Just Like Paradise
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Just Like Paradise
| cover = David Lee Roth - Just Like Paradise.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = David Lee Roth
| album = Skyscraper
| B-side = The Bottom Line
| released = December 30, 1987"The Best" CD liner notes (1997)
| recorded = 1987
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = {{flatlist|
- Pop rock{{Cite web|date=October 10, 2016|first=Paul|last=Brannigan|title=The Top 10 Best David Lee Roth songs|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-10-best-david-lee-roth-songs|access-date=April 6, 2021|website=loudersound|language=en}}
- glam metal{{Cite book|last=Popoff|first=Martin|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/858901054|title=The big book of hair metal : the illustrated oral history of heavy metal's debauched decade|date=2014|isbn=978-0-7603-4546-7|location=Minneapolis, MN|oclc=858901054|page=143}}
}}
| length = 4:03
| label = Warner Bros.
| writer = David Lee Roth, Brett Tuggle
| producer = David Lee Roth, Steve Vai
| prev_title = Tobacco Road
| prev_year = 1986
| next_title = Stand Up
| next_year = 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
The video for the single was released in January 1988.{{cite web |url=http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=24057 |title=David Lee Roth – "Just Like Paradise" |publisher=mvdbase.com |accessdate=May 29, 2014 |archive-date=May 29, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529225359/http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=24057 |url-status=dead }} 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.{{cite web|author=David Breashears|url=http://davidbreashears.com/filmography.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519170800/http://www.davidbreashears.com/filmography.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=May 19, 2008 |title=Filmography: David Breashears |publisher=DavidBreashears.com |date=October 11, 2008 |accessdate=June 17, 2016}}{{cite web|author=Jeff Giles|url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/david-lee-roth-just-like-paradise-weekend-songs/ |title=Weekend Songs: David Lee Roth, 'Just Like Paradise' |publisher=Ultimateclassicrock.com |date=October 11, 2013 |accessdate=May 29, 2014}} "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!"{{cite magazine|first= David |last= Swift |title= I laugh to win |magazine= NME |date= December 3, 1988 |page= 20}} The video concludes with Roth on a 28-foot surfboard gliding across a concert crowd.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg6ghSk-jvQ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120002126/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg6ghSk-jvQ |archive-date=November 20, 2023 |url-status=dead|title=David Lee Roth On Larry King 1988 |via=YouTube |date=January 22, 1988 |accessdate=June 17, 2016}} "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!" Noisecreep ranked the video 10th on their list of the best David Lee Roth videos.{{Cite web|date=October 10, 2013|first1=Chris|last1=Ford|title=10 Best David Lee Roth Videos|url=http://noisecreep.com/best-david-lee-roth-videos/|access-date=June 22, 2021|website=Noisecreep|language=en}}
Release and reception
Released in 1987, "Just Like Paradise" entered the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1988 and peaked at number six in March.{{cite book
| last=Whitburn
| first=Joel
| title=The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits
| edition=8th
| publisher=Billboard Books
| page=543
| location=New York
| date=2004
| isbn=978-0-8230-7499-0}}
It reached number four on the Singles Sales chart and eight on the Hot 100 Airplay chart. It also spent four weeks atop the Mainstream Rock chart. The song peaked at eight in Canada,{{cite journal
| date=March 26, 1988
| title=RPM 100 Singles
| journal=RPM
| publisher=RPM Music Publications Ltd.
| volume=47
| issue=23
| url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.0953&volume=47&issue=23&issue_dt=March%2026%201988&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=o7oivqjc7pjv4o9ibdrl1t68n6
| accessdate=February 6, 2010
| issn=0315-5994
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012230159/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.0953&volume=47&issue=23&issue_dt=March%2026%201988&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=o7oivqjc7pjv4o9ibdrl1t68n6
| archive-date=October 12, 2012
| url-status=dead
}}
number 27 in the United Kingdom,{{cite web
| url = https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/Parents%20Just%20Don%27t%20Understand
| title = David Lee Roth – 'Just Like Paradise'
| publisher = Official Charts Company
| accessdate = February 6, 2010}}
number 13 in New Zealand, and number 77 in the Netherlands.{{cite web
| url = http://www.ultratop.be/en/showitem.asp?interpret=David+Lee+Roth&titel=Just+Like+Paradise&cat=s
| title = David Lee Roth – 'Just Like Paradise'
| publisher = Ultratop
| accessdate = February 6, 2010}}
Music critic Charles Bottomley called the song "a polished ode to decadence, with a chorus you would be unashamed to punch the air to".{{cite book
| editor-last=Buckley
| editor-first=Peter
| title=The Rough Guide Rock: The Definitive Guide to More than 1200 Artists and Bands
| edition=3rd
| publisher=Rough Guides
| page=[https://archive.org/details/roughguidetorock0003unse/page/887 887]
| location=London
| date=2003
| isbn=978-1-84353-105-0
| url=https://archive.org/details/roughguidetorock0003unse/page/887
}}
AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia described it as an "ultra-saccharine" single that tries "too hard to achieve an exaggerated pop sheen".{{cite web
| last = Rivadavia
| first = Eduardo
| url = {{Allmusic|class=album|id=r16988|pure_url=yes}}
| title = Skyscraper – Review
| publisher = Allmusic (Rovi Corporation)
| accessdate = February 6, 2010}}
Track listing
;7" vinyl
- "Just Like Paradise" (Roth, Tuggle) – 4:03
- "The Bottom Line" (Roth, Vai) – 3:37
;12" vinyl (UK)
- "Just Like Paradise" (Roth, Tuggle) – 4:03
- "The Bottom Line" (Roth, Vai) – 3:37
- "Yankee Rose" (Roth, Vai) – 3:47
Chart performance
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Chart (1988)
!Peak |
|---|
| Canadian Singles Chart
| style="text-align:center;"|8 |
| Dutch Single Top 100
| style="text-align:center;"|77 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart
| style="text-align:center;"|13 |
| UK Singles Chart
| style="text-align:center;"|27 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100
| style="text-align:center;"|6 |
| U.S. Album Rock Tracks
| style="text-align:center;"|1 |
= Year-end charts =
| class="wikitable sortable"
!align="left"|Chart (1988) !align="center"|Position |
| United States (Billboard){{cite magazine |date=December 24, 1988 |title=1988 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles |page=Y-20 |magazine=Billboard |volume=100 |issue=52 }}{{cite web|url=http://longboredsurfer.com/charts/1988|title=Billboard Top 100 – 1988|accessdate=October 3, 2016}}
| style="text-align:center;"|97 |