David Lee Roth was out and Sammy Hagar was in. You also saw Eddie Van Halen’s guitar playing—and his guitars—evolve. But the close of Van Halen 1.0 might be the group’s finest 33 minutes and 10 ...

Before Van Halen, it was rare to hear the sounds of a hard rock band in most places, unless you were running with a crowd that particularly enjoyed that niche genre of music. But when the Van Halen ...