Theme:JUMP.
Disc:“1984”.
Year:1984.
This classic among classics spent no less than five weeks at number one on the American charts, confirming Van Halen as the definitive hard rock band of their era. The group of the brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen undoubtedly marked a before and after in the evolution of American rock, when the 70's were expiring and the stadium bands and the hippie dream had suffered a disaster at the hands of pink, Van Halen provided classic rock with fun again and laid the foundations for many of the bands that during the 80's got down to work following the guitar patterns of Eddie and the sex appeal and the blond hair of David Lee Roth.
They marked an epoch and created a school. Nobody before had dared to play the guitar like Eddie Van Halen, recognized creator of tapping and obsessive harmonica player. For a while he had to play with his back to the public in order not to reveal his novel tricks and his particular style. Curious then that in this his most famous song he decided to dispense somehow with the six strings and change his classic riffs for an initial keyboard melody.
It was not the first time that the band used this instrument in their songs, as they had already resorted to keys and synthesizers in other of their previous songs, but never with the prominence of this “Jump”, although later on it was followed by an equally anthological solo. For the rest, and from the title itself, all fingers point to David Lee Roth.
It is said that he was the one who came up with the idea for it, after seeing on the news a man who wanted to commit suicide by jumping off a building. Besides, the title was a perfect match for his unstoppable hyperactivity and his frenetic stage movements with acrobatics in between. Too bad that the also successful “1984”, which contained the aforementioned jumping song, was the last album that the band recorded with Diamond Dave on vocals, since their next album would mark the union between the group and Sammy Hagar, which gave very good results in the beginning and now seems to have materialized again for an imminent world tour after a separation of almost ten years. This “Jump”, of undeniable radio hook, would remain then, and without counting the two anecdotal songs recorded by the original line-up for their 96 compilation “Best Of. Volume I”, as a testament of that unrepeatable combination of talents that were the classic Van Halen. Let's all jump up and down.
My people, thank you for reading this editorial and I hope you like it. A thousand blessings.
