Jump (Van Halen song)
"Jump" is the only number-one single in Van Halen's career. It was released in 1984 on the appropriately titled album 1984. The song breaks the mold of earlier Van Halen songs, mainly in its rolling synth solo in the middle of the song (played on a oberhiem OBXa), subsititute for the standard Eddie Van Halen guitar solo.
"Jump" is without a doubt Van Halen's most popular and instantly recognizable composition. It has remained, to this day, a symbol of the 80's. It's famous synth 80's brass introduction is one of music's most famous. "Jump" changed the future and status of Van Halen. It changed the band from being a very popular Heavy Metal band to one of the world's most famous rock bands. In addition, it also created severe tensions between Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth, who argued that the band should stay away from electronics and focus more on a traditional style of music. The conlflict eventually ended in Roth's dismissal; "Jump" however, had secured its place among rock music's most famous songs.
The lyrics are an appeal from a man with his "back against the record machine" to a woman, asking her to "go ahead and jump" into a romantic encounter. As per most Van Halen songs, the lyrics are sexually motivated, though not as explicitly as in "Hot for Teacher" or "Drop Dead Legs", for example.
In 2001, police were attempting to talk down a jumper who was threatening to plummet from a highway overpass in Omaha, Nebraska, when someone began transmitting the Van Halen song onto the police radio [1]. The man was nonetheless talked down safely.
In 2003, it was ranked 119 on the RIAA's list "Songs of the Century" and VH1 named it number 95 on its "100 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.
It is also on the RIAA's "500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll" list, along with "Runnin' with the Devil".
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".
- Mary Lou Lord also covered this in a slowed-down, acoustic version for a Van 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.
- Former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth recorded a bluegrass version of the song for his 2006 album Strummin' With the Devil: The Southern Side of Van Halen.
Trivia
- The music video for this song cost "...$600.00 and a few bottles of Jack Daniels." (citation needed)
- Was narrowly defeated by the other ten-week champ music video "Photograph" by Def Leppard on MTV's Friday Night Video Fights [citation needed]
- Was used in the 2005 movie Herbie Fully Loaded as Herbie avoids wrecks in a demolition derby.