10 Rock Songs With Horrible Backstories

At the dawn of the '80s, Van Halen was the symbol of everything great about the Sunset Strip. After the bloat of the '70s came and went, the sounds of Eddie's guitar and David Lee Roth's stage charisma was the kind of irresistible energy that made Los Angeles feel like one big party. And once the keyboards kicked in for the album 1984, Roth decided to up the ante by going to the familiar topic of....suicide.

Yes, really. I mean, for all we knew, Jump could have easily just been a song about jumping, with a synth sound that seemed destined for workout playlists. When actually getting the lyrics together, Roth was working through different ideas when he saw a news story on television about a man at the top of the building threatening to kill himself, which is where Roth got the phrase "might as well jump."

So...is this song basically just a man promoting the idea of someone committing suicide or did Roth just try to put in some placeholder lyrics and forget to change them? You decide. Either way, this made for one of Van Halen's biggest hits, giving Eddie the ability to reach out for different sounds with the synths. And now we only have to wonder whether the guy Roth heard about was actually okay. The melody sounds like he should be fine, but it's pretty easy to assume the worst.