Jump, Redux

Last in my head on September 27, 2010.

Artist: Van Halen
Year: 1984
Rating: Luke Hot

Jump

My strongest association with the song "Jump" is an argument my friend Julie and I had the summer after our senior year of high school. It was about six years after the song's release in 1984, and thus, well into its influence on the rock radio canon. I had argued that the song paled in comparison to the brilliant music of Phil Collins. Julie contended that "Jump" was a better song from a musical standpoint than any Phil Collins song, hands-down.

I wouldn't argue that a Phil Collins song could beat up a Van Halen song behind the bleachers after school; my argument contended that Phil Collins's songs, including, naturally, the Genesis repertoire, were more robust from a sort of quasi-intellectual standpoint. I was basically just arguing against butt rock in favor of art rock. My argument, of course, was dashed from its inception, since by 1990, Phil Collins had long abandoned unconventional prog for soulless pop like Sussudio and insultingly vague altruism like Another Day in Paradise.*

Julie's argument, however, contained actual substance. A student of voice and music theory, she lectured me on the musicality of "Jump," the complexity of the arrangement, the layered instrumental elements, and the tonality of the entire composition. From her words emerged the grey scale picture of Collins's work placed next to the dynamically technicolored break out single on Van Halen's diamond-certified 1984 album.

I was bested.

Either that year, or a couple years on, Julie and I found ourselves at the same New Year's Eve party (at our friend Jen's place). We were listening to our local rock station's New Year's countdown of the "Top 100 Songs of All Time" (or perhaps the Top 105 Songs, or the Top 1,045 Songs). Imagine the cosmic comeuppance Julie felt when Van Halen's "Jump" was announced as the Number One song.

Julie was right: my esteem for Phil Collins only plummeted with the passing decades, and although I couldn't call it the Number One song of All Time, "Jump" has serious staying power. In my head.

Artist: Van Halen
Year: 1984
Rating: Luke Hot

* (Note to the earworm gods: please don't put either of those songs in my head now. Thank you.)

Living On A Prayer

I blame my friend Dina, who alerted me to this "movement" recently:






I wonder if there really are people who want to rename their state for Jon Bon Jovi. I think naming Jersey in honor of Springsteen makes a lot more sense, just sayin'.

Artist: Bon Jovi
Year: 1986
Rating: Warm +
Shout out: Dina!

Ramble On by Led Zeppelin

Ah, the Zep. Many people have very strong opinions about this band, love/hate feelings usually more than just that they're meh (and, by the way, did you know that "meh" is now officially a word?) Not that I wanted intentionally to start a debate about whether Zeppelin's songs are meh, but a good many of them are, at least to me.

Here's my feeling about this band: they were musically excellent—some of their songs are beautiful—and hugely influential, if lyrically a bit too "Middle Earth" for my aesthetic. But the vast majority of bands that patterned themselves after Zeppelin were mediocre hair bands. So thank you, Plant/Paige/Jones/Bonham for rocking hard and leaving a legacy of metal dudes screaming at the top of their lungs trying to mimick Plant's tenor vocal peaks that even he was straining to reach.

Year: 1969
Rating: Warm (no, not meh.)

Panama by Van Halen/Round and Round by Ratt

Couldn't grow up in the '80s without coming across Van Halen, and their smash hit album 1984 was particularly hard to miss. Eddie Van Halen's guitar playing was something special, for sure. Whistled the melody, and the bitchin' solo, in the shower today. I was pretty good.

Year: 1984
Rating: Warm



I had less familiarity with Ratt than VH, but this song was fun back in the day. It had never really entered my mind passed its heyday, but my friend Chris performed it at karaoke a few days ago and it's had some staying power, I guess. Catchy tune but not nearly as musically interesting as Panama, which debuted the same year.

Year: 1984
Rating: Warm