35 years ago Van Halen released ''Van Halen II''

Van Halen II is the second album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1979. It peaked at #6 on the Billboard charts and spawned the singles "Dance the Night Away" and "Beautiful Girls". To date, it has sold over five million copies in the U.S. Critical reaction to the album has been positive as well, with the The Rolling Stone Album Guide praising the feel-good, party atmosphere of the songs.

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The actual recording of the album took place less than a year after the release of the band's eponymous debut album; the process was completed in three weeks. Many of the songs on Van Halen II have been known to exist prior to the release of the first album, and are present (in various forms) on the demos recorded in 1976 by KISS' Gene Simmons and '77 by Ted Templeman, including an early version of "Beautiful Girls" (then known as "Bring on the Girls") and "Somebody Get Me a Doctor". (The album version is only slightly different than the demo versions).

In the band's licensed game, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, four of the ten tracks of this album are available for play: "Dance the Night Away", "Somebody Get Me a Doctor", "Spanish Fly" and "Beautiful Girls".