Van Halen-Women and Children First (1980)
Artist: Van Halen
Title: Women and Children First
Sell Price: $5.20
Sell Date: 3/29/26
Condition: VG/G+ PRO REFURBISHED tested start to finish
Discogs Last Sold: 12/5/22 VG/not graded $3.50
Low: $3.50
Median: $4.35
Average: $4.35
High: $5.20
Current low price: $8.00 G/no cover
Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 5
Have/Want: 29/38
Where Sold: Fort Worth, TX
Time It Took To Sell: 2 years
Where and When Buught: Ebay lot
Gwiz-gau Grade: A-
Sad To See It Go: No
"Oh yah, Van Halen!"-cromagnon Junior high schooler from New England in the early 80's expressing his music taste
Van Halen was the award winner of Blue Collar radio rock in the early 80's among the kids for sure. Borch belt Diamond Dave went further to the Catskills and Eddie Van Halen and his brother Alex with their Michael Anthony got "serious" to address the concerns of tech heads and pop fans alike by the mid-80's. However IN 1980, Van Halen were VAN FUCKING HALEN, riding high on two albums that dominated the U.S. of A with Kinks covers, instrumentals, a heavy metal samba song and a top 40 dance hit with no disco groove. When album number three came out, they had to go to the well of their bar band days in the early 70's to flesh out the track listings. This was the first album not to feature any covers but that just meant they were covering themselves.
The song that dominated the radio and my pre-teen heart was "...And The Cradle Will Rock." What white kid would be so souless as to not mimic the guitar after the mocked father asked "have you seen juniors grades?" "Everybody Wants Some" followed on the record (shuffled on this 8-track) to the mid-point. That was easily the best song here for universality as well as sheer rockingness "Take Your Whiskey Home" was the other big radio hit back then. The other kids knew to finish that bottle in the woods at the keg party. There was a communal relatedness that parents maybe didn't understand but older brothers and sisters and cousins sure did.
As a kid, I thought it ended there and the rest of the record wasn't that good but most of it sounds good and even legendary over time. Fools make the rules, cupids arrow misses the mark but Romeo gets his delight some other night.
Could this be magic?
FOR FURTHER REVIEW:
Van Halen-Pretty Woman b/w Happy Trails (1982)
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