On The Passing of Eddie Van Halen

There is a lot one can say about the passing of Eddie Van Halen, and virtually none of it is relevant to country music. But it’s all relevant. If you grew up in the late 70’s, 80’s or early 90’s, or rock music is in any way important to your little universe and Van Halen doesn’t loom large in it, you missed out on the preeminent American experience.
Lead guitar players are usually like the wide receivers of music. Mouthy, flashy, always feeling like they should be the center of attention, taking away from the team aspect that is important to sports, and music. But Eddie Van Halen was an introvert, even though arguably, he was the best to ever play the position. David Lee Roth was all about making rock ‘n roll into a spectacle. Eddie Van Halen preferred letting the music speak for itself.
Eddie said he had only one guitar influence, and that was Eric Clapton. Beyond that, he figured it all out on his own. That’s how he was so innovative, as opposed to imitative like so many of the guitar players who came before and after him, as skilled and talented as they may be. People love to to point to the importance of taste over technique when talking about guitar playing. Who who you rather listen to play a solo? Keith Richards, or Joe Satriani? With Eddie Van Halen, you could listen to both. He’d blow your doors off, while making you weep.
Classically trained, Eddie Van Halen’s brilliance brought conversations surrounding rock guitarists into the same realm as the classical maestros whose talent, vision, and influence still resonate centuries beyond their own, just as Eddie’s will. Ludwig Van Beethoven. Johann Sebastian Bach. His guitar work did for rock music what the lyrics of Hank Williams did for country. It took something that many regarded as vapid entertainment—hokum for the poorly heeled—and made it into a legitimate art form.
One of the most interesting moments and anecdotes about Eddie Van Halen surrounds the band’s album 1984. Here was Eddie, the undisputed guitar God of the time and at the top of his game who was worshiped far and wide . . . and he was colossally bored with the instrument, and just six years into his career. But you can’t blame him. He had mastered it. So what does the greatest guitar player of the generation do? He barricades himself in a makeshift studio in his back yard and starts messing around with synthesizers. The result is what you hear at the beginning of the 1984 record, leading into their gargantuan single, “Jump.” It was scandalous coming from the King of guitar. It also worked. It became the band’s most successful record.
There are a lot of people much more informed to speak about the form and influence of Eddie Van Halen than some country writer, and why he was so crucial to rock music. They can diagram his finger tapping technique and his pentatonic brilliance, and delve into gear talk, and the significance of bringing back the growl in rock music via tube amps and overdrive pedals when New Wave was looking to drop a sedative in the rock realm.
But when even dyed-in-the-wool country writers and fans feel so rocked by the word of the passing of a rock guitarist that they have to take a long pause and collect their thoughts, that’s how you know the kind of footprint Eddie Van Halen left on this world.
October 6, 2020 @ 6:59 pm
Other than Eric Clapton, Brad Paisley has always considered Eddie Van Halen one of his guitar heroes. Paisley performs EVH styled fret finger tappin’ in many of his guitar solos on country records.
October 6, 2020 @ 7:15 pm
When I was a young teen I went to see Black Sabbath in concert. The opening band was called Van Halen. I had never heard of them. Eddies playing was like nothing I had ever seen before. The band was like cocaine for a a young boys heart. I was blown away. Van Halen instantly became one of my favorite bands and have been for many years. I have seen them several times since then.
A huge loss for rock music. He will be missed.
October 6, 2020 @ 7:16 pm
EVH was a rare combination of talent and creativity, the likes of which very seldom come along. As a (sometimes) guitar player, I could listen and watch him play and start to understand how much determination and practice it takes to make something that amazes and entertains as much as the music of Van Halen does.
This one really hurts.
October 6, 2020 @ 7:25 pm
Thank you for paying tribute to Eddie. When I was in high school, my small cassette tape collection consisted almost exclusively of the VH catalogue. I eventually learned to play the guitar, but never tried to learn any Van Halen. It seemed light years beyond my ability, and I decided to just enjoy it rather than attempt to play it. Over the years I shifted from playing classic rock, to folk, and eventually classic country. But every once in a while I’d enjoy a Van Halen playlist on Spotify. His music was a huge part of my youth and it’s always sad to see such tremendous talent leave the planet. I’m sure there are many country pickers who were influenced and inspired by him.
October 6, 2020 @ 8:08 pm
March 3, 1978 Aragon Ballroom – Chicago…….. I was 17
Journey, Ronnie Montrose, Van Halen opened. Unforgettable show.
R.I.P. Eddie
October 16, 2020 @ 7:58 pm
I saw Van Halen for the first time in 1980 at the Chicago Amphitheatre. They totally rocked and LOUD.
October 6, 2020 @ 8:17 pm
Awesome tribute. Words can’t describe the influence and impact he had on rock guitar. In the late 70s, 80s and beyond.
October 6, 2020 @ 8:25 pm
My favorite country music web site was the last place I thought I would see a tribute to my favorite guitar player of all time.
As always, well done.
October 7, 2020 @ 1:53 pm
i think it speaks to how much he contributed to music in general, that his loss is felt no matter what kind of music someone likes. i also felt like the 70s and 80s were a more open time. you could listen to VH and Prince and Phil Collins and dire straights and it was all on the radio. now everything is fractured and into its little space and younger people don’t flow from one style to another. they dont know, outside their little musical world and have no interest in being musically curious. it is an odd comment for me to make here, but it is inconceivable to me that young william eyelash, did not know who he was.
