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Flying Omelette wrote:

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I find it hilarious that "Jump" was so controversial because it had a fucking keyboard in it. Humans really are stupid, petty creatures.

People have said that David Lee Roth didn't want keyboards in Van Halen, even though they had keyboards since their third album (Jump was from their sixth album). Howard Stern repeated this in 2006...

HS: "Diamond David Lee Roth never wanted piano in Van Halen."
EVH: "You mean cubic zirconia?"
HS: "You're never going to do a reunion with him, are you?"
EVH: "Ummm…You know, I'm open to anything."
HS: "Really? He makes it seem like you are never open…"
EVH: "In 2000 Alex and I tried to pull something together with him."
HS: "What happened? You couldn't stand being around him?"
EVH: "No, the guys's a loose cannon - but I can deal with loose cannons."
Robin: "Everyone says you're the problem."
EVH: "Yeah, because I don't respond or talk about this stuff."

DLR: Well, the reason that I left Van Halen wasn't based on money at all. It was a completely artistic thing.

Howard Stern: It was not.

DLR: Well, no. I'll say it for the first time here, ever, on a radio interview.

HS: Wait a minute. Say that without using the F word.

DLR: I want it to sound just as serious as it actually was.

HS: The reason you left Van Halen was why? Without using the F word.

DLR: Because they were completely stoned all the time. How do you make music with someone who has a hangover or is copping a buzz on a regular basis?

DLR: This is the very first time I've ever done it. I've always said "Aw, it was musical differences, and aw, it was this, and aw, it was that".

HS: Something about Eddie playing keyboards I kept hearing...

DLR: Nonsense.

DLR: Then you've got Sammy Hagar, who at best is a mediocre talent...

HS: I agree with that. I'll rate him lower than mediocre...

HS: I hate Sammy Hagar, period.

DLR: Well, Sammy is a mindless little bridge-troll drone. You know, everything that comes out of his mouth is word-barf. You know? It's the lowest common denominator. It's meant for children. Jimi Hendrix never made music for children. Children may have loved it, but he never made music like "Hey, the 14-year-olds will love this". The guys in Led Zeppelin and the Beatles never said "I'm gonna aim this at the 12-year-olds".

[I] felt that In Through the Out Door was a little soft. I wasn't really keen on "All My Love". I was a little worried about the chorus. I could just imagine people doing the wave and all of that. And I thought, that's not us. That's not us. In its place it was fine, but I wouldn't have wanted to pursue that direction in the future.

CB: Let's talk about each Van Halen album from the perspective of Michael Anthony.
...
Woman & Children First?

MA: That was the first time we used keyboards. Roth was always against Eddie using keyboards. Roth would say, "You're a guitar player! That's what you play!" Ed was messing around in the studio and he was playing this old Wurlitzer piano through his Marshalls and it didn't sound like a piano. Everyone thought it was just one of the most wild guitar sounds they have ever heard. People to this day still say, 'That's not a piano on 'And the Cradle will Rock!'' When we did the tour in support of that record, I played the keyboards live.

CB: I remember seeing you on that tour. You had two keyboards, each one was installed in a bomb shell.

MA: Yeah! And that was the biggest pain in the ass! I was juggling a lot. I had the Wurlitzer and the MIDI Moog for the bass line and a phaser pedal. A few times the tech hit a cord or something when he'd wheel those things out and they almost went over. It was frightening. They were heavy and very unsteady.

...

CB: 1984?


MA: ... I just remember Roth being very opposed to Ed playing any kind of keyboards. Ed had written Jump many years before we recorded the 1984 album, but he kinda' put the song away. Ed said to David, 'Hey, F--- You.' and we did "Jump". The way I always felt about it was, it sounded like a Van Halen song. Not like a keyboard song just for the sake of doing a keyboard song. Also, on that tour we played "Jump" and on "I'll Wait", both Ed and I played keyboards. I played bass up until Ed went into the guitar solo and then I took over on the keyboards to the break-down of the solo. That was a very cool thing. No keyboards in bombshells. (laughs.)