Diver Down

For the flag, see diver down flag.

Diver Down
The "diver down" flag: a white band sloping diagonally down on a red field. "VAN HALEN" in the top right corner, "DIVER DOWN" in the bottom left
Studio album by
Van Halen
ReleasedApril 19, 1982 (1982-04-19)[1]
RecordedJanuary–March 1982
Studio
Genre
Length31:04
LabelWarner Bros.
ProducerTed Templeman
Van Halen chronology
Fair Warning
(1981) 		Diver Down
(1982) 		1984
(1984)
Singles from Diver Down
  1. "(Oh) Pretty Woman"
    Released: January 18, 1982[3]
  2. "Dancing in the Street"
    Released: May 1982
  3. "Secrets"
    Released: August 23, 1982[4]

Diver Down is the fifth studio album by American rock band Van Halen, released on April 19, 1982 by Warner Bros. Records. It spent 65 weeks on the album chart in the United States and had, by 1998, sold four million copies in the United States. Despite its commercial success, selling faster than its predecessor Fair Warning (1981), it was more lukewarmly received by contemporary music critics.[5]

Released per the label's request that the group record an album to keep them in the public eye, Diver Down was recorded with producer Ted Templeman over the course of twelve days. As a result of its quick production, the album is heavy on cover versions as well as genre experiments and guitar interludes. Alongside full-length original songs, the material includes excursions into jazz, country blues, doo-wop, a cappella and neo-classical music, in addition to covers of mid-1960s songs – the biggest of these, reworkings of Roy Orbison's "(Oh) Pretty Woman" and Martha & the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street", were hit singles.

  1. ^ "New Releases" (PDF). FMQB. April 16, 1982. p. 34. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  2. ^ John Scanlan (November 18, 2012). "The Story Behind Van Halen's 'Diver Down'". Van Halen News Desk. Retrieved August 21, 2022. The album was recorded in 12 days at Amigo Studios (now known as Warner Brothers Recording Studios) at a cost of approximately $46,000.
  3. ^ "Van Halen - Pretty Woman single - Dutch Charts".
  4. ^ "Van Halen - Secrets single - Dutch Charts".
  5. ^ Brown, Morgan (2023). "Diver Down". On Track ... Van Halen: Every Album, Every Song. England: Sonic Bond Publishing. pp. 52–53. ISBN 978-1789522563.