this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2025
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I can't say I have strong feelings about the song either way, it's from before my time. I wonder if there's any that will make me feel similar down the track
My strong feelings were because I was young and I thought of Van Halen as "my" band. Eddie was often depressed so his lyrics could be (very) dark. The songs on the album Fair Warning (1981) are examples. David Lee Roth wanted Van Halen to be far more of a party band. He didn't want to sing songs like Mean Street from that album. In any case - I've never googled but I've always assumed Jump was 100% David Lee relentlessly pushing and telling the band that as a radio friendly pop song it that would be a hit. And it sure was.
But Eddie pushed David Lee out of the band in 1985. Funnily enough - David Lee was replaced by somebody even more interested in money and radio friendly crap: Sammy Hagar. I think Hagar's musical interests have only been three things: money, fame, and women. The band had their first Van Hagar era. 1984 was the band's last really good album and the band never nearly as good again. That's a shame but that's how it goes.
One more thing.
David Lee was incredibly dumb. He tried to do the impossible. He tried to recreate the lightning in a bottle vibe of Van Halen with his new band and their album Skyscraper (1988). I assume the band's goal was to be a fantastically successful supergroup. I don't know if he literally said to Steve Vai "Pretend to be Eddie" but that's what Vai did. Vai and the bassist were technical wizards but they bring to mind a quote I learned decades later from the jazz saxophonist Stan Getz. He said "I can't play a lie."
The album was painful to listen to. It will always be amazing to me how some insanely talented musicians can have no taste and no soul. I felt embarrassed for Vai and the bassist.
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Ninja edit
I haven't listened to any tracks on the album ~35 years. I remembered the songs as being at best about 2/10. If this song is typical - that's far too kind. Maybe all the tracks are sub 1/10. My god. All that talent to create utter crap. And the Eddie ripoff stuff is even worse than I remembered.
Knucklebones.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: