Van Halen Jumps Into Its Most Lucrative Year Ever

A very happy Jump Over Things Day to you all. With your permission I'd like to do this holiday proper justice by flashing back to 1984, specifically to the album "1984" which saw Diamond David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, and Michael Anthony hit the pinnacle of pop success with "Jump", the first Van Halen song centered around a keyboard. Eddie regards the "1984" album as one of his all-time favorites. Make no mistake Eddie displays his usual ax virtuosity at the bridge but compared to past hits like "Runnin' With The Devil", "Dance The Night Away" and "Jamie's Crying" guitar plays a fairly understated role. MTV was gaining ground as a cultural colossus by early '84. Van Halen definitely had that star quality that sent the lumbering dinosaur rock acts of the '70s gasping for air. The fashion sense was on display as you'll notice if you check out Eddie's yellow leopard stripe top or the aerobic dance theme of what Dave has on. "Jump" is a blast simply because it's the first time Van Halen loosens up for the camera instead of putting their collective weight behind staying hungry, snarling at any media outlets or casual listeners who dare claim they aren't a legitimate rock outfit. Naturally, generous slices of the video are devoted to...what else?...Dave high kicking, quantum leaping, and basically being the biggest ham since Hormel's brand name invaded supermarkets. Nobody had to tell the man he had, as his later "Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" medley declared, "charasma". Call it sucking up for the mainstream. Call it Van Halen embracing MTV's direction by reaching in their bag of tricks and finding an artistically consistent way to blend in. "Jump" is goofball fun. All four guys are guilty of hogging like their careers depended on it. At the close of 1983, fresh off participation in Steve Wozniak's US Festival, Van Halen was a band climbing ever higher to the peak of rock god glory. "Jump" doesn't push Eddie out front to show off at the expense of what the others are capable of. Alex strings together some insane drum sequences. Michael Anthony's bass playing isn't confined to afterthought status. At times all you had to do to see how well behaved the Van Halen boys were was to look at what fun they had or weren't having in the videos. Throughout "Jump" self-consciousness is nowhere to be found. Need a splits jump from Dave while Eddie noodles away on his new keyboard pal? Done. Need Dave, Michael, and Eddie to hop towards the camera like a crowd of schoolyard scamps playing hopscotch? No need to question if their mighty titanium forged egos can handle it. Want Dave to play "Read my lips" in the final frame? Dave is there with bells on. Seldom would anyone accuse metal musicians of getting all Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey on anyone. "Jump" is angel food cake deep. Just dive right into life and stop sweating all the small stuff. Van Halen knew well enough to not present themselves as that band that wanted to right all of society's wrongs. Sadly, by 1996, during the unexpected close of the "Van Hagar" era the boys were barely on speaking terms. The video for "Humans Being" shows Eddie and Sammy screaming at each other. That wasn't too far removed from the backstage friction which would ultimately chainsaw this second stage partnership. I for one was crestfallen to discover that life after Diamond Dave, a life that pushed Van Halen's chart success into the stratosphere, had come to be more thorn and less rose. I truly thought Sammy Hagar was the tonic Van Halen needed to make everyone forget Dave's egomaniac bluster sort of got in the way a bit too much. Every Van Halen album with Hagar flashing tonsils went to #1. One misses the simpler times of "Jump", which spent 5 straight weeks at the top of Billboard's singles chart. Back before Dave and Eddie's strained relationship boiled over. Back before Eddie went behind Sammy's back and propositioned Dave about returning to the fold in case Sammy couldn't yank his heart back into the band. Back before I shuddered when Van Halen tried to shoehorn Extreme's Gary Cherone into a role as lead singer that didn't suit him one bit. Even back before Coke tried to make us all think New Coke was the answer to our soft drink slurping prayers. "Jump" stays in the shallow end of the water and cavorts like the biggest problem in the world is, "Do you want fries with that?"