A few years before his former (and future) band released a now-forgotten song, once and present lead singer David Lee Roth had one of his own. He had had a few well-known hits, including a very successful remake of “California Girls”, in the mid-1980s. By the late 80s, however, his solo success was starting to dry up, at least as far as Billboard’s Hot 100 was concerned.
In 1988, Mr. Roth hit the top 40 one last time as a solo artist with “Just Like Paradise”, his highest-charting non-cover. It was the lead single from his album Skyscraper, a fairly successful album that went platinum.
(Skyscraper peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200. Album ℗1988 Warner Bros. Records. Photo courtesy Amazon.com.)
“Just Like Paradise” made a strong entrance into Billboard’s Hot 100 at #56 for the week ending January 16, 1988 (chart) and peaking at #6 the week of March 12 (chart); it also peaked at #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. It spent a fairly short 16 weeks in the Hot 100, but it still did well enough to place #97 in the year-end chart.
According to the always-reliable Wikipedia, “Just Like Paradise” had been considered as a potential theme song for a new TV program, “Beverly Hills 90210”. Mr. Roth’s management very helpfully rejected this idea before even talking to Mr. Roth about it. And so, instead of a ten-year run, the song fell rather quickly into obscurity, possibly due to lyrics which, honestly, are not the deepest ever heard (but then, we live in an age in which “Boom Boom Pow”, which I am not linking, is considered good music).
Oh I remember this one VERY well. I had THE biggest crush on DLR when I was a little kid….wore this cassette out!