Maps of Music

Fair Warning (1981)

Where the lyrics of Fair Warning take you, and where it was really made.

The album sold more than two million copies in the United States, yet it was the slowest seller of the David Lee Roth era.

Key places

Recorded at Sunset Sound, Hollywood (1981)

Recording site Sunset Sound — Van Halen returned to Sunset Sound studios in Hollywood with producer Ted Templeman in early 1981 to record the album. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Fourth studio album by American rock band Van Halen
• Released April 29, 1981 by Warner Bros. Records
• Produced by Ted Templeman
• Lineup: David Lee Roth on lead vocals, Edward Van Halen on guitar and synthesizers, Michael Anthony on bass, Alex Van Halen on drums
• Peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200
• Sold more than two million copies in the United States

Background

• Slowest-selling album of the David Lee Roth era, despite positive reviews overall
• First album by the band to use synthesizer keyboards, originally played by Eddie Van Halen
• Eddie Van Halen later admitted he was angry, frustrated and lost during the recording

Recording

• Band returned to Sunset Sound studios in Hollywood with producer Ted Templeman in early 1981
• Synthesizer first appears on the band composition "Sunday Afternoon In the Park"
• That instrumental is built mainly from keyboards

Cover

• Cover artwork uses details from The Maze, a painting by Canadian artist William Kurelek
• The painting depicts Kurelek's own tortured youth
• Insert includes a black-and-white portrait of the band members
• A second photo shows an exterior wall with cracked windows and handwritten graffiti based on a lyric from "Mean Street"
• The second photo was taken by rock photographer Neil Zlozower

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · discogs.com · fr.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Van Halen was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972.
• The brothers Alex (b. 1953) and Eddie Van Halen (b. 1955) were born in Amsterdam, moved to Pasadena in 1962, and began playing together in the 1960s.
• The band went through the names Broken Combs, Trojan Rubber Co, Genesis, and Mammoth before becoming Van Halen in 1973.
• David Lee Roth joined as lead vocalist in 1972 and Michael Anthony joined on bass in 1974.

Members

• Eddie Van Halen (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Alex Van Halen (drums), David Lee Roth (lead vocals, 1974–1985), Michael Anthony (bass, 1974–2006).
• Sammy Hagar replaced Roth in 1985 and Gary Cherone replaced Hagar in 1996.
• Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie's son, replaced Anthony on bass in 2006.

Career

• The self-titled debut album (1978) reached No. 19 on the Billboard 200 and was later certified Diamond by the RIAA.
• The album 1984 (1984) produced 'Jump', the band's only number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100.
• With Hagar, the band released four U.S. number-one albums, including 5150 (1986) and OU812 (1988).
• Eddie Van Halen died of cancer on October 6, 2020; Wolfgang later confirmed the band had ended.
• The band has sold more than 80 million records worldwide.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• The Village Voice's Robert Christgau rated the album B−, meaning a competent or mildly interesting record
• Christgau praised Eddie Van Halen's new sound effects and a rhythm section that handled punk speed
• Critics gave the album mostly positive reviews despite its weak sales

Reappraisal

• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine found the album fairly positive in a retrospective review
• Erlewine called it a dark, strange album that lacks any song as purely fun as the hits from the first three records
• Erlewine wrote that it contains some of the fiercest, hardest music Van Halen ever made
• The Rolling Stone Album Guide gave the album two and a half stars out of five
• The Rolling Stone Album Guide named the synthesizer introduced at the end of the album as the most significant development

Records

• Peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200
• The single "So This Is Love?" failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 110 on the Bubbling-Under list
• Sold more than two million copies in the United States
• Remained the band's slowest-selling album of the David Lee Roth era
• Listed by Esquire among "75 Albums Every Man Should Own"

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Alex Van Halen discovered the Kurelek painting and started the cover idea, and designer Pete Angelus made the collage
• Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo on "Mean Street" ranked number 79 among the best 100 solos by Guitar World
• Many fans consider this album the best of the band, the peak of Van Halen
• Eddie Van Halen later said he felt angry, frustrated and lost during the recording

Sources: fr.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

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