Van Halen, at least in their early years, were the undisputed kings of party music. Heavy riffs, big stage show, louder vocals, and everything exaggerated to cartoon-y proportions. With guitarist Eddie Van Halen's dexterous solos and lead singer David Lee Roth's showmanship, the band rose to the top of the music industry in the 80's.

And their 1978 debut album shows they deserved it all (at least, while Diamond Dave was on board). The album kicks off with one of the best 4-track sequences in rock history. "Runnin' with the Devil," "Eruption," a cover of "You Really Got Me" and "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" - Four classic rock radio stations, all just on the first side of this record. Awesome.

"Jamie's Cryin'" has also been a fan favorite for a while, though I don't really see it as anything special. A riff, some squeals from Roth, some "ooh ooh's," simple chorus. Rather boring. But the rest of the album is gold. "I'm the One" plenty of punch and energy in a short time period. "Atomic Punk" rocks harder with a funky weird intro.

"Feel Your Love Tonight" is another heavy number with more sex. "Little Dreamer" is an average semi-ballad, but it's better than most of the power ballads the band cut when Sammy Hagar was at the helm. "Ice Cream Man" is genuinely funny cock rock. Of course, one of the things Van Halen had over the hair bands their style wound up spinning off is that they had a lead singer that didn't take himself too seriously. "On Fire" is the only song that isn't memorable to me, but it's a good closer with screams from Roth ("I'm on FIIIIIIIIIIIIRE! I'm on FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRE~!").

Van Halen's party-centric music formula is established here from the start and built by the finish. For the most part, their work consists of similar material, some covers, lots of good times, etc. They're so unpretentious, there's nothing really hate-able about them, well, unless rawkin' it hard isn't your thing. But if it is, satisfaction is almost guaranteed.

Van Halen's self-titled debut ranks easily as one of the greatest debuts of all time, and established the style they would follow until 1985, when David Lee Roth was ousted from the band and hair band singer Sammy Hagar replaced him. Each era has its fair share of classics, though, and this is one of them.