Fair Warning Episode 12: 1995 Balance, Cruel Irony.

They did it!  Van Halen held their own against the grunge tide.  While many of their contemporaries fell under the wheel of the new "corporate rock" paradigm shift, Eddie and Co. managed to keep their trajectory.  For a while.  All that goes up, must come down.  I think that's in the Bible somewhere.  Cracks are starting to form in the once impenetrable unit.  Eddie and Alex are battling the bottle with mixed results.  Sammy is expanding his family.  Mikey?  Right now, Mike really might be envisioning that solo album.  All that said, "Balance" is a fine album with even better B-sides as it turns out.  "Grow it long.  Shave it off.  Life is hard.  Never soft." -Samuel Roy Hagar