The reason why Van Halen’s producer hated ‘Jump’
American rockers Van Halen penned numerous iconic cuts, and by the time frontman David Lee Roth left the band in 1985 to pursue a solo career, the world was far better than when they had found it. From ‘Eruption’ to ‘Unchained’, the legendary pieces from the classic period of Van Halen are numerous, and their place in the history books is more than deserved, with much of this attributed to their late guitar hero and namesake, Eddie Van Halen.
Despite all of their guitar-oriented brilliance, Van Halen’s most famous track remains the 1983 cut ‘Jump’. A synth-driven piece, the song was the start of Eddie Van Halen moving into the next chapter of his career and the beginning of his long affinity with the keyboard. Whilst it is ostensibly a feel-good hit, with a hefty waft of 1980s cheese coursing through, not everyone is a fan of the song, including its producer Ted Templeman.
When speaking to Rolling Stone in 2020, Templeman discussed the making of ‘Jump’ and revealed his somewhat surprising thoughts on its creation. He recalled: “The only falling out we ever had was over ‘Jump’ because I didn’t — I don’t like it.”
The producer continued: “It’s not one of my favourite things. It’s stupid because I produced it. But the keyboards just hit me as wrong. He would call me up in the middle of the night and say, ‘Ted, you’ve got to hear this. I’m gonna come and get you.’ And he drove down in his Porsche to Century City and picked me up at three in the morning and drove me up there: ‘Listen to this.’ And they had ‘Jump’ down. Donn (Landee) had worked on it. And it did work; it sounded great.”
Explaining the provenance of the song’s central theme, Templeman disclosed that it was a niche Peter Cook and Dudley Moore track that inspired it. He recalled: “And I said, ‘Yeah, OK’. The next morning, I said, ‘Dave (Lee Roth), write some lyrics.’ We sat in the back of his Mercury. He was writing this song, and I said, ‘That’s terrible.’ I don’t know if you’ve ever heard Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, but they used to do this song about a guy that’s stuck up in a fire in a building and they’re going, ‘Jump, you fucker, jump into this blanket what we are holding.’ I said, ‘That bothers me. Don’t say ‘Jump.’ It sounds like you’re encouraging somebody to commit suicide.’ He said, ‘Nah, nah. I got this thing nailed. It’s got a double entendre.’ And he did. It meant,’ take a chance,’ but it also meant he was gonna get this girl.”
Then, Templeman explained that he “wasn’t wild” about the keyboard trend of the day, the main reason why he didn’t like the song. However, he did caveat his opinion by saying that he was wrong in the end as ‘Jump‘ went to number one on the charts.
He said: “But I wasn’t wild about the keyboard trend. I was wrong because it was number one, but I don’t even listen to it. To me, they were a heavy-metal fucking band that could do pop tunes; that’s what I liked about ’em. But that took it into another arena. It reminded me of those bands that play in arenas, and then the fucking thing ended up getting played at every arena before a game. But look, I was wrong.”
