Greg Prato, All Music Guide

Van Halen's self-titled 1978 debut is undoubtedly one of the all-time best debuts by a hard rock/heavy metal band. All of the components for a classic are represented -- excellent songs and high-octane performances (the excitement of their live show was captured perfectly by producer Ted Templeman) are used to create an invigorating, original sound. Like other acclaimed debuts (Led Zeppelin I, Are You Experienced?), Van Halen has a raw edge since it was recorded quickly, and every single song is a winner. It's also become one of the ultimate party albums over the years, since the overall mood is excited and celebratory. While singer David Lee Roth's bravado and the steady rhythm section of drummer Alex Van Halen and bassist Michael Anthony were both key ingredients, the main attraction was Eddie Van Halen's guitar playing. Few other guitarists have had such an instant impact on a generation of up-and-coming players, who copied his unorthodox, kamikaze style -- especially his trademark tapping technique showcased on the album's legendary solo "Eruption." Almost all of the tracks on Van Halen have rightfully become radio staples, such as the scorching rockers "Runnin' With the Devil," "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love," "Jamie's Cryin'," "Atomic Punk," and "On Fire," while covers of "You Really Got Me" and "Ice Cream Man" remain awe-inspiring to this day. Van Halen proved to be the ultimate coming-of-age soundtrack to many a teenager since its release, resulting in sales of over 10 million in the U.S. alone. Everyone on the planet should own a copy of this landmark release.

Jon Wiederhorn, Amazon.com

At least half of the songs on Van Halen's eponymous 1978 debut are still considered classics, and the Eddie Van Halen instrumental "Eruption" revolutionized the guitar community by introducing a technique called finger-tapping into the heavy metal lexicon. A magnificent debut for sure, but maybe the band should have held onto a few of their blockbuster tunes to bolster the lean years that started after 1984, and continue to the present day. Regardless, Van Halen amply demonstrate their drive, showmanship, and musicianship throughout, blowing the needle off the scale on such tracks as "You Really Got Me," "Jamie's Cryin'," "Runnin' with the Devil," and "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love."

Dominic Willis, Amazon.co.uk

If punk drove virtuosity from rock, Van Halen, with the flashy expertise of their debut LP, and as the stage-stealing support on Black Sabbath's Never Say Die tour, singlehandedly revived it. Main focus was guitarist Edward Van Halen, with his grinning good looks and startlingly fast fingerwork. The chiming, swooping instrumental "Eruption", which he'd often perform spinning on his back, sent a new generation haring down to the guitar shops. This was hard rock as no-holds-barred entertainment. Drummer Alex Van Halen would play with his kit literally in flames. Strutting, super-athletic vocalist David Lee Roth produced sexy, seedy, streetwise lyrics since matched only by Axl Rose from Guns 'n' Roses, but also possessed a pop sensibility that made hits out of "Runnin' With The Devil" and their cover of "You Really Got Me". Glamorous, humorous, heavy but heavily melodic, Van Halen was the high-water mark for 1980's US rock.

Steve DeLuca, Barnes & Noble

Any band that has the audacity to begin its debut album with the bass player plucking quarter notes on an open E-string had better deliver, and Van Halen do -- with a vengeance. Honing their craft on the club scene for years, Van Halen emerged in 1978 with an instant classic that featured the blistering guitar work of Eddie Van Halen, the madcap histrionics of frontman David Lee Roth, and the pounding, pulsating groove of bassist Michael Anthony and drummer Alex Van Halen. From the memorable introduction of the hard-rock classic "Runnin' with the Devil," Van Halen is a non-stop barrage of primal music, ranging from seminal rockers ("Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love," "I'm the One") and covers (the Kinks' "You Really Got Me") to blues revisions ("Ice Cream Man") and surprising poignancy ("Jamie's Crying," "Little Dreamer"). For all its pomp, the album had the musical distinction of introducing the world to the influential guitar work of Eddie Van Halen, who belongs in a lineage of guitarists that includes Charlie Christian, Chuck Berry, and Jimi Hendrix. What Van Halen are really all about, however, is fun, and it was their role as irreverent saviors of good time rock 'n' roll that made them such an integral part of the rock lexicon.

