Read This: The photo shoot that drove Van Halen apart

All rock bands have their personnel conflicts, but the story of Van Halen is more contentious than most. Extroverted and charismatic lead singer “Diamond” David Lee Roth was usually at odds with genius guitarist Eddie Van Halen and the rest of the band: Eddie’s brother, Alex, on drums and bassist Michael Anthony. (As Eddie Van Halen described it to Rolling Stone in 1984: “I’m a musician, Dave’s a rock star.”) Eventually, the band replaced Roth with Sammy Hagar, leading to the band’s lame yet successful “Van Hagar” period, followed by a stint with Gary Cherone on lead vocals; most recently, the band has been back with Roth again. Meanwhile, Anthony got fired in favor of Eddie Van Halen’s son, Wolfgang. The only thing consistent about Van Halen’s lineup over the decades has been its tumultuousness.
Back in 1979, though, the band was enjoying the considerable success of the now-classic Van Halen II, and was preparing for the release of its third record, Women And Children First. A 2015 article on Medium by Van Halen biographer Greg Renoff reveals that after talking to record label Warner Bros.’s art director, Roth decided that acclaimed fashion photographer Helmut Newton would be the ideal person to shoot the album cover. And as luck would have it, Newton happened to be in Southern California at the time, same as the band, so Roth tracked him down at the posh Beverly Hills Hotel.