The quintessential American hard rock band Van Halen's 1978 debut all but guaranteed their election to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame on the first ballot, quickly becoming a benchmark for every hard rock band ever since. Six years later they even topped that with 1984, one of the most popular and influential albums ever. Every one of the four Van Halen albums in between, II, Women and Children First, Fair Warning and Diver Down would all sell millions and each would top its predecessor on the album sales chart.

These early years, although undeniably successful, came with a price, and by 1982 Van Halen had become a series of contradictions: even though selling a million each on Van Halen II and its successors, as well as hundreds of thousands of concert tickets, their record label was concerned over a lack of mainstream hits and a shallow well of songs. Creative frustration along with personal conflicts within the band would eventually lead to a post-David Lee Roth Van Halen.

Alex Van Halen describes to InTheStudio host Redbeard how visceral and primal their creative process was on those formative albums. " When we're in the studio and the amps are cranked to eleven on the dial and you're having a great time playing it, I think that's the one thing you shouldn't forget. We've been looking at songs, how do we write them, how do we come up with the ideas, but once we start playing, it's a perpetual thing."