5150 (album)

5150 (album)

5150 (pronounced "fifty-one-fifty") is the seventh studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1986 on Warner Bros. Records. It was the first to be recorded with new lead singer Sammy Hagar, who replaced David Lee Roth.

It was named after Eddie Van Halen's home studio, 5150, which is a California police term for a mentally disturbed person (a reference to Section 5150 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code). The 5150 name has been used several times by Van Halen. It is the name of a custom Frankenstein-striped Kramer Pacer Special electric guitar used by Eddie throughout the 1980s, and the model name of the Peavey 5150 amplifier (later the 6505) and since 2004 the signature guitar amplifier endorsed by him for his own EVH brand. The album hit #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, surpassing the band's previous album, 1984, which had peaked at #2 as Michael Jackson's Thriller album, on which Eddie made a guest appearance, dominated the charts.