Back Covers : VAN HALEN- Diver Down

Welcome to a new series here that I’m calling Back Covers. It’s a simple concept really as we all have our favourite Album Cover’s right? Well how about some albums and their Back Covers which no one ever talks about! Well that’s changing now as were gonna give some acknowledgement to some of these real slick looking  Back Cover’s!

First up….

From 1982 and one of the best Back Covers still to this day and a Great Starting Point as far as I’m concerned!

Van Halen released Diver Down back in 1982 and I remember seeing the ad in Circus Magazine and smart selling of an album for a 15-year-old Male at the time!

What really grabbed my attention though was the back cover shot that Richard Aaron took of Van Halen exiting the stage at the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando Florida (Oct 24th 1981).

Now as I seen this shot it was like wow look at Halen packing them in like sardines in a stadium setting.  But what Halen never told us back than was  that this Back Cover shot was taken when Halen opened for The Rolling Stones. 

WHUT? Yup it’s true but still though what a fantastic shot and selling point of the album. To this day it’s still a  favourite of mine and Diver Down has over decades become one of those sleeper albums as far as I’m concerned.

I like the use of the black and white photo that takes up most of the back cover with shots of each Halen member with an action live shot.( Blog Pal Bop at his excellent site has this back cover shot on the  homepage of his blog!)

David Lee Roth is airborne! Alex Van Halen is standing behind his enormous drum set. Michael Anthony  meanwhile has just sacrificed another Bass Guitar while Eddie Van Halen looks every bit the Guitar Hero which he is!

If a picture can say a 1000 words. This 1982 pic does that hands down!

(Thanks to Wiki for letting me nick a bit of info…)