realized one of the reasons is the CB discussions on Van Halen.

Van Halen was a HUGE part of my initial music-listening influence from 5th grade up to the Mission. I still remember my 5th grade teacher Mr. Dixon. He LOVED Van Halen and after school you could hear him playing VH as he was closing up his day.

I have a vivid memory of one day staying after to help put together class activities and cleaning up with several other students. He put on 5150 and I remember hearing Why Can't This Be Love for the first time. It was so impactful hearing it that I still remember sitting in his classroom and then when it finished asking him to rewind the cassette and play the song again.

I am sure there are other "first times" with Van Halen as well that kept pulling me further in as a fan, but this is one of the first that I can recall at my age today. This is probably why 5150 will always be my favorite album and Hagar will always be better than Roth IMO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbOrLI9ynwM