Why Can't This Be Love

A real exciting exclamation point to a superb start to the new era of Van Halen.

Next up, Why Can't This Be Love.

One of the most emotional ballads in Van Halen's catalog, that tapping at the start is reminiscent of a heartbeat, and the synth futuristic sounds wraps warmly around you.

Sammy is exploring a lyrical land Roth basically never ventured to.

He belts out the chorus with true sincerity, earnestly wondering, "Why can't this be love?" Diamond Dave would scribe some love songs, absolutely, but never with this level of vulnerability or intimacy.

This is where you can really see the different era developing inside Van Halen.

A lot of the songs and lyrics on this album you could imagine Roth singing.

The seesaw rockets up again to a fast-paced Van Halen jam.

And they had a few top 10, top 20 kind of hits, like When It's Love, but I don't know what that is.

Why Can't This Be Love? I don't know what that is.

So I'm just going to command F-R-I-A-A and see what's the highest certified thing they have in the U.S.

Okay, Van Halen, Diamond.

And even now in 2026, I can listen to this and I'm not too distracted by like the 1980s aspects of what this is because the performances are so, they just, they come through like they're not being held back by anything.

Now we're going to transition into Van Hagar.

So this is 5150, the album 5150 with the song Why Can't This Be Love? Okay, is that synth or guitar? We're 10 seconds in.

Okay, much more affected.