"Why Can't This Be Love" is a song by the American rock band

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...

for their seventh studio album, '' 5150'' (1986). The song was released as the lead single from ''5150'' through

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. It was the group's first single with lead vocalist

Sammy Hagar Samuel Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as the Red Rocker, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose and subsequently launched a successful solo car ...

, who replaced founding member

David Lee Roth David Lee Roth (born October 10, 1954) is an American rock singer. Best known for his wild, energetic stage persona, he was the original lead vocalist of the hard rock band Van Halen across three stints, from 1974 to 1985, in 1996 and again fro ...

. It was released on both 7" and 12" single formats, the 12" single featuring an extended version of the song. It was a hit single for the band, rising to number three on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the US and helping ''5150'' reach the number one slot on the albums chart, a first for the band. It was also a top 10 hit in the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany and a top 20 single in Canada, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Background

The song is driven by bouncy lead keyboard work from

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded along ...

performed on an

Oberheim OB-8 The Oberheim OB-8 is a subtractive analog synthesizer launched by Oberheim in early 1983 and discontinued in 1985. As the fourth product in the OB-series of polyphonic compact synthesizers, the OB-8 was the successor to the OB-Xa. The number of ...

. Chuck Klosterman of Vulture.com ranked it the worst Van Halen song, saying that the band's decision to release the song as the first single of the Sammy Hagar era was "the worst decision the band ever made," but said it was not his least favorite Van Halen song to listen to.

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called it "a powerful pop/rock kicker." ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' said "hard-rocking

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...

s alternate with trademark guitar workouts."

Live performances and in popular culture

During the ''5150'' and ''

OU812 ''OU812'' (pronounced "Oh You Ate One Too") is the eighth studio album by American rock band Van Halen. It was released in 1988 and is the band’s second album to feature vocalist Sammy Hagar. Van Halen began work on the album in September 1987 ...

'' tours, Eddie Van Halen played the keyboard parts (using either a

Kurzweil K250 The Kurzweil K250, manufactured by Kurzweil Music Systems, was an early electronic musical instrument which produced sound from sampled sounds compressed in ROM, faster than common mass storage such as a disk drive. Acoustic sounds from bras ...

or Yamaha KX88 connected by MIDI to an OB-8 backstage) while Hagar played the guitar parts and the solo. Since the ''For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge'' tour, Van Halen has taken over the guitar parts and the keyboards are played backstage. Starting during the 1995 ''Balance'' tour, Michael Anthony and Eddie Van Halen would sing the second verse of the song during live performances. They would continue to do this on both the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

tours. The song is often a source of humor since it contains the tautological lyrics ''Only time will tell if we stand the test of time''. In 2008, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' named this the eighth worst lyric of all time.

Personnel

– lead vocals *

– guitar, keyboards, backing vocals * Michael Anthony – bass, backing vocals *

Alex Van Halen Alexander Arthur Van Halen (; born May 8, 1953) is an American musician, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the Rock music, rock band Van Halen. The band was formed in 1972 by Alex Van Halen, his younger brother Eddie Van Halen, Eddie, ...

– drums, backing vocals

Charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1986 singles Van Halen songs Cashbox number-one singles Songs written by Eddie Van Halen Songs written by Alex Van Halen Songs written by Michael Anthony (musician) Songs written by Sammy Hagar Warner Records singles 1986 songs Song recordings produced by Mick Jones (Foreigner)