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!”
But there were no ballads on FUCK. The onus was squarely on down-and-dirty hard rock, with Eddie Van Halen dumping his synthesisers and returning to all-out guitar-hero histrionics.
The results, however, were mixed. While Poundcake possessed a mighty swing, and an explosive intro with Eddie strafing his guitar strings with a power drill, too many other tracks were more perspiration than inspiration. Worst of all being Spanked, a lame attempt at funk with lyrics that would make even Vince Neil blush: ‘All you bad, bad boys - call her up on the spank line!’
The closest thing to a love song was Eddie’s beautiful instrumental 316, named after the birth date of his infant son Wolfgang. A lighter touch also worked brilliantly on Top Of The World, classic feelgood Van Halen with a riff recycled from the outro of their mega-hit Jump. And in a weird twist, the best song on the record was the piano-led anthem Right Now, on which Hagar got deep with a message of self-empowerment.
Two alternative versions of Right Now are included in this new Expanded Edition of the album, along with an instrumental take of The Dream Is Over that serves to emphasise the genius that Eddie could bring to even the most routine of numbers. But the big draw for VH aficionados is the previously unreleased audio and video from a December 1991 show in Texas, the highlight of which is a romp through There’s Only One Way To To Rock, another of Hagar’s solo bangers.
Sadly, for Hagar’s time with the band, it was all downhill from there.
