Within two short years, VH were the biggest hard rock band around, and Eddie Van Halen had established himself as a guitar superstar - and damn near a living legend. On the band's third record, however, things began to change...

Michael Anthony says:

“Eddie started playing the riff to And The Cradle Will Rock on a Wurlitzer electric piano. Everybody loved it but Dave: ’No keyboards, Eddie! We’re a guitar band. Nobody wants to hear you play the piano.‘

“But Eddie was cranking it through the Marshalls and he put a flanger on it - the effect was so loud and powerful, I didn’t even think it sounded like a keyboard. Eddie won that argument, which ultimately was for the better - keyboards started to expand our sound and direction.

“As good as the album is, we raced through it. I couldn't get too tricky with my bass playing; in fact, my approach was very brutal at times. We were in such a cycle of touring, recording, touring, recording that we didn’t have a moment to catch our breaths. Maybe that’s why the album sounds so vicious - we were running as fast as we could.”