Episode 124 is here, We are doing our Two-Fer and it’s Van Halen‘s 5150! This week on the Rock Roulette Podcast, we’re diving into their first album with Sammy Hagar. How does this 1986 release hold up? Tune in to find out!

5150 (pronounced “fifty-one-fifty”) is the seventh studio album by American rock band Van Halen. It was released on March 24, 1986, by Warner Bros. Records and was the first of four albums to be recorded with lead singer Sammy Hagar, who replaced David Lee Roth. The album was named after Eddie Van Halen‘s home studio, 5150, in turn named after a California law enforcement term for a mentally disturbed person (a reference to Section 5150 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code). The album hit number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, surpassing the band’s previous album, 1984, which had peaked at number 2 behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller album, on which Eddie made a guest appearance.

Van Halen had considerable difficulty finding a replacement for the popular David Lee Roth, until July 1985, when Eddie was referred to former Montrose singer Sammy Hagar by a mechanic working on Eddie’s Lamborghini. The pair hit it off, and the new singer and band immediately began work on new songs.

The album 5150 was notable for a number of love songs and ballads, a contrast of the straightforward heavy rock of the original albums. Many called the new incarnation “Van Hagar” (derisively or affectionately). The nickname was so ubiquitous that, as Hagar points out in his book, Warner Bros. asked them to consider renaming the band as such; the Van Halen brothers refused.

Bolstering criticism was the absence of Ted Templeman, who having produced every previous album for the band, left to helm Roth’s solo Eat ‘Em and Smile. Templeman would return to produce Van Halen’s For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge several years later, for which Andy Johns had originally been tapped. Donn Landee took over producer duties for 5150 after serving as an engineer on previous albums. Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones was also brought in as a producer.

The production on this album was markedly different from their albums with Templeman. The guitar, previously 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 Landee’s doing, as he was not a fan of the “live mix”.

5150 is the first Van Halen album not to feature any instrumental tracks.

Van Halen
Sammy Hagar – lead and backing vocals, guitar
Eddie Van Halen – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Michael Anthony – bass guitar, backing vocals
Alex Van Halen – drums

Production
Mick Jones – producer
Donn Landee – producer, engineer, 2023 remaster
Alex Van Halen – producer
Eddie Van Halen – producer
Ken Deane – audio engineer
Bobby Hata – mastering

Art
Jeri McManus – art direction
Aaron Rapoport – photography
Van Halen – art dDan Chapman – illustrationirection

Intro Music/Wheel Spin Music by LiteSaturation from Pixabay