Turntable Tuesday

Turntable Tuesday! Van Halen’s “1984”

January 11, 2022

It’s Turntable Tuesday because life is too short not to listen to great music! This week on Turntable Tuesday I am opening my new vinyl copy of the 30th Anniversary Edition of Van Halen’s “MCMLXXXIV.” I am going to tell you all about this album this week on this blog post and my companion podcast.

I hope you are staying warm in your location as winter is in full swing north of the equator! Crank up your music device, enjoy vinyl, or get out there and support your favorite live band! Stay safe! What are YOU listening to right now?

On the piano stool this week you will see the 30th Anniversary Edition 180 gram vinyl cover from Van Halen titled 1984. New copies of this re-mastered version of the vinyl are getting harder to find these days.

If you would like to listen to my companion podcast you can listen here or subscribe for free on any of the streaming services you use. My podcast is easily searchable on any streaming service where you get your podcasts by searching “Andrew Talbert.” Look for the World Wide Music Media logo. I’ll talk to you on your mobile device!

The back cover of the vinyl.
As the sticker mentions this is a re-mastered version from the original analog tapes. If you want the best you go to Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering for your lacquers.
The vinyl sleeve front and back.

Summer 1984. MTV was on my TV most of the time and the newest video that was screaming across the screen was the single “Panama” from Van Halen’s then new record from the same year “1984.” Van Halen was on fire having sold over ten million copies of their debut album in 1978. This new album was all over MTV and the radio and the vinyl copies were flying off the shelves. It would not be long before this album would also sell over ten million copies again pushing Van Halen to the top of the charts in Rock and Roll.

If you were around in 1984 and were watching MTV you would surely see this video in constant rotation on your CRT as back then there was no such thing as a flat screen TV. The broadcast signal was crappy at best and blurry for sure but at that point we would still chant “I Want My MTV.” This was a very fun era of Rock and Roll music. Coming out of the 1960’s and 1970’s we were still looking for great rock and roll bands. Van Halen was helping to blaze the rock and roll trail in the 1980’s.
Who does not love this song. The synthesizer work from Edward Van Halen is fabulous. I know “Jump” is very high on my list of favorite Van Halen songs as the addition of keyboard work at this time was very fresh coming from the guitar master. This was one of those moments where you just listened and you knew you were living in an age with a very special musician. You never say him play on a stage without that wide smile on his face almost fixed throughout the performance. What a talent.



The two models who appear as teachers in the video are Donna Rupert who was a 1981 Ms Canada pageant runner up and Lillian Muller. Donna plays the chemistry teacher, and Lillian plays the Phys Ed teacher. Both teachers tear off their dresses to reveal a bikini, to the cheers of the students. Towards the end of the video the kids are shown to have grown up. Alex becomes a gynecologist. Michael is a sumo wrestler. Eddie is in a phychiatric hospital and David becomes a game show host. No one was sure what Waldo grew up to be but the video hints at him becoming a pimp which was the opposite of his child self. An initial controversy arose when the video showed all the band members performing a quick crotch-grab during the “…so bad…” part of the chorus. The 1980s NBC late-night video show “Friday Night Videos” added black box censor bars to the crotch-grabs but eventually relented and removed the black-box from their video. I find this interesting as I think of EVH recording the guitar solo for Michael Jackson on “Beat It” and how much crotch-grabbing seemed to happen around 1983.


I am going to tell you all about this incredible collection of tracks on my companion podcast this week. Meet me on your mobile device!

Until next time I’ll see you, down the road.