Released on April 29, 1981,
Fair Warning remains the darkest in the band’s catalog and worst-selling LP by the original lineup featuring singer David Lee Roth. Still, it managed to climb to No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and eventually reach double-platinum status. More importantly, it's a fan favorite, partly because the record is so different from what preceded and followed.
Women and Children First (from 1980) was a breezy and familiar blast of jungle rhythms, carefree blues and thick, booming swagger. A lengthy world tour followed, after which, in November 1980, Van Halen began preproduction work on
Fair Warning.
Like any band that spends too much time together, tensions started to build. There was a Helmut Newton photoshoot that threatened to derail the group; Eddie Van Halen’s whirlwind romance with Valerie Bertinelli also caused some friction. The two met in late August 1980, and that December, while Van Halen were recording