The rock quartet Van Halen exploded into the American mainstream in 1978 with an eponymously titled debut album that soon went platinum, thanks to its blend of musical experimentation and an old-fashioned rock 'n' roll aesthetic. Named for Eddie Van Halen, the group's guitar virtuoso, the band's image promoted a hedonistic lifestyle and immediately captured the imagination of many young fans. Drawing from traditions of Southern blues, European baroque, and 1980s America, the band, over the next two decades, weathered major lineup changes and stylistic reinvention to remain one of the nation's most innovative musical groups.

Van Halen came together in Pasadena, California, in the mid-1970s, one of the first of the new wave of West Coast hard rock and heavy metal bands that had grown up on and would eventually replace British acts like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. The band's first incarnation centered on...