How Van Halen’s "Jump" Became Their Only #1 Hit Despite Band Tensions

The story of this next song is so good. So entertaining it almost feels made up, but it’s not. Van Halen with David Lee Roth at the helm headlined one of the first big festivals of the 80s… while they were in the middle of working on the song Jump from their blockbuster hard rock masterpiece 1984. The other big headliner was the Clash, the most famous punk band on the planet, and Joe Strummer and co dissed Eddie Van Halen’s band because they were getting paid more… Van Halen was already in disarray as the guitarist wanted to add more pop element to their hard rock while the David Lee Roth wanted to do cover songs. Eddie got so pissed he threatened to burn the masters. In the end, Eddie worked on a melody he’d had for a while and turned it into the band's biggest hit… Jump went to #1 for a month. But this happy-go-lucky 80s hit is actually pretty dark…Almost no one realizes some have said David Lee Roth wrote the song encouraging someone to take their own life… kind of... Find out the real story next on Professor of Rock.

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