On this day in 1984, Van Halen’s “Jump” would start it’s 5-week reign in the #1 spot on the charts in the US. While parts of the song had been written on the back of a tour bus around 79-80, it wasn’t until 1983 that the song would be recorded. Roth wasn’t a huge fan of Eddie’s keyboard songs and was opposed to recording this song for a couple of years.
“Go ahead and jump” is likely one of the more memorable lines of the song. Roth actually wrote the lyrics for the song around that one phrase. Do you know how it came to be? Roth apparently had been watching the news, where a gentleman was on the Arco Tower threatening suicide. Roth said he felt like in every crowd where such a situation occurred, there would be at least 1 person yelling “go ahead and jump.”
This was the second song Van Halen recorded at 5150 Studios.
This is definitely a song that gets requested often at Totally 80’s. Enjoy this 80’s goodness!