It’s Been 40 Years Since This Legendary Album Debuted
DETROIT - APRIL 5: American musician, songwriter, producer, and inventor Eddie Van Halen plays his custom Steinberger guitar at Cobo Arena during Van Halen's "1984 Tour" on April 5, 1984, in Detroit, Michigan.
It was 7th grade, and my two buddies Tony and Matt and I made the best and worst decision. We decided to take the day off from school. We were later caught and got into a lot of trouble for it. Nevertheless, it was one of the most memorable and fun days of my life. We spent our free time doing many things, but the soundtrack for the day was Van Halen.
I fondly recalled that awesome day when I learned that it was 40 years ago this week that Van Halen released their album, 1984. It wound up being their very last album with all of the original members. Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth. Never recorded another full-length album together with Sammy Hagar taking over for Roth.
They added a lot more keyboards and synthesizers for this record, and the first single, “Jump,” had that long synthesizer at the beginning. That song went to number one and got a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.
There were many other classic tunes on there, “Panama” and “I’ll Wait.” The record’s final single, “Hot For Teacher,” failed to reach the top 20, but it was huge thanks to its video. The video was directed by Roth and I remember it being on MTV constantly.
1984 went on to become one of Van Halen’s bestselling records. It sold more than 10 million copies and has been certified Diamond by the Recording Industry of America.
A year after 1984’s release, Roth went solo with Crazy From The Heat and that was the end of Van Halen as we knew it.
The highest-grossing tour in the band’s history was when Roth returned in 2006 for a reunion tour. Then Eddie passed away in 2020 ending any chance of any more reunions of any kind.
Happy anniversary to Van Halen’s 1984. I will never forget that awesome day back in 7th grade.
These Songs Turn 20 in 2024
The early 2000s in pop was such a magical time for music. Artists that have become legends were just starting out. Disney were still bursting onto the music scene in 2004, with actors like Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff. Then, you had returning pop mainstays like Gwen Stefani, Destiny’s Child, Avril Lavigne, The Black Eyed Peas, Kelly Clarkson, and Usher releasing music that year. Newcomers to the industry released tracks that may have been their one-hit-wonders or claim to fame in 2004, like JoJo with “Leave (Get Out)” and Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten.” Pop music that came out this time were either dance bangers or songs that would pull on your heartstrings.
Gotta Let It Burn
What a time to be alive: we relate to, and return to, the pop music that came out twenty years ago more than the music that came out in 2014. In 2004, Maroon 5, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, and Ciara were all enjoying massive hits. Usher was officially the biggest artist of 2004 when his Confessions album was named the best-selling album of the year, and his single “Yeah!” was named the most-played song of the year, according to MTV. According to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, Usher took the top spot with “Yeah!” featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris. Hoobastank’s “The Reason” came in second, with Maroon 5’s “This Love” in third. Usher’s other hit from his Confessions album took the number four spot with “Burn,” and in fifth was Nickelback’s “Someday.” We may never get music as diverse as these artists were in 2004. If we don’t, we’ll always come back to the music of this era to jam out on some throwback tunes.
Check out our list of seven songs we love from 2004 that turn 20 years old in 2024:
Joel Katz is the Morning Show Personality, Assistant Program Director, Podcast Host, Voiceover artist, audio producer, and Digital Content Writer for Magic 98.3. Joel has been working in New Jersey radio since college and started at Magic in 2002 as the Morning Show Host, “I can’t think of another place where I’d fit more perfectly; it’s just a great company with awesome people.” Joel is married to Kathleen, his elementary school sweetheart (they were each other’s first dates at age 9), shares a birthday with his oldest son, Ty, and has twins, Kiera and Liam. Joel runs at least 3.1 miles every day and enjoys playing basketball, doing laundry, saving his turn signal for when he really needs it, kissing dogs through a fence, using coasters, making that cool noise by rubbing his fingers on balloons, and chasing after ping pong balls on a windy cruise ship.
