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5150 is the seventh album
Album

An album or record album is a collection of related Sound recording and reproduction or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on their websites....
 by American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 hard rock
Hard rock

Hard rock is a sub-genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock and psychedelic rock and is considerably harder than conventional rock music....
 band Van Halen
Van Halen

Van Halen is a hard rock band formed in in 1972. They enjoyed success from the release of their Van Halen in 1978. As of 2007 Van Halen has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide and have had the most number one hits on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart....
, released in 1986
1986 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1986....
. This was the first album recorded with new lead singer Sammy Hagar
Sammy Hagar

Samuel Roy "Sammy" Hagar , known as "The Red Rocker", is an United States rock music guitarist, singer, composer and solo artist. Hagar was one of the three singers for Van Halen, as well as of the early 1970s rock band Montrose ....
, who replaced David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth

David Lee Roth is an United States Rock and roll vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality, best known as the lead singer of Van Halen....
.

It was named after Eddie Van Halen
Eddie Van Halen

Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen , is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and music producer, most famous as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen....
's home studio, 5150
5150 Studios

5150 Studios is Eddie Van Halen's home studio in the Studio City, Los Angeles, California of Los Angeles, California. The studio was built so that Eddie Van Halen could have more control over the recording process than he had in the past....
, which is a California police term for a mentally disturbed person (a reference to Section 5150 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code
5150 (Involuntary psychiatric hold)

Section 5150 is a section of the California Welfare and Institutions Code which allows a qualified officer or clinician to involuntary commitment a person deemed to have a mental disorder that makes them a danger to him or her self, and/or others and/or gravely disabled....
). 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 it is the model name of a signature guitar amplifier endorsed by Eddie for Peavey Electronics
Peavey Electronics

Peavey Electronics Corporation is one of the largest audio equipment manufacturers in the world, headquartered in Meridian, Mississippi in the United States....
.

Before the album was released, Van Halen was having considerable difficulty finding a replacement for the popular Roth.






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5150 is the seventh album
Album

An album or record album is a collection of related Sound recording and reproduction or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on their websites....
 by American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 hard rock
Hard rock

Hard rock is a sub-genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock and psychedelic rock and is considerably harder than conventional rock music....
 band Van Halen
Van Halen

Van Halen is a hard rock band formed in in 1972. They enjoyed success from the release of their Van Halen in 1978. As of 2007 Van Halen has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide and have had the most number one hits on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart....
, released in 1986
1986 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1986....
. This was the first album recorded with new lead singer Sammy Hagar
Sammy Hagar

Samuel Roy "Sammy" Hagar , known as "The Red Rocker", is an United States rock music guitarist, singer, composer and solo artist. Hagar was one of the three singers for Van Halen, as well as of the early 1970s rock band Montrose ....
, who replaced David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth

David Lee Roth is an United States Rock and roll vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality, best known as the lead singer of Van Halen....
.

It was named after Eddie Van Halen
Eddie Van Halen

Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen , is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and music producer, most famous as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen....
's home studio, 5150
5150 Studios

5150 Studios is Eddie Van Halen's home studio in the Studio City, Los Angeles, California of Los Angeles, California. The studio was built so that Eddie Van Halen could have more control over the recording process than he had in the past....
, which is a California police term for a mentally disturbed person (a reference to Section 5150 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code
5150 (Involuntary psychiatric hold)

Section 5150 is a section of the California Welfare and Institutions Code which allows a qualified officer or clinician to involuntary commitment a person deemed to have a mental disorder that makes them a danger to him or her self, and/or others and/or gravely disabled....
). 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 it is the model name of a signature guitar amplifier endorsed by Eddie for Peavey Electronics
Peavey Electronics

Peavey Electronics Corporation is one of the largest audio equipment manufacturers in the world, headquartered in Meridian, Mississippi in the United States....
.

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, Edward met former Montrose
Montrose (band)

Montrose was a Californian hard rock band. The band featured Ronnie Montrose on guitar and future solo star and Van Halen member Sammy Hagar. Rounding out the foursome on their Ted Templeman-produced debut, Montrose , were bassist Bill Church and drummer Denny Carmassi....
 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 was 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
Ted Templeman

Ted Templeman is an influential United States record producer....
, who left Van Halen after producing every previous Van Halen album to produce David Lee Roth's solo LP debut, Eat 'Em and Smile, although Templeman would return to produce the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge is the ninth album by the United States hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1991 in music. The album's title came from lead singer Sammy Hagar, who wanted to push the issue of censorship with naming Van Halen's album with a vulgarity, stating, "That's when censorship was a big issue....
 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. To further introduce the new era for the band, a new Van Halen logo was introduced on the cover of the album. The new icon retained the VH of the original logo, but now it had curved "wings" instead of straight.

