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5150
Studio album by Van Halen
Released	March 24, 1986
Recorded	1985 at 5150 Studios, Hollywood, CA
Genre	Hard Rock
Length	43:02
Label	Warner Bros. Records
Producer	Mick Jones, Donn Landee, Eddie Van Halen, Van Halen
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Rolling Stone link
Van Halen chronology
1984 (1984) 5150 (1986) OU812 (1988)

5150 is the seventh studio album by the American hard rock band Van Halen, released March 26, 1986 on Warner Bros. Records. Best known as the first of the group's recordings to feature lead vocalist Sammy Hagar, 5150 was a critical and commercial success; becoming the first Van Halen album to reach #1 on the U.S. charts.^[1] The album contains some of Van Halen's most well known "Hagar-era" songs: "Why Can't This Be Love;" "Best of Both Worlds;" "Dreams;" and "Love Walks In."

5150 was a turning point in Van Halen's established sound following the departure of founding vocalist David Lee Roth; one which found the group embracing more melodic, arena rock-style hooks, keyboard-driven ballads, synthesized drum sounds, and a more straightforward lyrical approach.^[2] Nevertheless, the album drew considerable critical praise upon its release and spawned a massively successful North American tour. At the time of its release, a Rolling Stone reviewer gave the album a respectable "four stars," saying, " It's a Van Halen world with or without David Lee Roth, and 5150 shoots off all the bombastic fireworks of a band at the peak of its powers. The Van Halen brothers are back in business."

The album's title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Section 5150, a California law which allows a "professional person" to involuntarily admit someone to a "psychiatric facilty,"^[3] and it is also the name of Eddie Van Halen's home studio where the album was recorded. Over the years, the title 5150 has also become a commercial trademark for the guitarist, who has endorsed electric guitar amplifiers bearing the name. As of 2007, 5150 has sold six million albums worldwide.^[4]

[edit] Background

The genesis of 5150 developed during a particularly turbulent time for Van Halen. Tensions between Eddie Van Halen and founding vocalist David Lee Roth were becoming evident, as was pressure to record a follow-up to the group’s most successful album to date, 1984, which had produced the band’s #1 smash hit single, “Jump,” that same year.

Tempers flared in early 1985 when the band returned to Eddie Van Halen’s home studio to write and record demo tracks for the new album. Roth’s efforts to develop film and solo recording projects created problems with the guitarist, who wanted Roth to concentrate solely on the band. Roth, who was becoming increasingly frustrated with the band's creative direction, quit the group in April, 1985 following a heated exchange with the guitarist at Roth's home in Pasadena.^[5]

Van Halen stalled before they began their search for a new vocalist. An idea for a project featuring guest stars Phil Collins, Joe Cocker, and Pete Townshend was discussed, but abandoned due to scheduling conflicts. ^[5] Scandal vocalist and family friend Patty Smyth was approached to work with the group, but she declined. ^[5]

On a suggestion from his auto mechanic, Eddie called Sammy Hagar and invited him to "jam." ^[5] Hagar, a successful solo artist and songwriter whose career boasted solo hits like “I Can’t Drive 55”^[6] and hits recorded by other artists(such as "I've Done Everything For You," recorded by Rick Springfield),^[7] claimed that he "knew" that the band would eventually get around to contacting him. ^[5] Nevertheless, he accepted the guitarist's offer, and soon he and the band began writing and rehearsing new material. When their efforts proved fruitful, Hagar began negotiating a release from his solo contract with Geffen Records, which the company granted in exchange for financial and promotional consideration from the re-constitued band.^[5] Sammy Hagar became Van Halen's new lead vocalist.

[edit] Recording and production

Although Van Halen were a multi-platinum act at the peak of their careers in 1985, executives for Warner Bros. were concerned about the band's marketability in the wake of Roth's departure, and insisted on hiring a producer to oversee the recording process. After considering industry veterans such as Rupert Hines and Nile Rogers, the label agreed to hire Mick Jones of Foreigner, whose group was enjoying the double-platinum success of its Agent Provocateur album.

Before legal negotiations began in earnest, Van Halen rehearsed with Hagar at 5150 studios to get a feel for the band's chemistry with the singer.

Just before Roth's departure, the band had written and rehearsed several songs. Among these, "Summer Nights” and “Get Up,” would later surface on 5150. Years later, in his 1997 autobiography, Roth confirmed that he had recorded some of the material, and expressed his disapproval with the “morose” music he felt the band was creating; calling the songs “melancholy power ballads.”^[8] Commenting on why his solo project took longer to release than 5150, he said, “It was easy for them, because they already had those tapes as a go point. It was going to take me a considerable while longer.” ^[8]

[edit] Notes