Just Like Paradise

"Just Like Paradise"
Single by David Lee Roth
from the album Skyscraper
B-side"The Bottom Line"
ReleasedDecember 30, 1987[1]
Recorded1987
Genre
Length4:03
LabelWarner Bros.
Songwriter(s)David Lee Roth, Brett Tuggle
Producer(s)David Lee Roth, Steve Vai
David Lee Roth singles chronology
"Tobacco Road"
(1986) 		"Just Like Paradise"
(1987) 		"Stand Up"
(1988)

"Just Like Paradise" is a song by American rock singer David Lee Roth. Released after he left Van Halen, it was produced by Roth and guitarist Steve Vai. The lead single from Roth's second solo album, 1988's Skyscraper, it reached the top 10 in the United States and Canada.

Music video[edit]

The video for the single was released in January 1988.[4] Like other Roth videos, it heavily featured live stage performance. Between are clips of Roth rock climbing at Half Dome shot by Emmy Award-winning mountain climbing photographer David Breashears.[5][6] "I started climbing when I was 11, in the Boy Scouts," he recalled. "It was a natural thing, plus you add in the books and comics and the movies. I'd say, 'Aw, I don't want to be the actor, I want to go to Arabia!"[7] The video concludes with Roth on a 28-foot surfboard gliding across a concert crowd.[8] "You ask four different people their impression of [the surfboard], you get six different responses," he observed. "I had a driver called Cowboy, a chopper pilot during the Tet Offensive. He said to me one day at rehearsal, 'Goddamn Dave: that reminds me of 'Nam… contour-flying over a hostile landing zone!' Then again, everything reminded Cowboy of 'Nam!"[7] Noisecreep ranked the video 10th on their list of the best David Lee Roth videos.[9]

Release and reception[edit]

Released in 1987, "Just Like Paradise" entered the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1988 and peaked at number six in March.[10] It reached number four on the Singles Sales chart and eight on the Hot 100 Airplay chart.[10] It also spent four weeks atop the Mainstream Rock chart.[10] The song peaked at eight in Canada,[11] number 27 in the United Kingdom,[12] number 13 in New Zealand, and number 77 in the Netherlands.[13]

Music critic Charles Bottomley called the song "a polished ode to decadence, with a chorus you would be unashamed to punch the air to".[14] AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia described it as an "ultra-saccharine" single that tries "too hard to achieve an exaggerated pop sheen".[15]

Track listing[edit]

7" vinyl
  1. "Just Like Paradise" (Roth, Tuggle) – 4:03
  2. "The Bottom Line" (Roth, Vai) – 3:37
12" vinyl (UK)
  1. "Just Like Paradise" (Roth, Tuggle) – 4:03
  2. "The Bottom Line" (Roth, Vai) – 3:37
  3. "Yankee Rose" (Roth, Vai) – 3:47

Chart performance[edit]

Chart (1988) Peak
position
Canadian Singles Chart[11] 8
Dutch Single Top 100[13] 77
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart[13] 13
UK Singles Chart[12] 27
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[10] 6
U.S. Album Rock Tracks[10] 1

Year-end charts[edit]

Chart (1988) Position
United States (Billboard)[16][17] 97

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The Best" CD liner notes (1997)
  2. ^ Brannigan, Paul (October 10, 2016). "The Top 10 Best David Lee Roth songs". loudersound. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  3. ^ Popoff, Martin (2014). The big book of hair metal : the illustrated oral history of heavy metal's debauched decade. Minneapolis, MN. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-7603-4546-7. OCLC 858901054.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ "David Lee Roth – "Just Like Paradise"". mvdbase.com. Archived from the original on May 29, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  5. ^ David Breashears (October 11, 2008). "Filmography: David Breashears". DavidBreashears.com. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  6. ^ Jeff Giles (October 11, 2013). "Weekend Songs: David Lee Roth, 'Just Like Paradise'". Ultimateclassicrock.com. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  7. ^ a b Swift, David (December 3, 1988). "I laugh to win". NME. p. 20.
  8. ^ "David Lee Roth On Larry King 1988". January 22, 1988. Retrieved June 17, 2016 – via YouTube.[dead link]
  9. ^ Ford, Chris (October 10, 2013). "10 Best David Lee Roth Videos". Noisecreep. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  10. ^ a b c d e Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (8th ed.). New York: Billboard Books. p. 543. ISBN 978-0-8230-7499-0.
  11. ^ a b "RPM 100 Singles". RPM. 47 (23). RPM Music Publications Ltd. March 26, 1988. ISSN 0315-5994. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  12. ^ a b "David Lee Roth – 'Just Like Paradise'". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  13. ^ a b c "David Lee Roth – 'Just Like Paradise'". Ultratop. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  14. ^ Buckley, Peter, ed. (2003). The Rough Guide Rock: The Definitive Guide to More than 1200 Artists and Bands (3rd ed.). London: Rough Guides. p. 887. ISBN 978-1-84353-105-0.
  15. ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Skyscraper – Review". Allmusic (Rovi Corporation). Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  16. ^ "1988 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. Vol. 100, no. 52. December 24, 1988. p. Y-20.
  17. ^ "Billboard Top 100 – 1988". Retrieved October 3, 2016.
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