Van Halen Jump – Debuted During The Rose Bowl?
On January 9th 1984, Van Halen rolled out the album “1984” and the debut single was played for the public during the Rose Bowl. No really. Here’s the clip (thanks to the amazing Greg Renoff).
Van Halen Rose Bowl Appearance
This was the plan all along according the Warner Brothers Records – the most watched program on TV was the Rose Bowl (UCLA and Illinois if you’re wondering), so they decided to work it into the game – using the keyboard/synth sound as background for intros from the announcers. Here’s the clip:
How do you feel about the 1984 album? I remember the first time hearing it on the radio and the keyboard soared, but it was a different kind of Van Halen than we were used to – David Lee Roth has said before that the synth from Eddie wasn’t his favorite (at first).
But I’m going to go out on a limb and say the commercial success made David very happy. For example:
– Billboard 200 Peak Position: #2 (behind Michael Jackson’s *Thriller*). Here’s Eddie talking about it:
– RIAA Certification: Diamond (over 10 million copies sold in the U.S.).
– Global Sales: Over 20 million copies worldwide.
– Hit Singles:
– “Jump” – Van Halen’s only #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
– “Panama” – Reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
– “Hot for Teacher” – Reached #56 on the Billboard Hot 100.
– “I’ll Wait” – Reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
This album falls under the 100% category. Those are albums that (in my opinion) are all great songs (no filler). Was “1984” the best David Lee Roth Van Halen era album? That’s for you to decide – commercially? Yes. Creatively? Probably. But it’s still wild to me that the first time we heard the keyboards on TV from Van Halen were during the Rose Bowl.
