Van Halen were in combative mood in 1991. Frontman Sammy Hagar had wanted to call this album plain old ‘Fuck’, as a protest against censorship, similar to how he’d given the finger to the law with his 80s solo hit I Can’t Drive 55. In the end, cooler heads prevailed. With the title spun out as For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, the message wasn’t lost. Moreover, it was emblematic of a band intent on proving that they hadn’t gone soft.
In the six years after Hagar replaced original frontman David Lee Roth, Van Halen’s biggest hits were ballads: Why Can’t This Be Love, Love Walks In, When It’s Love. As Roth later joked, with reference to his own below-the-belt sensibilities: “All of Sam’s lyrics contain love. And I ain’t talkin’ ’bout love!”
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