Appropriately titled 1984 release. Critics and fans adored the album, which charted second only behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Perhaps it was MTV that helped Van Halen chart hit after hit: “Jump,” “Panama,” “I’ll Wait,” “Hot For Teacher”… or maybe it was because they just were sooooo awesome. The 1984 concert tour was remarkably successful but tension between lead singer David Lee Roth and the rest of the band was so high that each member performed on a separate stage and left one at a time after the show. After the tour, they continued to promote the album on a short European festival tour, after which Roth quit the band. Van Halen moved forward, adding Sammy Hagar to the mix as a replacement for Roth. Following 1984, Van Halen continued to dominate the world of lead guitar with Eddie Van Halen’s pyrotechnics, but also wove in more synthesizer with the release of 5150 in 1986. Van Halen’s first new album since 1998 was released last year with A Different Kind of Truth, and reunion tours with David Lee Roth followed in 2008, raking in 93 million dollars, and the current on-off-on jaunt, headed for Japan in 2013.