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
1984 (Van Halen album)

1984 is the sixth album by United States hard rock band Van Halen. One of the band's more popular albums , 1984 is the final album featuring singer David Lee Roth, who later left the band in the spring of the following year due to escalating tensions between him and guitarist Eddie Van Halen, as well as Roth's desire to pursue a sol...
 certainly had the sales, and momentum to do so, but had the unfortunate timing of being released at a time when Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson is an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene at the age of 11 as a member of The Jackson 5 and began a solo career in 1971 while still a member of the group....
's Thriller
Thriller (album)

Thriller is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. The album was released on November 30, 1982 by Epic Records as the follow-up to Jackson's critically and commercially successful 1979 album Off the Wall ....
 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.

A live video was created during the tour for this album, which was released as Van Halen - Live Without a Net
Van Halen - Live Without a Net

Live Without a Net is a live concert video of Van Halen recorded in New Haven, CT in 1986, and released the following year. "Live Without A Net" was of Van Halen performance on August 27th 1986 at New Haven's New Haven Coliseum....
, which is today available on DVD. The tour itself was a significant change from previous tours. Where Van Halen had previously had years of material to work with, even on tour supporting the first album, Sammy Hagar was uncomfortable performing a number of Van Halen's Roth-penned hits. Therefore, almost all of the band's back catalog was dropped from the setlists. Instead, the band's live shows consisted almost the entire 5150 tracklist, a few Sammy Hagar solo hits ("I Can't Drive 55
I Can't Drive 55

"I Can't Drive 55" was the lead single and first track from Sammy Hagar's eighth studio album VOA in 1984. Perpetuated by very successful music video, it became a concert staple that continued throughout Sammy's tours as a member of Van Halen....
", and "There's Only One Way to Rock") and assorted covers (such as Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love
Addicted to Love (song)

"Addicted to Love" is a song by Robert Palmer . It is the third song on the Riptide album. The most commonly heard version runs around four minutes, but the full album version runs a little over six minutes....
" and Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin were an English rock music band formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page , Robert Plant , John Paul Jones and John Bonham . With their heavy, guitar-driven sound, Led Zeppelin are regarded as one of the first heavy metal music bands....
's "Rock and Roll
Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin song)

"Rock and Roll" is a song by England rock and roll band Led Zeppelin, which was first released as the second track from Led Zeppelin IV in 1971....
"). The only Roth era hits commonly performed were "Jump" (the band's lone #1 Billboard Hot 100 single), "Panama" and "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love", although "You Really Got Me", originally by the Kinks and the bands first single in the Roth era, was also done. However, unlike Roth, Hagar was a technically proficient lead guitarist and this allowed Edward to display his talents on keyboard live while Sammy Hagar played the guitar parts, as seen in the "LWAN" video during "Why Can't This Be Love" and "Love Walks In."

The opening song "Good Enough" can be heard in the movie Spaceballs
Spaceballs

Spaceballs is a 1987 science fiction parody film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks. It was released on June 24, 1987, and earned only modest returns, but has gone on to become a seminal cult film on video....
. Furthermore, this is only one of two Van Halen albums with a title track
Title track

A title track is a song which shares its name with the music album on which it appears. Examples include Michael Jackson's song "Thriller " and AC/DC's "Back in Black "....
 (the other being 1984
1984 (Van Halen album)

1984 is the sixth album by United States hard rock band Van Halen. One of the band's more popular albums , 1984 is the final album featuring singer David Lee Roth, who later left the band in the spring of the following year due to escalating tensions between him and guitarist Eddie Van Halen, as well as Roth's desire to pursue a sol...
 and not counting "The Best of Both Worlds" compilation). However, it should be noted that the titles of "Women and Children First" and "Fair Warning
Fair Warning

Fair Warning is the fourth studio album by United States hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1981 in music. Fair Warning went 2x platinum,, which was disappointing compared to the sales of the band's previous albums, making it the least commercially successful album of the David Lee Roth years....
" are mentioned in songs from those albums, "Could This Be Magic?" and "Mean Street" respectively.

