Dutch trance DJ Armin van Buuren recently debuted his dance club-worthy remix of Van Halen’s “Jump” with the help of David Lee Roth himself, and now the song is available to stream.
The single starts with a slow-burning rhythm and Roth’s lyrics before busting out into Eddie Van Halen’s famous synth riff, but it’s definitely a big departure from the chart-topping 1983 rock single.
Van Buuren, who will perform the track again Friday night in Las Vegas at the Electric Daisy Carnival festival, told Rolling Stone he began working on the remix when a friend offered him the stems to the original song.
“I knew the song already as a kid,” he said. “I think I was six years old when the track was a Number One hit everywhere. I was just eager to have the stems, because I always thought, ‘What if you could have the energy of that song from 1982 and transfer it to 2019?’”
He made a mix and sent it to Van Halen and was surprised to hear words of praise back from Roth. “It’s the first step toward world peace if we can do it,” the singer said in the interview.
Roth also opened up in the chat about how he’s been obsessed with dance music for as long as he could remember.
“It’s the reason Eddie Van Halen and I have had so much friction over these decades,” he said. “It’s the only music I listen to.”
What do you think of the new version? Be sure to revisit the old-school original video, too.
