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Jump (Van Halen song)
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"Jump" is a song recorded by the rock group Van Halen. It is the only single the group released in their career to reach #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It was released in 1984 as the second track on the album 1984, and also reached #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, becoming their biggest hit on that chart by staying atop for eight weeks. The song breaks the mold of earlier Van Halen songs, mainly in its rolling synth line (played on an Oberheim OB-Xa), although the song contains the standard Eddie Van Halen guitar solo, which Eddie claims as his favorite solo he ever wrote.
The video for "Jump" was directed by David Lee Roth.
"Jump" may be Van Halen's most popular and instantly recognizable composition, perhaps because its sound embodies the key aspects of both of the two genres of popular music most associated with the 1980s in America: synth-driven pop and "arena"-style metal.
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Encyclopedia
"Jump" is a song recorded by the rock group Van Halen. It is the only single the group released in their career to reach #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It was released in 1984 as the second track on the album 1984, and also reached #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, becoming their biggest hit on that chart by staying atop for eight weeks. The song breaks the mold of earlier Van Halen songs, mainly in its rolling synth line (played on an Oberheim OB-Xa), although the song contains the standard Eddie Van Halen guitar solo, which Eddie claims as his favorite solo he ever wrote.
The video for "Jump" was directed by David Lee Roth.
"Jump" may be Van Halen's most popular and instantly recognizable composition, perhaps because its sound embodies the key aspects of both of the two genres of popular music most associated with the 1980s in America: synth-driven pop and "arena"-style metal. Its synthesized brass introduction is one of popular music's most recognizable musical introductions. The song changed the future and style of Van Halen from being a predominantly Hard rock band to one of more radio-oriented popular music.
"Jump" and the breakup of the original Van Halen
This stylistic change was further cemented when it seemed to create severe tensions between Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth, who it has been claimed wanted the band to avoid using synthesizers and focus more on traditional hard rock (although given that synths were used on Women and Children First, and also that Roth actually played synth on Diver Down, the previous album, this seems an implausible explanation for the split). The conflict that eventually ended in Roth's leaving the band seems to have been more to do with the balance of the power in the band. Until Fair Warning it was arguably the case that Eddie was happy to take a backseat in the direction the band took. Clearly, David Lee Roth and producer Ted Templeman exercised a lot of control, and perhaps managed to swing it back in their favor because Eddie was forced into recording a fast album - see the account of the making of Diver Down - soon after the Fair Warning tour. In the 1995 Rolling Stone cover story on/interview with Eddie Van Halen (RS #705, dated April 6) the circumstances surrounding Roth's leaving are discussed. In this interview Eddie claims that the main reason for the split was that Roth and Templeman both disliked the fact that he had built his own studio and was able to work on music away from their influence. He said that "the first thing I did up here was "Jump" and they [Roth and Templeman] didn't like it. I said 'take it or leave it', I was getting sick of their ideas of what was commercial ... At first [Roth's solo EP] Crazy From the Heat was great because Roth laid off me a bit. Little did I know he was testing the waters. Then he called me up and asked me to go to his house and said he was going to make a Crazy From the Heat movie. He had some deal that fell through. But at the time I was depressed. I cried, then I called my brother and told him the motherfucker quit."
Nevertheless, Roth and Templeman did work on "Jump" at Eddie's disputed new studio, with Roth providing the lyrics and the vocal melody. The song thereafter secured its place among rock music's most popular songs, and is now considered by some to be one of the most influential rock songs of all time.
As in the album, "Jump" is preceded by Eddie's synthesizer solo "1984". This was seen in every Van Halen show this year, the two songs forming the bands encore every night during their reunion tour with David Lee Roth. David Lee Roth often waved a large red flag during the synth section while the stage was still coated in dark cover lights.
Music video
The Van Halen-directed music video for the song is a straightforward concept, much like many of the hard rock videos of the time. It shows the band performing at a mock concert and performing the song. It was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards, and won "best stage performance" for the video.
The version of the song used for the video differs ever so slightly from the album version, whereas during the keyboard solo prior to the final refrain, David Lee Roth is heard (and seen) yelling out. He did this during the band's mock performance for the video's filming, and it is believed that afterwards the director had him overdub this yell especially for the video version (since it is not present in the song to begin with).
Equipment used
The Oberheim OB-Xa synthesizer was used in the video of "Jump", and can be seen in video footage from their follow-up tour. However, it is a common misconception that it was used on the recording itself. The recording features its predecessor Oberheim OB-X, played through a Marshall amplifier stack. Even though it features a somewhat thicker sound than the OB-Xa, due to its discrete circuitry used instead of Curtis chips, it had a bad reputation of being unstable on the road. In a similar scenario, Jean Michel Jarre used the OB-X on the recording of "Magnetic Fields", but replaced it with the newer, more stable OB-Xa while touring China and performing the same track live.
Covers
- This song was covered in 2005 by Paul Anka on the album Rock Swings.
- It was also covered in a slowed-down, acoustic version by Scottish band Aztec Camera, and released as a B-side to their August 1984 single "All I Need Is Everything". The singer, Roddy Frame, claimed that the riff reminded him of The Lou Reed/Velvet Underground song "Sweet Jane". In an interview with the New Musical Express (NME) in Feb. 9th 1985, David Lee Roth said he thought this version was 'great.'
- Mary Lou Lord also covered this in a slowed-down, acoustic version for a Van Halen tribute album Everybody Wants Some...A Loose Interpretation of the Music Genius of Van Halen. The album is performed by a variety of Boston independent musicians.
- David Lee Roth recorded a bluegrass version of the song for his 2006 album Strummin' With the Devil: The Southern Side of Van Halen.
- The song was covered on a 2001 episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The skit involved playing "Jump" to congratulate a new NBC affiliate for picking up O'Brien's show. The song was parodied itself. In place of playing the famous intro to the song a heavy metal singer sang the call letters of the station along to the intro.
- This song was Covered by British dance act Bus Stop.
- "Jump" was played by Billy Idol on Rock Am Ring 2005.
- The French football club Olympique de Marseille use the song for the entrance of the team in their stadium, the Stade Vélodrome.
- English comedian Peter Kay performed a big band cover version of the song for The Andy Prior Big Band Show.
External links
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