[40 Year Old Diver] -- In October 2020, we lost Eddie Van Halen, the guitarist and driving force behind the band with his surname. He was only 65 years old at the time of his death. But forty years ago this week, on April 14, 1982, a 27-year-old Eddie released Diver Down, the fifth studio album by the mighty VH. The album's first single – a cover of Roy Orbison's 1964 hit, "(Oh) Pretty Woman" – preceded the LP's release by several months, hitting the charts onJanuary 18, 1982. They released the second single – a cover of the Martha & The Vandellas song, "Dancing in the Street" – concurrent with the LP's release on April 14, 1982. The band was supposed to take a hiatus after releasing "(Oh) Pretty Woman," but due to the single's success, Warner Brothers put pressure on Van Halen for a new album, and the quartet squeezed out Diver Down in two weeks (according to tour manager Noel Monk's 2017 memoir, Runnin’ With the Devil. The album includes three other covers (for a total of five!):
- "Where Have All the Good Times Gone!" originally recorded by the Kinks
- the 1924 song "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)" – with a clarinet solo by Eddie and Alex Van Halen's father, Jan Van Halen
- "Happy Trails," the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans classic
There were also three instrumentals, which is three times the number of instrumentals featured on any previous Van Halen album. The instrumentals are "Cathedral," Intruder" (the intro to "Pretty Woman"), and "Little Guitars (Intro)."
After the darker themed Fair Warning (1981), Diver Down's combination of pop covers, brighter synths, and Eddie's blistering guitar riffs proved successful. The record peaked at #3 on the US Billboard 200, and even ended 1982 as one of the top 100 albums of the year. Of course, the singles did pretty well, too. "(Oh) Pretty Woman" peaked at #12 and #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Mainstream Rock charts respectively. "Dancing in the Street" peaked at #38 and #3 on those same charts.
At the time, Eddie Van Halen admitted he had fun recording the songs on this album. But Diver Down is supposedly one of the Van Halen brothers' least-favorite records, mainly due to recording so many songs that were previously hits. Having said that, my favorite tracks split the difference between covers and originals: "Dancing in the Street" and "Cathedral."
In the embedded YouTube playlist this week, the instrumental intro for two songs are part of the main track's video. So, the fifth video, Van Halen - (Oh) Pretty Woman (Official Music Video), has "Intruder" and "(Oh) Pretty Woman" together, and the seventh video, Van Halen- Little Guitars w/ intro (HD) ... well, it's pretty obvious what is in that video.
Flashback: Diver Down (1982)
That's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.
I'll see you in seven!
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