1984

1984 is a monumental work on which, while keeping Eddie Van Halen’s guitar revolution, the keyboards were pushed to the front to widen the band’s reach. The vivid synth riff of “Jump” is emblematic, but on “Panama” and “Hot for Teacher” the raw drive of the four members’ playing is not lost either. It is the culmination of the Roth era and the band’s greatest commercial success. David Lee Roth’s flashy character, Alex’s tough beat and Michael Anthony’s backing vocals turn Eddie’s ideas into arena-scale elation. Songs like “I'll Wait,” “Drop Dead Legs” and “Girl Gone Bad” breathe the band’s full playing too. A huge success on the US chart, it is a masterpiece emblematic of the 1980s, where hard-rock technique and pop immediacy joined happily. After this, Roth would leave the band for a time.