Steve Baltin, CD Now

Though Van Halen's debut was released in 1978, the album was, in many ways, responsible for the hair band explosion of the '80s. For that, Van Halen should apologize (as they should for their recent work and the soap opera-esque storyline of revolving singers), but there is no denying that Van Halen 1 was a classic hard rock record..
From the opening track, "Running With the Devil," the album's explosiveness is undeniable. Anchored by the searing guitar lines of Eddie Van Halen -- who would influence hard rock guitarists for years to come -- and the charismatic bravado of "Diamond" David Lee Roth, the Pasadena, Calif., quartet laid down the gauntlet for future hard rock challengers.
Several of the tracks -- including the quartet's vicious cover of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me," the hook-heavy rocker "Jamie's Cryin'," "Feel Your Love Tonight," and "I'm the One" -- went on to become FM rock radio standards.
Arguably the record's standout track, the defiant "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love," would become the centerpiece of the band's legendary early live shows. The gritty guitar and "Diamond" Dave's spoken-word interlude in the middle of the track encapsulated the attitude of both Van Halen and hard rock perfectly.
Rumors have everyone from David Coverdale to Neil Diamond set to become the next singer of Van Halen, now that Gary Cherone has left the band after only one album. But there's only one singer that fans of Van Halen want to see prancing on stage the next time the group hits the road. A reunion tour between Eddie, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, and David Lee Roth would be wildly lucrative. Wise up, guys. David Coverdale singing "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" just ain't gonna cut it.

Van Halen: David Lee Roth (vocals); Eddie * (guitar, background vocals); Michael Anthony (bass, background vocals); Alex * (drums, background vocals). Recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood, California in 1978.

Quite simply put, no-one had seen or heard anything like it. Roth's flamboyant showmanship, with the microphone dangling provocatively between his legs on the cover, and Eddie Van Halen's monstrously inventive guitar playing became a textbook for air guitarists the world over. From the instrumental blow-out of "Eruption," the gritty teen pop of "Feel Your Love Tonight," to the strutting riff around which "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love" was built and the grandiose reworking of The Kinks' "You Really Got Me," * set their own absurd standards. One of the truly great rock and roll/metal debut albums.

Charles M. Young, Rolling Stone, Issue 264, 1978

Mark my words: in three years, Van Halen is going to be fat and self-indulgent and disgusting, and they'll follow Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin right into the toilet. In the meantime, they are likely to be a big deal. Their cover of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" does everything right, and they have three or four other cuts capable of jumping out of the radio the same way "Feels like the First Time" and "More than a Feeling" did amid all the candyass singer/songwriters and Shaun Cassidy-ass twits.
Van Halen's secret is not doing anything that's original while having the hormones to do it better than all those bands who have become fat and self-indulgent and disgusting. Edward Van Halen has mastered the art of lead/rhythm guitar in the tradition of Jimmy Page and Joe Walsh; several riffs on this record beat anything Aerosmith has come up with in years. Vocalist Dave Lee Roth manages the rare hard-rock feat of infusing the largely forgettable lyrics with energy and not sounding like a castrato at the same time. Drummer Alex Van Halen and bassist Michael Anthony are competent and properly unobtrusive.
These guys also have the good sense not to cut their hair or sing about destroying a hopelessly corrupt society on their first album. That way, hopelessly corrupt radio programmers will play their music.
Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band with the Rootettes, on the other hand, are already fat and self-indulgent and disgusting. This is a good thing because, in bypassing artistic maturity for immediate decadence, they have the distinction of being the first rock band in history to complain that their trusses are slipping ("My Wig Fell Off"). Oddly enough, they are also a good rock band. You would expect they'd be just clowns with a repertoire like "Heartbreak of Psoriasis" and "Too Sick to Reggae," but this outfit can play blues-based rock with anybody. Gary Katz, of Steely Dan fame, has produced a clean and eminently listenable instrumental sound while retaining the uniqueness of the Root's voice, which resonates like an emphysema victim vomiting inside the Goodyear blimp (check out "Boogie 'til You Puke").
All in their thirties, Root Boy and the rest can hardly be defined as New Wave. They are, however, part of the general movement of lunacy and satire that is shaking up the music industry. A lot of people thought the Sex Pistols were going to blaze the trail into the Top Ten, but the real breakthrough was Randy Newman's "Short People." Parliament/Funkadelic is having a similar psychological effect in black music. Like these two acts and unlike the punks, Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band are both humorously and musically accessible. Their stance as over-the-hill wimps is just unthreatening enough that hopelessly corrupt radio programmers might play their music. I hope so.

© Frank Steven Groen