Rocktrospectiva: The Complete And Succesful "5150" Turns 40

 

Released on 24 March 1986 "5150" was the 7th., studio album by US rock band Van Halen. It was the first of four albums to be recorded with lead singer Sammy Hagar, who replaced David Lee Roth. The album was named after Eddie Van Halen's home studio, 5150, in turn named after a California law enforcement term for a mentally disturbed person (a reference to Section 5150 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code). The album hit number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, surpassing the band's previous album, 1984. The album spawned the singles "Why Can't This Be Love", "Dreams", "Love Walks In", & "Best Of Both Worlds". 

Van Halen had considerable difficulty finding a replacement for the popular David Lee Roth, until July 1985, when Eddie was referred to former Montrose singer Sammy Hagar by a mechanic working on Eddie's Lamborghini. The pair hit it off, and the new singer and band immediately began work on new songs. Van Halen went to work on the album in November 1985; it would be finished in February 1986, just one month before its release.

The album 5150 was notable for a number of love songs and ballads, a contrast of the straightforward heavy rock of the original albums. Many called the new incarnation "Van Hagar". The nickname was so ubiquitous that, as Hagar points out in his book, Warner Bros. asked them to considered renaming the band as such; the Van Halen brothers refused.

Bolstering criticism was the absence of Ted Templeman, who having produced every previous album for the band, left to helm Roth's solo Eat 'Em and Smile. Donn Landee took over producer duties for 5150 after serving as an engineer on previous albums. Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones was also brought in as a producer.

The production on this album was markedly different from their albums with Templeman. The guitar, previously 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 Landee's doing, as he was not a fan of the "live mix". Also 5150 is the first Van Halen album not to feature any instrumental tracks.

Despite the controversy of replacing Roth, the album was both the band's first (and Hagar's first) to top the Billboard 200, doing so on April 26, 1986, and was certified double platinum on May 28.

Reviews for 5150 were initially mixed, but in later years the album became considered one of Van Halen's most complete recordings. In the years to come, some critics praised the album in the years to come by saying it has a stronger songwriting due to Hagar bringing "a previously unheard sense of discipline" which led to 5150 being a "pretty impressive opening act for Van Halen Mach II."

 

5150 Track List: 

 

1. Good Enough

2. Why Can't This Be Love

3. Get Up

4. Dreams

5. Summer Nights

6. Best Of Both Worlds

7. Love Walks In

8. 5150

9. Inside