There's Only One Way to Rock") and assorted covers (such as Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" and Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll"). The only Roth-era hits commonly performed were "Jump" (the band's lone #1 Billboard Hot 100 single), "Panama" and "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love", although "You Really Got Me", originally by the Kinks and the bands first single in the Roth era, was also done.^[4] However, unlike Roth, Hagar was a technically proficient lead guitarist and this allowed Eddie to display his talents on keyboards live while Sammy Hagar played the guitar parts, as seen in the "LWAN" video during "Why Can't This Be Love" and "Love Walks In."

The opening song "Good Enough" can be heard in the movie Spaceballs.^[5] Furthermore, this is one of only two Van Halen albums with a title track (the other being 1984 and not counting "The Best of Both Worlds" compilation). However, the titles of "Women and Children First" and "Fair Warning" are mentioned in songs from those albums, "Could This Be Magic?" and "Mean Street" respectively.

Track listing

All songs written by all members of the band

1. "Good Enough" - 4:04
2. "Why Can't This Be Love" - 3:47
3. "Get Up" - 4:37
4. "Dreams" - 4:54
5. "Summer Nights" - 5:06
6. "Best of Both Worlds" - 4:48
7. "Love Walks In" - 5:11
8. "5150" - 5:44
9. "Inside" - 5:02

Personnel

• Sammy Hagar - lead vocals, rhythm guitar
• Eddie Van Halen - lead guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, background vocals
• Michael Anthony - bass, background vocals
• Alex Van Halen - drums, percussion

Production

• Producers: Mick Jones, Donn Landee, Eddie Van Halen, Van Halen.
• Engineers: Ken Deane, Donn Landee
• Mastering: Bobby Hata
• Art direction: Jeri McManus, Van Halen
• Photography: Aaron Rapoport

Charts

Album

Billboard (North America)

Singles

• Billboard (United States)

References