The Peak
Valerie put it bluntly when she said, “Ed was at the peak of his artistry as
he worked on songs for the 1984 album.”
1984 was officially released the first week of January, although the
album itself features a 1983 copyright date. “Jump” was released as the
first single back in mid-December, but it took a fairly slow route up the
charts. However, by late February, it became the one and only Van Halen
song in the band’s history to hit #1 on the Billboard charts. It stayed #1
for a solid month.
I will never forget the first time I heard “Jump.” I was out on the
driveway shooting hoops when my older brother Brandon and his friend
Steve pulled up in the driveway. I could already hear music coming from
the car. Brandon opened up the passenger door and said, “Come here!
It’s the new Van Halen song!” I came over and instantly was perplexed by
the synthesizer sound. Then I heard the guitar solo, which was familiar
territory, and then the keyboard solo kicked in. I was amazed, in shock.
Brandon and I were both giddy, but I will never forget Steve looking over
at me with a smirk and saying, “I don’t like it.” Steve said it as if he knew
he was going to have to live with it because, even if he didn’t like it, he
knew that everyone else would.
Again, “Jump” was written quite some time before. The song
languished reportedly because Dave and Ted Templeman were both against
incorporating synthesizers so heavily into Van Halen’s repertoire. The
building of 5150 finally gave Ed the license to record it alone with Donn’s
help. He said, “The first thing I did up here was ‘Jump’ and they [Roth
and Templeman] didn’t like it. I said ‘Take it or leave it’; I was getting sick
of their ideas of what was commercial.” Furthermore, Ed claimed he was
told “that people wouldn’t like seeing me playing keyboards. I disagreed
with that so this time around I just did it.”
In 2009, Edward said that the reason he had even built his home
studio in the first place was out of the driving desire to properly record
the synthesizer parts for the song. An excerpt of his interview with Steve
Baltin reads as follows: “It’s like ‘Jump’: It was our only #1 single, and
believe it or not I built my studio to put that song on our record ’cause
everyone hated it . . . Alex and I tracked the whole thing, certain people
didn’t want to be a part of it . . . and all of a sudden it’s like, ‘Hey, yeah,
great!’ But it was like pulling teeth to get the person to sing the damn
song. . . . But I was always up against certain people saying [about ‘Jump’],
‘That doesn’t sound like Van Halen.’ [I was told] verbatim, ‘You’re a guitar
hero; nobody wants to see you playing keyboards.’ Well, I didn’t mean to
ram it up their poop chute, so to speak, but it’s our only #1 single. . . . It’s
a keyboard-based song. ‘That’s not Van Halen.’ Well, what is Van Halen?
Van Halen is whatever I write because I write all the music [laughs]. But I
get outvoted because we are a democracy, so to speak.”
On the surface, there is a simplicity to “Jump” that is universal in a
way that transcends any culture around the world. But just beneath the
surface is a hidden, meshed complexity that requires a critical ear to find.
There are very subtle synth-note octave stretches throughout. The bridge
of the song is layered with several synth lines and an arpeggiated guitar
line, and the music behind the guitar solo almost defies comprehension. It
almost seems to make no sense, and is of course lost to the beautiful guitar
solo, but it is the epitome of the “fall down the stairs and land on your
feet” Van Halen principle. When people first heard Edward’s keyboard
solo—and when they first saw it on MTV—they were duly impressed
and immediately won over, if I may speak for a generation of American
culture.
Ted was actually squeezed out for the most part for the recording of
1984, which Ed and Donn Landee did primarily by themselves—obviously
a result of the bond they had developed, particularly in building 5150.
A September 1984 Hit Parader article chronicled an ugly episode in
which Ted and Eddie actually came to physical blows. The article said:
“Reports emanating from Los Angeles describe an alleged fight between
Edward and the band’s long-time producer Ted Templeman. Evidently
Templeman . . . criticized Edward’s increasingly egotistical attitude. This
forced the axe-slinger to retort with verbal and physical force. . . . Ted wasn’t
thrilled with being left out of the recording process and . . . there was a bit
of hostility on of their parts.” In fact, the article said that Ted’s name was
included in the 1984 credits solely out of a “feeling of commitment” based
on all the work they had done together in the past.
Of course, Dave relented on “Jump,” wrote the lyrics and vocal melody
as always, and the song skyrocketed. Dave in turn took heat for initially
pooh-poohing the song, although he didn’t necessarily apologize. “I don’t
remember from two years ago,” he said, referring to the fact that the song
had been in demo form since 1981 or 1982. “Maybe it wasn’t right for
two years ago. . . . We can’t possibly put everything on the album. ‘Jump’
made it there eventually.” Of course, without Dave’s concept and lyrics,
no one knows where the song may have gone. That is impossible to know.
What is known as that it became more than just the number one song
from the early spring of 1984; it is a song that endures, a song that will be
around forever.
Dave assumed the director’s chair for the song’s video—a straight-ahead
mock stage performance all for reputedly “$600.” This was likely Dave’s
reaction against video like “Thriller” that cost millions to make. Whatever
the actual cost, the simple idea was colorful and effective and was a huge
hit in heavy rotation on MTV. Ed is seen mostly playing guitar, but there
are several shots of him on keyboard (hilariously covered in studio dust).
Ed smiled for almost the entire video, and even hammed it up quite a bit
singing the “Jump!” refrain with good humor. Dave performed a standing
back flip for the video (reversed to look like a front flip) that took him
three takes to nail. Dave’s overall improvement as a music video director
would have him at the same helm for two more songs on the album.
“I’ll Wait” was the other synthesizer-driven masterpiece of the album.
The combination of Dave’s dark lyrics and Ed’s moody keyboard lines
made for an absolutely classic rock song. No one knew it at all, much
less now but especially not at the time, that Michael McDonald of The
Doobie Brothers and solo fame was a co-writer on the song. The extent of
his input is not known, but he is clearly listed as a co-writer in the ASCAP
database. His songwriting credit has been left off of the American release
of the album since the day of its first issue. The irony is that Edward was
himself the uncredited guest on Nicolette Larson’s debut, whereas Michael
McDonald was a credited collaborator. It is likely that Templeman’s
Doobie Brothers connection led to this rather unlikely combination
of talents. Nevertheless, the result was yet another timeless classic from
the 1984 album. Dave contrasted the two keyboard-driven songs: “‘I’ll
Wait.’ Totally different feeling from something like ‘Jump.’ ‘I’ll Wait’ has
a very somber tone. Almost sad. But it still has a lot of torque. It gives the
impression of being fast.”