By the year 1984, the synth era of rock music had reached its peak. Bands would at the very least incorporate the instrument to complement a song or two. More often than not, it paid off with commercial success. When it came to Van Halen’s 1984 album, it was clear with the singles “Jump” and “I’ll Wait” that Edward Van Halen was looking to do much more than add a touch of synths here and there. A big risk, yes, but a huge payoff. The album went on to sell 10-million plus copies and make Van Halen the biggest rock band in the land.
A new feature article by Loudersound’s Chris Gill (co-author of Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen] gives an in-depth insight into the album Edward himself considered the band’s masterpiece. Below is an excerpt:
In order to be able to do things his way, Ed took dominant control of the creative reins by building a professional multitrack studio at home in 1982. Initially, the plan was to build a studio for recording demos, but as work progressed the guitarist realized that, with Landee working by his side, he could record Van Halen’s next album there.
“I did not set out to build a full-blown studio,” Ed admitted. “I just wanted a better place to put my music together so I could show it to the guys. I never imagined that it would turn into what it did until we started building it. Slowly it turned into a lot more than I originally envisioned.
“Everybody else was even more surprised than I was, especially Ted. They thought I was just building a little demo room. Then Donn said, ‘No man! We’re going to make records up here!’ Donn and I had grown really close and had a common vision. Everybody was afraid that Donn and I were taking control. Well… yes! That’s exactly what we did, and the results proved that we weren’t idiots.”
Ed’s new home studio, named 5150 after the California law code for taking a mentally disordered person into custody when that person is considered a danger to others, was completed by the end of 1982. In a recent interview with Greg Renoff for Tape Op magazine, Landee recalls that the first recording session took place on January 2, 1983, with Ed on synthesiser and his brother Alex Van Halen on drums.
This was a calculated move on Ed’s part to appease David Lee Roth and Templeman, perhaps hoping to convince them that the studio was indeed up to the task after they worked there and heard the results. The fact that the song was never released and is still locked up in 5150’s vaults suggests that Ed may have never actually wanted to record it in the first place.
However, Ed boldly revealed his hand with his next move. Over the previous few years, the guitarist had worked on a synth-dominated song that would later be named Jump after Roth wrote the lyrics, and with the studio up and running he recorded an instrumental demo of the tune, performed on an Oberheim OB-Xa synthesiser with accompaniment from his brother Alex on drums and Michael Anthony on bass.
“When I first played Jump for the guys nobody wanted to have anything to do with it,” Ed said. “Dave said that I was a guitar hero and I shouldn’t be playing keyboards. But when Ted heard the demo and said it was a stone-cold hit, everyone started to like it more. Ted [Templeman, producer] only cared about Jump. He really didn’t care much about the rest of the record and just wanted that one hit.”
The band worked diligently recording new material there for most of 1983, with the exception of the month of May, which they spent preparing for their appearance at the US Festival. Ed particularly revelled in having “unchained” freedom to experiment whenever and for as long as he pleased.
In addition to equipping 5150 with a solid selection of classic studio gear that included a Universal Audio console purchased from United Western Studios, Ed also added a wide variety of new instruments to his creative arsenal. The musician had become enamoured with the Oberheim OB-Xa polyphonic synthesiser and its updated version the OB-8, and they played a major role in three of the album’s songs.
Keyboards had actually prominently appeared on all three of Van Halen’s previous albums — a Wurlitzer electric piano on And The Cradle Will Rock… (Women And Children First), an ElectroHarmonix Mini-Synthesiser on Saturday Afternoon In The Park and One Foot Out The Door (Fair Warning) and a Mini Moog on Dancing In The Street (Diver Down) — but they were distorted and usually employed as ersatz guitars. With 1984, Jump and I’ll Wait, there was no mistaking that Ed was playing synths.