Van Halen ‘Jump’ – The Story Behind The Song
Like pretty much every Van Halen song from the Diamond Dave Era, the song is about one thing, but also it’s about a stripper. Van Halen “Jump” is a great example. Dave said he got is from a newspaper headline, but also said it was about a stripper. Ya gotta love David Lee Roth.
In a 2012 interview with a Japanese company called BS-TBS, Dave says that his contribution to Van Halen “Jump” was 128 BPM. Dave explained that 128 BPM was the perfect dance beat. “The hips don’t lie,” says Dave. The interview link is to YouTube. The video has captions in Japanese, but Dave speaks English… charismatic DLR English.
David Lee Roth formerly of Van Halen
(Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)
The Origin of Van Halen “Jump”
VHlinks.com has a transcript of a 1984 David Lee Roth Interview about the origins of the song. Dave said, “I was watching television one night and it was the five o’clock news and there was a fellow standing on top of the Arco Towers in Los Angeles and he was about to check out early, he was going to do the 33 stories drop – and there was a whole crowd of people in the parking lot downstairs yelling “Don’t jump, don’t jump” and I thought to myself, ‘Jump.'”
Eddie, on the other hand, has a different story regarding the origin of “Jump.” From another 1984 interview, Eddie said, “Not the way it’s on record, but musically, note for note, exactly the same,” he said, adding that the song was composed on a “Prophet 10 synth that blew up on me. It started smoking. You know, everything I touch blows up – the way I like sound is on the verge of dying.” According to Ultimateclassicrock.com, Ed said he wrote the music before 1981’s Fair Warning.
On the album credits, all four members of Van Halen share writing credit for “Jump.”
To Synthesize or Not To Synthesize
Synthesizers were a BIG hit in 1984. Yes used one on “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” The song became their only number one hit. ZZ Top used synthesizers on Eliminator and exploded to a new level in the world of rock. It seems like most rock bands had a hold up on whether or not the addition of the synthesizer was an acceptable move. Would it take away from their rock cred?
In the case of Van Halen the synthesizer went over well. Eddie (and Alex) was a classically trained pianist. EVH played the keyboards with skill. Plus Eddie had legions of devoted fans. They loved seeing him play another instrument.
Van Halen “Jump” was actually released in December of 1983 ahead of the release of the album, 1984. By February 25th, the song had hit number one on the Billboard charts. It stayed there for 5 weeks.
Van Halen “Jump” – Behind the Video
Pete Angelus was Van Halen’s road manager and lighting director from 1978-1984. vhnd.com has a great quote from Pete: “I think we spent less money making “Jump” than we did on having pizzas delivered to the set of “Hot For Teacher.” Van Halen News Desk’s story behind the video includes conversation on the tensions that were building within the band and the ego trip DLR was on at this point.
David Lee Roth claimed the video cost just $600 to make, but the cost was a lot higher because: Dave.. Dave wanted a bunch of scenes cut into the video that showed him doing outrageous things. The crew spent a lot of time (and money) shooting these clips to appease Dave. Some of the scenes ended up being used in the video for “Panama” but most of the footage was never used.
Van Halen fans are loyal, passionate, and opinionated. Which Van Halen songs do you think are their best? Read on to check out what our experts have to say. Agree? disagree?
Van Halen: Their 30 Best Songs, Ranked
