Van Halen II 40th Anniversary
Released on this day, March 23, in 1979. Van Halen's second album is an explosive encore to their groundbreaking 1978 debut album.
Singles from Van Halen's sophomore offering are "Dance The Night Away," "Somebody Get Me A Doctor/Women In Love," and the summertime classic "Beautiful Girls/D.O.A."
Van Halen II begins with a cover version of Linda Rondstat's "You're No Good." It's 1979. Record companies want cover songs of established hits. This helped propel Van Halen to early success with their 1978 debut album. By 1979, Van Halen had firmly established themselves as a hard act to follow, meaning they were going to blow your asses off the stage with or without cover tunes. Ain't nobody topped Van Halen, live in concert, in 1979. Write that down, it's a Rock & Roll fact.
One from the studio album...
Outta Love Again
Heavy Metal Thursday...we're two dudes from the '80s with a lot in common....it was our mutual passion for all things Van Halen which helped the wheels of creativity begin to move. Anthony Cioffi and I were both in the Marine Corps, served in the infantry. We're both Somalia Veterans. Van Halen was always right there from the time we first discovered their distinctive sound....kids of the late 70s, junior high and high school in the 1980s, at the height of the most significant part of the Van Halen story. Many stories we can associate with Van Halen. But we ain't got all day. I know this much....I was jamming Van Halen II on a pair of headphones in the last few hours before our rifle company did our amphibious landing in Mogadishu in March, 1995.
Listen to this kickass live audio from 1979. Fresno, California. Van Halen's second world tour and it's the opening night. Nobody worked a crowd like David Lee Roth. Nobody played guitar like Edward Van Halen. Nobody burned a city down like Van Halen in 1979....and brought the girls along for the ride, too. Stop arguing about it and listen to the crowd.
"We gotta bunch of new songs for you, people....the new album came out today!!"
David Lee Roth, March 23, 1979
"Thank you and goodnight!"
David Lee Roth