In 1984, Van Halen released an album named after that year. But unlike their previous 5 albums which had been recorded in mere weeks, sometimes just days, the band laboured for many months on this one. It paid off as the album ended up going all the way to number 2 on the Billboard charts, and stayed there for five weeks. But it also led to the break-up of the band. Randy Renaud has the story of the album 1984 on the Chronicles of Rock.