How do I get Van Halen "Jump" sound?

VST, AU, AAX, CLAP, etc. Plugin Virtual Instruments Discussion
Post Reply New Topic
RELATED
PRODUCTS
Diva OB-Xd - Virtual Analog Synthesizer OP-X Pro Synth1

Post

"his vision of synth-rock" - maybe this was just he liked the sound of a patch through his Marshalls for this tune. That's reaching in order to ridicule something. Who needs ghettosynthsplainin' for why people didn't like something from, what was it, 1983 or '84 or decided later to ridicule it because of fashion. Some people may find the tune cheesy, or something. :shrug: The vagary 'established synth-pop artists of the time' is not all that compelling. :neutral:

Post

ghettosynth wrote:
wagtunes wrote: Fair enough. But I still have no idea what you listened to in 1984 that was "great" synth rock. LMAO.
I already told you, I'm not going to. That will just fuel endless silly debate as fanbois try to make comparisons. It's simply not possible to argue that synth music wasn't popular at the time, simply go look at the various charts around the world to verify this. If you were there, then you'd know anyway.
Well, it's a shame that's what this forum has become (unless it's always been like this) because I'm far from a fanbois of anything. My question about "Jump" was rhetorical at best. I have no vested interest in whether or not people like or dislike the song but was curious as to WHY the hatred. You explained it and that's good enough for me.

I recently did a synth pop CD (I'm sure you remember the thread when I was asking for synth suggestions) so I can pretty much guess that you probably listened to Missing Persons, Ultravox, etc. unless that's the stuff you DIDN'T listen to. I don't know. Missing Persons certainly wasn't mainstream and Ultravox was even more under the radar than Missing Persons, at least in these parts.

One of the greatest songs of 1981.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37w42Bfsv3E

There was lots of great synth music in the 80s, which is the reason I did my CD in the first place. Most fun I'd had in a very long time.

Post

wagtunes wrote:
ghettosynth wrote:
wagtunes wrote: Fair enough. But I still have no idea what you listened to in 1984 that was "great" synth rock. LMAO.
I already told you, I'm not going to.
Well, it's a shame that's what this forum has become (unless it's always been like this) because I'm far from a fanbois of anything. My question about "Jump" was rhetorical at best. I have no vested interest in whether or not people like or dislike the song but was curious as to WHY the hatred. You explained it and that's good enough for me.
I'm not talking about the forum as a whole, just this thread. This is one of those topics, like Omnisphere, that attracts fanbois.

Post

ghettosynth wrote:
wagtunes wrote:
ghettosynth wrote:
wagtunes wrote: Fair enough. But I still have no idea what you listened to in 1984 that was "great" synth rock. LMAO.
I already told you, I'm not going to.
Well, it's a shame that's what this forum has become (unless it's always been like this) because I'm far from a fanbois of anything. My question about "Jump" was rhetorical at best. I have no vested interest in whether or not people like or dislike the song but was curious as to WHY the hatred. You explained it and that's good enough for me.
I'm not talking about the forum as a whole, just this thread. This is one of those topics, like Omnisphere, that attracts fanbois.
Yeah, just this thread and Omnisphere and any U-he synth and on and on.

But no, there's nothing wrong with the forum as a whole.

Post

wagtunes wrote:
Yeah, just this thread and Omnisphere and any U-he synth and on and on.

But no, there's nothing wrong with the forum as a whole.
Maybe I wasn't clear. I simply meant that I have different limitations for different threads based on who those threads tend to attract. I'm not making any statement about the overall mental health of this forum.

Post

Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, I'd say that this was one of the more progressive areas for 80s music. And yet, we really only had sparse exposure to what was happening in the U.K. at the time. Especially because I lived out in the middle of nowhere in the hills, we couldn't even get cable TV until the 90s, so there was no MTV for me. Music videos consisted of an after school show called MV3, where I got to see Eurythmics, Human League, Duran Duran, etc., and then there was Friday Night Videos, which did include some imports but was also tons of the US mainstream artists. It wasn't until the radio station Live105 came on the air that I really got a clue. As a result, I ended up liking more of the mainstream than I would have otherwise.

Jump is a catchy song, and I don't see anything wrong with that. It really bears no relation to what was happening with new wave and synthpop at the time. I also agree that Dan Fogelberg was over by that time, although I was a big fan of his, back in the days of The Innocent Age (see what I did there?)

In the past few years I've seen a lot of old episodes of Top of the Pops on YouTube. What surprises me now is how I completely misunderstood the UK music scene. Groups like Depeche, Yazoo, Ultravox, etc. seemed like this amazing, weird, futuristic alternative music which operated outside of the mainstream of US pop. It was kind of a rude awakening to discover that this "alternative" music actually WAS mainstream pop at the time! Rather mortifying, actually.
Incomplete list of my gear: 1/8" audio input jack.

Post

ghettosynth wrote:
wagtunes wrote:
Yeah, just this thread and Omnisphere and any U-he synth and on and on.

But no, there's nothing wrong with the forum as a whole.
Maybe I wasn't clear. I simply meant that I have different limitations for different threads based on who those threads tend to attract. I'm not making any statement about the overall mental health of this forum.
Ah, okay. So in other words, some threads you say as little as possible in. Got it.

Advice I should probably take myself but don't.

Post

deastman wrote:Jump is a catchy song, and I don't see anything wrong with that.
Right, so is "Blue is the Color" and "Little Willy", but I don't expect everyone to think that they're awesome. Jump is catchy, and cheesy, and bombastic, and for many, not really interesting in any way. Catchy can't save it anymore than it can save "We Built This City." Ducking because I'm sure I just pissed off some Starship fans.

I get that a lot of people like it, that's obvious, it reached number one. However, if you liked it and you struggle to understand why other people don't, consider my perspective. It's not simply mine, you will find many people that feel this way. They were easy for me to find back then, both in Europe and here in the states and they are certainly easy for me to find now.
It really bears no relation to what was happening with new wave and synthpop at the time.
We don't really even have to look to Europe or even outside of synth-rock. Progressive rock had been using synths since the 70s and there were many examples of synths used in pop rock that made the pop charts, notably Styx and ELO in the 70s and early 80s. Just looking at records made with the OBXA prior to 1984 came out we can point to Billy Idol's Rebel Yell and the Police's Synchronicity. Those were mainstream pop rock acts in the U.S. at that time.

Post

The problem with this whole "people didn't like it" argument is that you can say that about any group or any song that's ever come out. Even songs that those who think Jump sucks like. There are people who hated The Beatles, The Carpenters, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and on and on.

It means nothing. John or Jane Doe think Jump sucks or that the riff sucks or that the synth sound sucks or whatever they think about it that sucks, so what? It's not a statement of truth that Jump's "whatever" sucks. It's just opinion. Lovers of classical music ONLY probably think that most, if not ALL of "our" music sucks. To them, we're all fanbois.

So I take all this "hate" with a very small grain of salt. It's not a "qualitative" analysis of the "worth" of a song.

Post

wagtunes wrote:The problem with this whole "people didn't like it" argument is that you can say that about any group or any song that's ever come out. Even songs that those who think Jump sucks like. There are people who hated The Beatles, The Carpenters, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and on and on.
But we're talking SPECIFICALLY about this song. You will find consistency here. I don't hate all Van Halen songs, in fact, I rather like his first two albums. I don't even hate all of his poppy songs, I rather like "Dance The Night Away."

You wanted to know why, I told you why I, and many others in my experience, don't like it. Go search the web you will find that this song, more than any other EVH song, has this bimodal perspective.
It means nothing. John or Jane Doe think Jump sucks or that the riff sucks or that the synth sound sucks or whatever they think about it that sucks, so what? It's not a statement of truth that Jump's "whatever" sucks. It's just opinion. Lovers of classical music ONLY probably think that most, if not ALL of "our" music sucks. To them, we're all fanbois.
Of course it's all opinion. What did you think that I was saying? I'm trying to explain a fairly commonly shared opinion about this song and the thoughts behind that opinion. There is no way that any such opinion can discount someone's emotional attachment to a particular song.

What is fact is that many people "hate" this song but don't "hate" all EVH songs. IF you want to understand that then it does you absolutely no good to ask fans of EVH who don't share that opinion. Their point of view is going to be coloured by their own opinion that the haters are simply wrong.

Post

ghettosynth wrote:What is fact is that many people "hate" this song but don't "hate" all EVH songs. IF you want to understand that then it does you absolutely no good to ask fans of EVH who don't share that opinion. Their point of view is going to be coloured by their own opinion that the haters are simply wrong.
Do you think there really is a single adult VH fan (or fan of any band) somewhere who doesn't realize not everybody, including themselves, likes all of their songs? Of course you are going to find more opinions against from the groups of people who don't like the band to start with. But what good excluding the band "fanbois" does when finding the reasons? You think they don't have any real say about why or why not something sucks?

