Best Of – Volume I (Van Halen album)

Best Of – Volume I is the first greatest hits album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released on October 22, 1996.

The album does not contain any songs from the band's 1982 album Diver Down. Best Of – Volume I also features "Humans Being", the band's contribution to the Twister soundtrack. The two newly recorded songs, "Can't Get This Stuff No More" and "Me Wise Magic", at the end of the album are with original lead vocalist David Lee Roth. These two songs were released as singles to promote this compilation. They are also the last songs recorded and released by the original Van Halen lineup of Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Roth and Michael Anthony. Some demos recorded by the original lineup in 2000 would later be re-recorded by the Van Halen brothers, Wolfgang Van Halen, and Roth for A Different Kind of Truth, released in 2012. Anthony did not play with Van Halen again following the band's 2004 tour. He was replaced by Eddie's son Wolfgang.

Initial pressings of the album contained an alternate edit of "Runnin' with the Devil" where the verses, chorus and solos were arranged in a different order than that of the original album version. It was reported that this was accidental and subsequent pressings have replaced this version with the one found on Van Halen. However, some radio stations still play this erroneous version of the song.

The album itself sparked a great deal of in-band controversy because of the personnel issues surrounding the band at the time. Sammy Hagar by this time had been a member of Van Halen for eleven years, equal to the amount of time as the previous lead vocalist, David Lee Roth. Hagar saw his conflicts with the Van Halen brothers grow while recording earlier in 1996 for the Twister soundtrack, resulting in the song "Humans Being" (eventually included in Best Of) and an unfinished track called "Between Us Two". When called about completing "Between Us Two" for a greatest hits album, Hagar was angry given his opposition to such a compilation as opposed to an entirely new album of new material, declaring that “We’re not a greatest-hits kind of band. We made great albums and sold out concerts all over the world, and we do not need to rely on the past. . . . We spent 11 years trying to bury the past and make the music different and expand and grow.” Eventually he left the band in June, and the Van Halens began working with David Lee Roth on new material for inclusion on the disc. This was not to last, as Roth and Eddie Van Halen clashed publicly and the band once again was without a lead singer, before hiring Gary Cherone. All songs except "Humans Being", "Can't Get This Stuff No More", and "Me Wise Magic" are included on the band's subsequent greatest hits album The Best of Both Worlds (2004).

Despite the aforementioned friction, the album went on to win Metal Edge magazine's 1996 Readers' Choice Award for "Best Hits or Compilation Album". Hagar shares the accolade with Roth, since the album features material from both singers.

Personnel
Van Halen


 * David Lee Roth – lead vocals (tracks 2–8, 16 & 17)
 * Sammy Hagar - lead vocals (tracks 9-15)
 * Eddie Van Halen - lead guitar, rhythm guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
 * Michael Anthony - bass, backing vocals
 * Alex Van Halen – drums, percussion

Production

 * Glen Ballard – producer (tracks 16, 17)
 * Bruce Fairbairn – producer (tracks 14, 15)
 * Andy Johns – producer (tracks 12, 13)
 * Mick Jones – producer (tracks 9, 10)
 * Don Landee – engineer (tracks 1–11), producer (tracks 9–11)
 * Erwin Musper – engineer (track 15)
 * Ted Templeman – producer (tracks 1–8, 12, 13)
 * Van Halen – producer (tracks 9–13)