All it took was for my brother to bring home a copy of Van Halen (1978).  After that, all bets were off.

Yes, it has "Runnin' With the Devil", that Kinks cover and that "Eruption" solo that some guitarists actually make fun of today.  But I've always been partial to "Atomic Punk."

Man, I can't even imagine trying to scream like that.  WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH (cough) (cough) (hack) aw crap, I'm never doing that again.

Hear "Atomic Punk" on YouTube

This is part of a week-long series on David Lee Roth-era Van Halen.

I never wore a mullet.  I never owned a muscle shirt or a muscle car.  Hell, I've barely ever owned a muscle.  And I've never felt compelled to consume large amounts of alcohol while standing in a parking lot.

None of that has prevented me from loving early Van Halen.  I've never been a big devotee of David Lee Roth per se, but no one can deny what he brought to that band while he was in it.  Diamond Dave was a rock star in every sense of the word, but in addition to the charisma, the stage presence and the showmanship, he was a pretty damn good singer to boot.  So DLR-era Van Halen is getting the week-long MSaD treatment.