"[Hagar] was precisely what the band needed...5150 was a leap forward musically, proving Van Halen to be as adept at ballads as balls-out rockers."

Rock albums from 1980-1992 that received 4.5 or 5 (out of 5) stars from J.D. Considine in the 1992 Rolling Stone Album Guide:

Anthrax, Attack Of The Killer B's
Camper Van Beethoven, Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart
Captain Beefheart, Doc At The Radar Station
Cocteau Twins, Heaven Or Las Vegas
Def Leppard, Pyromania and Hysteria
Dire Straits, Brothers In Arms
Thomas Dolby, The Golden Age Of Wireless
English Beat, I Just Can't Stop It
Fall, This Nation's Saving Grace and Bend Sinister
Fine Young Cannibals, The Raw & The Cooked
Peter Gabriel, Security and So
Go-Betweens, Liberty Belle & The Black Diamond Express
Golden Palominos, Visions Of Excess
Guns'n'Roses, Appetite For Destruction and Use Your Illusion II
Robyn Hitchcock, Gotta Let This Hen Out!, Element Of Light and Perspex Island
Hunters and Collectors, Hunters And Collectors and Ghost Nation
Husker Du, Candy Apple Grey and Warehouse: Songs and Stories
King Crimson, Discipline
Kix, Blow My Fuse
Living Colour, Vivid and Time's Up
Los Lobos, The Neighborhood and Kiko
Madonna, Like A Prayer
G.W. McLennan, Watershed
Metallica, ...And Justice For All and Metallica
Midnight Oil, Diesel and Dust and Blue Sky Mining
Police, Zenyatta Mondatta, Ghost In The Machine and Synchronicity
Pretenders, Pretenders and Learning To Crawl
Prince, Dirty Mind, 1999 and Purple Rain
R.E.M., Murmur, Life's Rich Pageant, Document and Out Of Time
Replacements, Let It Be and Pleased To Meet Me
Paul Simon, Graceland and The Rhythm Of The Saints
Sonic Youth, Sister, Daydream Nation, Goo and Dirty
Sting, ...Nothing Like The Sun
10,000 Maniacs, In My Tribe
Richard Thompson, Daring Adventures and Rumor and Sigh
Richard & Linda Thompson, Shoot Out The Lights
Time, What Time Is It?
UB40, Labour Of Love
U2, War, The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby
Van Halen, 5150
Wire, The Ideal Copy
Woodentops, Giant
Steve Wynn, Dazzling Display