Van Halen – “Why Can’t This Be Love” – 45 Single

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic

When I was on vacation during this past Summer, I found a ton of 45 Singles with the Picture Sleeves at a place called House of Vinyl and I ended buying 7 Van Halen 45’s. And we’ve been through a few so far as seen below…

And now we are on to our fifth of the 7 and this time we are in to the Hagar Era and this was the first single off their first album together for ‘5150’ from 1986. The song is “Why Can’t This Be Love” and was released on February 26, 1986. The song was the first released with new lead singer Sammy Hagar and went all the way to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. Not a bad start to this new era of Van Halen.

The version I have is the standard US Version of the single. Nothing special about, but it was in really great shape which is tough to find the picture sleeves in good shape. I like the big explosion on the back cover but not sure what the significance of it is to either song on this release unless they were going for the fact this was a new explosive release by the band…which it really isn’t.

A-SIDE:

The single, “Why Can’t This Be Love”, doesn’t see the classic Van Halen guitar sound. Instead, Eddie Van Halen is still playing with keyboards and synthesizers and this song is driven mostly by his Oberheim OB-8 analog synthesizer. The song seems to lean more to the pop-rock sound as it is upbeat and a little bouncy. It is very melodic and chipper and fits in Sammy Hagar’s wheel house as his vocals are so smooth. An interesting note is that even Alex Van Halen’s drums and Michael Anthony’s bass lines had some synths added to them. I think Van Halen has had cheesy lyrics before but nothing quite as awful as “Only time will tell if we stand the test of time“. Yeah, that pretty much sucks. It is a decent pop track, but it is a far cry from the heavy guitar sound that Van Halen fans loved.

B-SIDE:

The B-Side to the song was another album track called “Get Up”. This song brings the rock and the heavy and is probably the most rocking track on the album. It opens with some nasty, fuzzy-ass guitar work by Eddie and then Alex just pounds the hell out of his drums and the two brothers go to town destroying everything in their sites. Sammy comes in with a scream and the band is all in blasting away. The solo on this one is great as well albeit too short. They needed this as the B-Side so the fans didn’t jump ship thinking they had gone soft as you will hear with this one, they are still capable of going balls-to-the-wall batshit crazy!!

And there you have it. Next week we will go with another single from 5150 and until then, have a great day!!

30 thoughts on “Van Halen – “Why Can’t This Be Love” – 45 Single”

  6. I had a tour shirt and that straight jacket pic was on the front and the explosion pic was on the back. I think the straight jacket pic had to do with the whole 5150 vibe of being criminally insane or whatever the law in Cali is. I thought I had read this decades ago. lol
    When it comes to 45s I never bothered with them as I would wait til the whole album dropped but it is really cool that you have brought these into a series so now I can see what I have missed.

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    1. I get the straight jacket theme for the album, but not for the single. Otherwise, its cool.

      I am not sure why I started collecting them. I really do love the picture sleeves and I enjoy saving them from the wild and giving them a good home. Plus, it is an easy post to do. I’m gonna run out of ones to talk about it probably by March if not earlier.

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            1. Ha!! This time next year, ask me if I’m fried. I’m good right now, but it has been 2-3 solid years of series and not slowing down. I have a problem, I keep planning more series before i even finish the ones I’m on. It’s a sickness.

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  9. There were many DLR fans that wanted this group involuntarily committed once they heard the synth-heavy sound of “5150.” Blasphemy! Lol. Even though this song is not one of my favorites, and DLR is my favorite era, this album hit at that right moment in my life when it came out. I was just a month away from turning 15, and I wore this new-sounding Van Halen cassette tape out, and of course I thought only time will tell if this album will stand the test of time. It has.

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  10. Pingback: Van Halen – “Love Walks In’ – 45 Single – 2 Loud 2 Old Music
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