January 8, 1984. Van Halen ushers in 1984 with 1984. It would be the last time the band's four original members would record an album together.
And what an album it was. It was certified diamond in 1999, with 10 million copies sold. Which is no surprise, given the hit parade of "Jump," "Panama," "Hot For Teacher," and "I'll Wait." Looks like Eddie Van Halen was onto something with the whole "let's use synthesizers" thing after all.
The band hit the road for a North American tour ten days after the album released, with local stops at the Worcester Centrum and the Providence Civic Center in March of '84. I wasn't able to find any footage from those shows, but I did stumble across a pretty decent bootleg from the Montreal tour stop. So revel in the glory of peak VH, right before Diamond Dave took a hike.