Post

subterfuge wrote:
ghettosynth wrote:What is fact is that many people "hate" this song but don't "hate" all EVH songs. IF you want to understand that then it does you absolutely no good to ask fans of EVH who don't share that opinion. Their point of view is going to be coloured by their own opinion that the haters are simply wrong.
Do you think there really is a single adult VH fan (or fan of any band) somewhere who doesn't realize not everybody, including themselves, likes all of their songs? Of course you are going to find more opinions against from the groups of people who don't like the band to start with. But what good excluding the band "fanbois" does when finding the reasons? You think they don't have any real say about why or why not something sucks?
I didn't say "like", or "don't like", I said "hate." So, I think that if you want a perspective on "hate" you probably have to ask people who don't view themselves as "fans" of the band.

You really can't dismiss the very common experience that I'm talking about. This thread gives you that. It was immediately brought up that it must be because it was popular. This isn't the first time that this has happened. People love to talk about this dumb synth riff/patch and fans will defend it as being something special. I didn't think it special then and I still don't. If you do, and clearly many/most fans do, then clearly, they're not the people to ask why other people hate it.

Not that any of this matters, if you want to chime in on why you hate it, knock yourself out.

Post

ghettosynth wrote: I didn't say "like", or "don't like", I said "hate." So, I think that if you want a perspective on "hate" you probably have to ask people who don't view themselves as "fans" of the band.
If that's the case, the first thing to define would be what people really mean when they say they love or hate something. In my culture you don't say you love or hate some thing unless you are just grossly overstating or have strong mental and emotional ties to the thing. You may or may not like something, that's enough to know your preference. But in some other cultures words love and hate are thrown around like nothing, and that's what those words eventually become. Besides, there are plenty of VH fans who "hate" Jump and I already listed several reasons why.
ghettosynth wrote:You really can't dismiss the very common experience that I'm talking about. This thread gives you that.
What experience are you talking about now?
ghettosynth wrote: It was immediately brought up that it must be because it was popular. This isn't the first time that this has happened.
Jump being so popular IS one reason some "hate" it. And that comes from some fans of VH as well, of course.
ghettosynth wrote: People love to talk about this dumb synth riff/patch and fans will defend it as being something special. I didn't think it special then and I still don't.
Even people who have never been fans of VH like Jump, that is pretty much the reason why it became so massive hit. And also the reason why some fans of VH don't like it. In its own way, it is a special riff. As special as any special riff there has ever been, regardless of the music style or instrument. Yea, riffs are always short and simple, that's pretty much the definition of a riff. "Dumb" is your personal opinion about it.
ghettosynth wrote: If you do, and clearly many/most fans do, then clearly, they're not the people to ask why other people hate it.
Nonsense. It is actually the real fans who often know the widest variety of reasons why something is not liked, because they have heard them from everywhere while discussing that. Whereas a random hater may only have that lone opinion based on his/her own experience, personal view points, history, culture etc. But I admit some of those are hilarious, like not liking it because it was from a guitar hero who had just found synths and was trying to be trendy. Requires ignorance to think so, but that's also one real reason why there are haters of something/anything.

Post

Isn´t the whole enormous anti-jump cult a fanboi phenomena in itself?
Best Regards

Roman Empire

Post

I don't know because I don't even know what the word fanboi means. Honestly. To me the regular use of it seems similar to other trigger words like "conspiracy theorist", which are supposed to automatically mock and disqualify whatever somebody is saying and turn the attention to something less uncomfortable to handle.

But if you meant simply the people who were fans of the band, anti-Jump movement was surely there amongst them. Even more widely, anti keyboards, anti pop song movement. Many if not the most older fans liked the band because of its hard edge and great guitar playing and sounds. Anything which takes that away and puts something else into the spotlight would be a sacrilege. And this came not just from the fans but also from the other band members, producers, the inner circle if you will. Roughly, everybody wanted Eddie to just be a guitar hero and that's it. Yet there were and would also later be literally millions of people, many of them new (fans) who would love the different style.

Now, if you are talking about some current anti-Jump phenomena, as seen, it's really nothing new. And none of this is really specific to the song Jump or the band either. Many artists who have had long enough career have faced similar situations. It's like wagtunes said earlier; "The problem with this whole "people didn't like it" argument is that you can say that about any group or any song that's ever come out."

It really doesn't mean anything else than what we personally give to it as a meaning. And even explaining all the possible reasons behind the dislikes, what difference would that make to anything? After stating our obvious or less obvious opinions, ultimately the worth of it all would still be upon each of us individually. But it's easy to hang onto arguments thinking that your individual opinions are more worthy than some others. They are not. Once the facts are straight, there's not much more to it but banter.

Post Reply

Return to “Instruments”