Van Halen 1984 Song-By-Song Thread

It bothered me too!

 

Innovation? Eddie had plenty and Ritchie had plenty. And Ritchie did influence Edward some, but Eddie did some things that I never heard before and I really liked. Now, I am definitely an Uli Roth fan, but I'll agree with criticism that he's a Hendrix follower instead of an innovator (but when I hear Pictured Life or Robot Man, I am not worried that much about innovation).

I do prefer most guitar innovations from the 1970s to those of the 1980s, however.

 

1984: It's not showoffy, but rather an atmospheric intro to Jump, and it works fine in that respect. And it is telling folks that there's gonna be synths on the album.

Jump: I liked it fine at the time, and I really wasn't focused on how polarizing it was (I don't hate Tattoo either, so take that for what it is) - it was a good song, albeit a little poppy. Eddie's solos were both good. A number of my friends didn't like it, but a lot of girls were suddenly talking to me about Van Halen that didn't before so, that was cool. Dave's vocals were good, and I didn't get the lyrics at the time, but did more recently, and they are pretty cool! Lots of swagger from Dave here as well, true.

 

Hahaha! Not funny at the time, I'm sure, but in retrospect, that's pretty hilarious.

 

A folk cover of Jump by Mary Lou Lord (yes the girl that was with Kurt Cobain once, much to Courtney's rage)

 

S---, i don't think i even realized she was a musician.

 

You gotta remember, the only thing we'd heard from EVH in '83 was a solo on a Michael Jackson song, so when the DJ said "Whoa, it's the new Van Halen song!" and Ed's playing an instrument most associated with new wave ... it was cause for concern.

Good thing we only had to wait a couple of weeks to hear the rest of the album.

 

But Edward is a 70’s guitarist despite the majority of his work being in the 80’s.

I tend to think Edward is never very forthright about his influences. It’s always “only Clapton from Cream” but it’s, obviously, much broader than that. I have no doubt Blackmore wasn’t an influence to him as well, but in terms of overall impact on the electric guitar in rock, Eddie ranks just as high as Blackers. At least he does in my book.

 

Understood, but the flip side of the Jump 45 gave me good feelings about what else was to come before I heard the rest of the album.

 

I was 15 when Jump hit the radio - and right upon first listen I was hooked. Another great pop record form VH (like Dance the Night Away) that was undeniable. I bought the 45 soon after first listen, then I ordered the album thru Columbia House.

 

Could never figure out who "Maxwell" was, and why Dave wanted him to jump...

 

Seems like a consistent theme on the age -- I would have been 13, really just getting into my own music versus listening to what parent's played (which was actually pretty good music, can't complain).

I wore this tape out on a Walkman. Sure Jump ended up overplayed, and if you were a longer term fan I imagine it was likely a bit of a shock, but it's still one of those catchy, moment in times songs that some bands luckily hit on. I can hear this song and it instantly takes me back to yellow Walkman in the back of the Astro mini van. I ended up with a vinyl copy that was in long-tern storage for a few decades, and pulled it out a couple of years ago. Still a highly crankable song, I wanted to do some windmill kicks in the living room.

A serious question -- is there a deeper meaning to this song?

 

Waiting for Van Halen to release 1984 was excruciating with the build-up it was getting on local radio and MTV in December 1983. I was hopeful the record would make me forget all about the letdown that was Diver Down (which was still "ok", but was considered subpar by VH standards).

Well I think MTV had previewed "Jump" on New Year's Eve so I was already familiar with the song, but hadn't heard "1984" yet. I was with a friend from work who had just bought the album the day it came out and when we heard the 1984 intro we kinda thought, "Ummm, ok...". I guess it was supposed to get you acclimated to their new sound (which was a departure from everything else they'd down to that point). But I was underwhelmed. If Eddie had done "1984" in the style of, say, "Eruption", I probably would have thought it was awesome. But he didn't. And I didn't. It was milquetoast at best.

I knew Dave didn't want Eddie playing keyboards on the new album (if at all), but I didn't know Ted was also against the idea. Now I know why Mr. Fingers was so ticked-off at Ted, and why they would soon part ways. I knew Ed built 510 so he could do his own thing whenever inspiration hit, but I didn't know that was also his way of putting distance between him and Ted. And it's a shame, too, because Ted's signature sound is unmistakable. Sadly, Van Halen would never sound the same. But I digress...

As far as the song "Jump" goes, I always thought it was an ok song. Not super-duper terrific, but certainly not the worst thing they'd ever done either. It was different seeing Ed do his little keyboard solo in the video, but it wasn't the Van Halen I grew up with. Maybe Warner Bros should have included a yellow "WARNING -- DANGER AHEAD" insert with the album to alert you to what lay ahead.

 

I've read the song was inspired by members of the band seeing someone on a ledge and people shouting "Jump!"....
I'm not kidding...

pretty lousy song to me regardless.

 

Deep? Nah, I just didn't catch that the line was " I ain't the worst that you've seen ". Maybe everybody else did... I don't care about deep lyrics.

 

How does he know, though? Maybe he IS the worst she’s ever seen. He’s no mind reader.

 

Yes, this was the beginning of that weird time in the 80s when “metal” went mainstream and suddenly girls and the “cool kids” were into Bon Jovi and Def Leppard and so on. And even Judas Priest decided it was a good move to get perms. Urgggg.

 

I'm not sure how I missed 1984 in 1984 - I was 13 at the time. I became aware of it about the same time as Why Can't This Be Love was released through a friend and worked backwards to the album. I did know Jump as a single but not the back catalogue. I recall hearing Eruption in Back To The Future and thinking I needed to go deeper into VH history. So, coming at 1984 from a Van Hagar perspective, the keyboards were not revolutionary and it was the most immediately listenable album and Jump a very listenable single which has only dimmed slightly over time. Jump would have been in my best 20 singles for quite a few years. It is power pop from a heavy rock perspective - and didn't we get so much of that in the 80s?

 

If you're going to have one Van Halen album in your collection...it should be their 1978 self-titled album but if you want to make it two, 1984 should be next.

The title track has dated poorly but it does build suspense into "Jump".

 

But he went to a fortune teller once and she said "Humala bebuhla zeebuhla boobuhla Humala bebuhla zeebuhla bop".

 

That's a brain faart on my part. I don't know why I didn't bother playing the B-side on a damn jukebox.

 

If you're going to get a second Van Halen album, it should be FAIR WARNING!

 

Buying Van Halen albums back in the day was mandatory on the week they were released.

 

I wish the extra yelp that DLR does in the video was available commercially as it is the ultimate version of the song. One of my favorite songs of all time to this day.

 

If you only own FAIR WARNING your second Van Halen album should be FAIR WARNING!!!!!! 'Cause you're gonna need an extra copy when you wear that sucker OUT!!!!!