In celebration for topping the charts on this day in 1984, today’s Song of the Day is “Jump” by Van Halen. The single was released on December 21, 1983 as the lead single from the 1984 album. s early as 1981, Eddie Van Halen had written the keyboard part that would eventually become this song. It led to contention within the group as David Lee Roth thought it would look like they were selling out to get more radio play. Well it became their first and only #1 with Roth, and everybody loved it. Damn Eddie for making one of the most successful rock bands even more successful! But, using a synthesizer instead of a guitar as the lead instrument was a huge departure for Van Halen. When this first came out, and we heard those keyboards, many people felt Eddie was about a good a keyboard player as guitarist. However, halfway through the song, Van Halen reminds us that they had one of the greatest guitarists in rock as he played an incredible guitar solo.

Here are a few other fun facts:

• 1984 was the first album recorded at Eddie Van Halen’s 5150 studio.
• Eddie used the outro guitar solo at the very end of this song to come up with the idea for the intro guitar riff to Van Halen’s later hit, “Standing On Top (Of The World).”
• In an interview with Mix magazine, Daryl Hall said that the Hall & Oates song “Kiss On My List” was an influence on this one. Said Hall: “[Eddie] Van Halen told me that he copied the synth part from ‘Kiss on My List’ and used it in ‘Jump.’ I don’t have a problem with that at all.”

The music video was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards, and won “Best Stage Performance” for the video.