VAN HALEN 5150 LP

5150 is the seventh album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1986. This was the first album recorded with new lead singer Sammy Hagar, who replaced David Lee Roth.
It was named after Eddie Van Halen's home studio, 5150, which is a California police term for a mentally disturbed person. The 5150 name has been used several times by Van Halen. It is the name of Eddie Van Halen's private studio, the name of a custom Frankenstein striped Kramer Pacer Special used by Eddie Van Halen throughout the 80s, and the model name of a signature guitar amplifier endorsed by Eddie for his own EVH brand.

Before the album was released, Van Halen was having considerable difficulty finding a replacement for the popular Roth. The trio even considered a series of temporary singers to replace him. However, Eddie met former Montrose singer Sammy Hagar while getting a mechanic to work on his Lamborghini. The pair hit it off and the new singer and band immediately began work on new songs. The album was notable for a number of love songs and ballads, which were not a feature of the straight-forward rock stylings of the Roth fronted era of the band. Many who had heard the previous incarnation of Van Halen called the new iteration "Van Hagar" either derisively or affectionately. Further increasing criticism was the loss of Ted Templeman, who left Van Halen after producing every previous Van Halen album in order to produce David Lee Roth's solo LP debut, Eat 'Em and Smile. Templeman would return to produce Van Halen's For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album a few years later. Donn Landee took over producer duties after having served as an engineer on the previous albums. However, many noticed that the production on this album was markedly different from their earlier albums with Templeman. Eddie's guitar, which previously sat 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 his doing, as he was not a fan of the "live mix" that Templeman created with the Roth band.
Mick Jones was also brought in as a producer. According to Jones, the Van Halen brothers were "going through a particularly charged emotional relationship at the time, and there were some crazy situations that went on there." Jones feels that his biggest contribution to the album was drawing out the feelings in Hagar's vocal performances.

Despite the controversy associated with replacing a legendary frontman, the album itself was the first album by the band to hit #1 in sales. Although each prior Van Halen album had gone platinum, the band had not managed previously to top the album sales chart. The 1984 album certainly had the sales and momentum to do so but had the unfortunate timing of being released when Michael Jackson's Thriller album, the best selling album of all time, was at its commercial peak. The album was also Hagar's first #1 album, as stated by Hagar on the "Live Without a Net" concert video.

Track listing:
All songs written by all members of the band
"Good Enough" - 4:04
"Why Can't This Be Love" - 3:47
"Get Up" - 4:37
"Dreams" - 4:54
"Summer Nights" - 5:06
"Best of Both Worlds" - 4:48
"Love Walks In" - 5:11
"5150" - 5:44
"Inside" - 5:02

Sammy Hagar - lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Eddie Van Halen - lead guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, background vocals
Michael Anthony - bass, background vocals
Alex Van Halen - drums, percussion