5150 — 40 Years Later

It showed up on my screen this week — Van Halen’s 5150 (Expanded Edition) — releasing again on March 27.

Forty years.

I had to stop for a second. Because I’m not sure where those 40 years went.

And then again… I am.

They’re in every mile. Every memory. Every song that somehow stayed with me all along.

With 5150, Diamond Dave was out. The Red Rocker was in. I rocked with both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar — the Best of Both Worlds.

There was more than Van Halen, of course. That’s always been true. But my setlist is still heavy on VH.

Still in my top five on any given day, rotating with the Foo Fighters, Tom Petty and The Police, among others — past and present.

Too hard to pick just one.

Just turn it up.

Back in 1986, when that album was released, I was just a young man trying to figure things out. Didn’t know where life would take me.

But I knew those songs from that album. A few of them:

“Good Enough.”

That felt about right back then.

“Dreams.”

That one still hits — maybe more now than it did then.

“Love Walks In.”

That’s where she comes in. My Bear. I knew it then, that love did walk in.

There were “Summer Nights” and the title track, “5150.”

And the playlist kept growing.

The ’80s gave us Van Halen… and Petty, The Police, Bon Jovi — her favorite — and a little Don Henley for the long drives.

And then there was Steve Perry and Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”

I wore that song out in my upstairs bedroom — even my country-music loving mom knew it.

Years later, it closed out The Sopranos… and it still felt just right.

Then came the ’90s… a bridge into something a little rawer.

Nirvana. Pearl Jam. Soundgarden. 3 Doors Down.

The Foo Fighters not long after.

Music that wasn’t always polished… but was always real.

And now, here we are. A lot of those same bands still playing. Still filling arenas. Still sounding like the soundtrack of our lives. Heart. Nicks. Benatar. Def Leppard. And amazingly, the Stones keep rolling.

And now the next generation stepping in — Wolfgang Van Halen carrying it forward.

This summer, I’ll get to see that with my oldest grandson, Rhys, in Orange Beach.

That might be the best part of all of it. The songs made it with me. And our three grands are learning to rock to some of the music their Dee Dee and Pop Pop loved.

New sounds, too, from bands like Halestorm and Alter Bridge.

And I think about moments like that night in 2017 — with Dorinda and our son Alex, going back in time with Huey Lewis — the three of us at a concert, loud music all around, and a moment you don’t realize you’ll hold onto forever.

I can’t play a thing. Not a note. Never could.

But in my dreams… I can.

We don’t hold onto time. We don’t get it back.

But the songs, they carry it for us.

Forty years later, 5150 still plays.

And when it does, so does my life.

Turn it up.