I was never that big on Aztec Camera, though somehow I ended up with one of their early singles, "Oblivious," a slight thing but with something of a lilting appeal. Nor was I even close to liking Van Halen or their 1984 dance crossover mega-hit. Put the two together, however, a confluence found in the shadows of a strangely packaged mid-'80s EP, a recording of a live performance in London—well, now that's something altogether different. Roddy Frame & crew took the blatant and largely empty commercial gesture that played a role in David Lee Roth's departure from Van Halen and converted it from light-hearted teen-focused dancefloor parable into something very much like a suicide note. The way Frame moans it out, the chorus sounds vastly different from the rather more chipper version by Roth, particularly when Frame starts leaning into it hard, repeating the message: "Awww," he sings, "You might as well—jump. Well, you might as well jump. Go ahead and jump. You might as well jump.... Go ahead...." The guitar solo that follows—I'm presuming that's Malcolm Ross but it's possible it's Frame—is like unto the chaos of death. The contrasts are stark. A hushed and somber feeling accompanies the singing part as it industriously sets about recontextualizing, finishing the job with a certain finality in the second reading of the chorus and opening the door then for the band to bring it up and Ross, or whoever it is, to grind away. The band gets louder, the guitar wilder, bolts of feedback erupt. I have a fanciful image in my mind of the crowd standing as one, holding their hands over their ears like the figure in Munch's "The Scream." Suddenly not so fun anymore, is it?
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