Track listing

All songs written by all members of the band

  1. "Good Enough" - 4:04
  2. "Why Can't This Be Love
    Why Can't This Be Love

    is a single by Van Halen, off the album 5150 , the band's first with lead singer Sammy Hagar, who had replaced founding member David Lee Roth in late 1985....
    " - 3:47†
  3. "Get Up" - 4:37
  4. "Dreams
    Dreams (Van Halen song)

    "Dreams" is a song by Van Halen released in 1986 from the album 5150 . It was the second single from that album, and it reached #22 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart that year....
    " - 4:54†
  5. "Summer Nights
    Summer Nights (song)

    "Summer Nights" is a rock music song written by the group Van Halen for their 1986 album 5150. It is one of five singles issued for the album....
    " - 5:06†
  6. "Best of Both Worlds
    Best of Both Worlds (Van Halen song)

    "Best of Both Worlds" is a rock music song written by the group Van Halen for their 1986 album 5150 . It is one of five singles issued for the album, and also one of their most well-known songs....
    " - 4:48†
  7. "Love Walks In
    Love Walks In

    "Love Walks In" is a rock music song written by the group Van Halen for their 1986 album 5150. It is one of the five singles issued for the album....
    " - 5:11†
  8. ""5150"" - 5:44
  9. "Inside" - 5:02


† denotes a single

Personnel

  • Sammy Hagar
    Sammy Hagar

    Samuel Roy "Sammy" Hagar , known as "The Red Rocker", is an United States rock music guitarist, singer, composer and solo artist. Hagar was one of the three singers for Van Halen, as well as of the early 1970s rock band Montrose ....
     - lead vocals, rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar

    Rhythm guitar is the use of a guitar to provide rhythmic chord al accompaniment for a singer or other instruments in a musical ensemble. In ensembles or "bands" playing within the country music, blues music, rock music or Heavy metal music genres , a guitarist playing the rhythm part of a composition supports the melodic lines and solos play...
  • Eddie Van Halen
    Eddie Van Halen

    Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen , is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and music producer, most famous as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen....
     - lead guitar
    Lead guitar

    Lead guitar refers to the use of a guitar to perform melody lines, fill , and guitar solos within a song structure.In rock music, heavy metal music, blues, jazz and fusion bands and some pop music contexts as well as others, the lead guitar lines are usually supported by a second guitarist who plays rhythm guitar, which consists of accompan...
    , acoustic guitar
    Acoustic guitar

    An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only acoustic methods to project the sound produced by its strings. The term is a retronym, coined after the advent of electric guitars, which depend on electronic amplification to make their sound audible....
    , keyboards
    Keyboard instrument

    A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include various types of organ s as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic musical instrument....
    , background vocals
  • Michael Anthony - bass
    Bass guitar

    The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
    , background vocals
  • Alex Van Halen
    Alex Van Halen

    Alexander Arthur Van Halen is a Dutch-American drummer and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen.Originally, his brother Eddie Van Halen had taken lessons for drums, while Alex practiced guitar....
     - drums
    Drum kit

    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbell s, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer....
    , percussion
    Percussion instrument

    A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration....


Production

  • Producers: Mick Jones, Donn Landee, Eddie Van Halen, Van Halen.
  • Engineers: Ken Deane, Donn Landee
  • Mastering: Bobby Hata
  • Art direction: Jeri McManus, Van Halen
  • Photography: Aaron Rapoport


Charts


Album

Billboard (North America)
YearChartPosition
1986The Billboard 2001


Singles

  • Billboard (United States)
YearSingleChartPosition
1986"Best of Both Worlds
Best of Both Worlds (Van Halen song)

"Best of Both Worlds" is a rock music song written by the group Van Halen for their 1986 album 5150 . It is one of five singles issued for the album, and also one of their most well-known songs....
"		Album Rock Tracks12
"Dreams
Dreams (Van Halen song)

"Dreams" is a song by Van Halen released in 1986 from the album 5150 . It was the second single from that album, and it reached #22 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart that year....
"		Album Rock Tracks6
The Billboard Hot 10022
"Love Walks In
Love Walks In

"Love Walks In" is a rock music song written by the group Van Halen for their 1986 album 5150. It is one of the five singles issued for the album....
"		Album Rock Tracks4
The Billboard Hot 10022
"Summer Nights
Summer Nights (song)

"Summer Nights" is a rock music song written by the group Van Halen for their 1986 album 5150. It is one of five singles issued for the album....
"		Album Rock Tracks33
"Why Can't This Be Love?"Album Rock Tracks1
The Billboard Hot 1003