Van Halen's Diver Down was a masterclass in making a lot out of a little. The gambit backfired gloriously when "(Oh) Pretty Woman" shot to No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Warner Bros.

Van Halen's fifth album should have been a disaster. Yet 1982's Diver Down, despite being a hastily recorded collection featuring only four full-length original songs, turned out to be one of ...