Gold-medal-winning musical jumps

Greg Norton of Husker Du. (Courtesy photo)

By Andy

While athletes are doing their thing in jolly old England at the 2012 Olympic Games, we've decided to put some high-flying musicians up on the podium in the Gold-medal spot. This is just a random selection done by jogging the memory of classic shots we've seen over time. Enjoy.

Greg Norton, Husker Du

Was there ever a better jumper on stage back when the Huskers ruled the day? I saw them live about a dozen times, and Norton and company never disappointed. I didn't attend the above show in Los Angeles at the Variety Arts Center in 1987 because I wasn't ready to see the band in such a big venue, since I'd witnessed them up close so many times. My loss, because they broke up soon after.

Dave Gregg of DOA. (Alison S. Braun/CORBIS photo)

Dave Gregg, DOA

This guy was one of the wild ones, and DOA was also tough to match back in the day. Gregg and the Vancouver gang cranked it up at the Olympic Auditorium in LA, where this photo was taken, alongside Black Flag, 45 Grave, Husker Du, Descendents and UXB in 1982. Yes, all those bands played on the same night --- killer.

Chi Pig of SNFU. (Courtesy photo)

Chi Pig, SNFU

Hair flying, legs and arms flailing and nearly jumping through the ceiling: That's SNFU's Chi Pig. I saw them twice in 1987, and I wish I'd seen them more. After one gig at a roller rink in Oxnard, I played some hockey with the SNFU guys, but the game ended prematurely after one of them cracked a shot through a window.

Our friend Ron's band, The Shivering Denizens, play "She's Not on the Menu" honky-tonk-style in Seattle these days.

Al "Lethal" Barile of SSD, with Springa and Jaime. (Bruce Rhodes photo)

Al "Lethal" Barile, SSD

Another one of those springboard kind of guys whom we'd seen lifting his guitar and body all over the stage in pics from their Boston shows. When they finally made it to LA in 1983, SSD ripped through songs off their first two records and a few "How We Rock" blasts at the Sun Valley Sportsmen's Hall. We were stoked.

DLR. (Rob Verhorst/Redferns photo)

David Lee Roth, Van Halen

OK, had to put this guy in there, and I'm sure many people would agree that he was the King of Jumps on the big rock scene back in the day. He even impressed my dad when we attended the Califfornia World Music Festival in 1979 and watched VH "Light up the Sky" one Sunday evening. I had quite a story to tell my seventh-grade classmates the next day.