Fair Warning (Van Halen album)

Untitled

Fair Warning is the fourth studio album by American rock band Van Halen. Released on April 29, 1981, it sold more than two million copies, but was still the band's slowest-selling album of the David Lee Roth era. Despite the album's commercially disappointing sales, Fair Warning was met with mostly positive reviews from critics.

The album was listed by Esquire as one of the 75 Albums Every Man Should Own.

Packaging

The cover artwork features a detail from The Maze, a painting by Canadian artist William Kurelek which depicts his tortured youth.

The album's cover artwork is accompanied by an insert of a black-and-white picture of the band, as well as a view of a ghetto drywall with a wire running across it, cracked windows at the top and a Roth-era Van Halen logo with plaster cracked over the left wing. Also on the wall is a lyric from the album's opening song, "Mean Street".

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Robert Christgau	(B-)
The Rolling Stone Album Guide

The Village Voice's Robert Christgau rated Fair Warning a B-, signifying "a competent or mildly interesting record that will usually feature at least three worthwhile cuts." He stated that it featured "not just Eddie's latest sound effects, but a few good jokes along with the mean ones and a rhythm section that can handle punk speed emotionally and technically." He also explained that "at times Eddie could even be said to play an expressive – lyrical? – role. Of course, what he's expressing is hard to say. Technocracy putting a patina on cynicism".

A retrospective review by AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine found the album fairly positive. In the review, he initially stated that "it's a dark, strange beast, partially because it lacks any song as purely fun as the hits from the first three records" and that "whatever the reason, Fair Warning winds up as a dark, dirty, nasty piece of work." He went on to say that "dull it is not and Fair Warning contains some of the fiercest, hardest music that Van Halen ever made. There's little question that Eddie Van Halen won whatever internal skirmishes they had, [...] even with the lack of a single dedicated instrumental showcase". He concluded that "nastiness is the defining characteristic of Fair Warning, which certainly doesn't make it bunches of fun, but it showcases the coiled power of Van Halen better than any other album, which makes it worth visiting on occasion."

The Rolling Stone Album Guide, however, gave the album two-and-a-half stars out of five, stating that "the most significant musical development is the synthesizer introduced at the end of Fair Warning, which would be exploited to greater effect on later albums."

Use in media

In the video game, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, four of the nine tracks of Fair Warning are available for play: "Mean Street", "Hear About It Later", "Unchained" and "So This Is Love?"

Track listing

All tracks are written by Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony and David Lee Roth

Side one

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Mean Street"	4:58
2.	"Dirty Movies"	4:08
3.	"Sinner's Swing!"	3:09
4.	"Hear About It Later"	4:35

Side two

No.	Title	Length
5.	"Unchained"	3:29
6.	"Push Comes to Shove"	3:49
7.	"So This Is Love?"	3:06
8.	"Sunday Afternoon in the Park" (instrumental)	1:59
9.	"One Foot Out the Door"	1:58

Note

• On the original LP and cassette versions, side two begins with "Unchained".

Personnel

• David Lee Roth – lead vocals
• Eddie Van Halen – guitar, synthesizers, backing vocals
• Alex Van Halen – drums
• Michael Anthony – bass guitar, backing vocals

Production

• Ted Templeman – producer
• Donn Landee – engineer
• Gene Meros – engineer
• Chris Bellman – remastering
• Gregg Geller – remastering
• Jo Motta – project coordinator
• Richard Seireeni – art direction
• Pete Angelus – cover design
• William Kurelek – cover artwork, from The Maze
• Greg Gorman – photography, inlay photos
• Neil Zlozower – photography

Chart positions

Album

Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1981	Billboard 200	5

Singles

Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1981	"So This Is Love?"	Mainstream Rock	15
1981	"Mean Street"	Mainstream Rock	12
1981	"Push Comes to Shove"	Mainstream Rock	29
1981	"Unchained"	Mainstream Rock	13

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)	Platinum	100,000^
United States (RIAA)	2× Platinum	2,000,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.