TODAY IN ROCK AND ROLL HISTORY - 12/21/1983

Van Halen released what would become their most successful song, "Jump", as the lead single from the album "1984". The tune would top the Billboard Hot 100 on February 25th, 1984 and stay there for five weeks. Over the years, vocalist David Lee Roth has given various accounts of the meaning behind the lyrics, but he usually says they were inspired by a TV news story he saw where a man was about to commit suicide by jumping off a building.