David Eric Grohl is paying tribute to David Lee Roth on night four of Hanukkah. As the Foo Fighters frontman and producer Greg Kurston continue their Hanukkah covers song series, today they’re jumping into the wonderful world of Van Halen.
“Quite possibly the loudest and proudest of hard rocking Jews, @DavidLeeRoth has gone on record crediting his Bar Mitzvah preparation as his earliest vocal training,” write Grohl and Kurtin. “He became a rockstar the day he became a man: Diamond Dreidel DLR and @VanHalen …with ‘Jump.’”
Foo Fighters have covered Van Halen’s “Jump” live on many occasions over the years, but today’s release boasts Kurstin on synth and Grohl on drums and vocals. The accompanying video mixes performance footage with scenes of the two men jumping, crawling, and hamming it up on the back of a pickup truck.
For the second year running, Grohl and Kurstin are celebrating Hanukkah by covering songs made famous by Jewish artists. They kicked things off on Sunday with an utterly delightful cover of Lisa Loeb’s “Stay (I Missed You),” which they followed up on Monday by taking on Ramones’ classic “Blitzkrieg Bop” and on Tuesday with a loungy cover of Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana.”
Earlier this week, Grohl’s Foo Fighters announced a 2022 North American tour, and a ticket pre-sale is now ongoing.
Watch Grohl and Kurstin perform Van Halen’s “Jump” below, followed by our new video interview with Wolfgang Van Halen, in which he talks about his late father, Eddie Van Halen, as well as David Lee Roth’s impending retirement.
Quite possibly the loudest and proudest of hard rocking Jews, @DavidLeeRoth has gone on record crediting his Bar Mitzvah preparation as his earliest vocal training. He became a rockstar the day he became a man: Diamond Dreidel DLR and @VanHalen…with “Jump.”#happyhanukkah pic.twitter.com/9w73lP0Wco
— Foo Fighters (@foofighters) December 1, 2021