1984 was my first taste of VH, and i still get giddy when panama comes on.
October 12, 2020 @ 8:37 pm
And in my hometown in the sixties, we had ONE station (plus a talk radio station from Denver) and they played it all. It really didn’t matter what “style” of music it was, they’d play some Sinatra (Both Frank and Nancy,) some Dino, followed by the Beatles, the Stones, Beach Boys, a bit of Bellafonte, Bob Marley, and some Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, and whatever were the most popular songs of the day in any genre, plus whatever their listeners wanted to call in. Heck, they’d play opera and then metal, if that’s what someone called in along with whatever 78’s and 45’s they usually played.
October 6, 2020 @ 8:37 pm
Thank you for this beautiful tribute.
Love to Wolfie and Valerie
October 6, 2020 @ 9:44 pm
Valerie and Eddie split years ago. While I’m sure she’s hurting, Eddie’s wife of eleven years, Janie, deserves our thoughts and prayers as well.
I feel for Wolf, though. He is crushed (which is understandable).
Thanks for covering this one, Trig.
October 7, 2020 @ 3:36 am
Well aware.
Condolences to all of Eddie’s family and friends.
October 6, 2020 @ 8:56 pm
aw man. bummer.
Saw him in ’95ish with Hagar, great show.
Thoughts to the friends and family.
RIP Eddie!
October 6, 2020 @ 9:25 pm
excellent , trigger . excellent .
R.I.P Eddie …
October 6, 2020 @ 11:14 pm
It seems, broadly, that Eddie Van Halen meant a lot to a hell of a lot of North American men between 40 and 60. Seeing the impact of his death amongst that demographic.
In the UK I think its mainly die hard guitar fans and everyone else its that guy out of that rock band.
Its a fine line, respectfully Trigger as I don’t want a pile on from your other readers, where do you draw the line writing about the death of a rock guy on the site, and writing about non country music.
October 7, 2020 @ 4:38 am
This certainly isn’t meant to “pile on” you at all; I think you bring up a valid point. I did wonder myself when I headed over today to check out the site if Trig would cover this.
I think that in most cases, the “death of a rock guy” wouldn’t warrant coverage on a country site, other than perhaps a passing note, but when the “rock guy” in question transcends genres, it makes sense. EVH’s playing has influenced players across the spectrum and the guitar for over 40 years…as an overreaching music site, I think it’s completely appropriate to note and mourn his passing here.
October 7, 2020 @ 5:14 am
Fair point. Would I be right in saying he is part of a certain generations growing up? Its difficult for me to get a handle on what he meant to people.
Also thanks for the response.
October 7, 2020 @ 6:57 am
Yes, I think generations play a huge role in how these deaths affect people; if they’re “of your time” (especially if that time is your youth), I think they bring the shade and reality that is mortality into focus and thought. And I also think they bring you back to your youthful memories, which I think for most folks (not all, I understand) is a good thing.
October 7, 2020 @ 12:47 pm
He certainly has more die-hard fans that were of a certain age in the late 70’s and 80’s. But his influence and fan base goes way beyond that. They key thing is the impact his innovations and style had on guitar in general. That’s what makes him so relevant, and makes this article fitting for this site.
October 7, 2020 @ 7:42 am
The man single handedly changed the course of music forever. Not just rock. He innovated guitar playing like no other
October 7, 2020 @ 9:56 am
The obvious strangeness of a country music website covering the death of a rock guitarist is how I bookended this tribute, which I felt was more tasteful and important way to broach the subject than pointing out he inspired Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban, and once got name dropped in a Hank Jr. song. I give myself liberties to veer off the country beat if it’s what I’m feeling passionate about at the moment, while I tried to do my best to explain to people who were not affected by the death of Eddie Van Halen why so many other people are.
October 7, 2020 @ 10:13 am
Thanks Trigger, its a cultural thing I think and me not getting it. I am by the look of the comments in the minority.
October 18, 2020 @ 10:04 am
I like the idea of every major player and singer’s death being recognized. Music is a big tent, and back in the 60s and 70s we’d hear everything on the radio. Glen Campbell, Canned Heat, BJ Thomas, Linda Ronstadt, Dusty Springfield, Cornelius Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Sly, EWF, ELP, etc.
October 9, 2020 @ 10:53 pm
I’m quite a bit younger than the demographic you mentioned, and I adore Van Halen. So do many others my age. His music and guitar playing still thrill and inspire younger generations, and it will for generations to come. That’s why a site like this would cover him, just like Trig paid tribute to Neil Peart. The talent was remarkable and transcendent.
October 7, 2020 @ 1:15 am
Not only he played synthesizer on ”Jump” , he played the solo guitar on Michael Jackson’s ”Beat it”. He even covered Roy Orbison’s ”Pretty woman”. What a loss. Thanks Trigger for that tribute.
October 7, 2020 @ 4:37 am
I too grew up listening to metal in my teen years and it was all about guitar. In the shredder realm, Eddie was the originator of the style.Sure there were a few guys who finger tapped prior to Eddie, but he made it popular and cool and inspired everyone. Without Eddie there would be no Joe Satriani, no Steve Vai, no Vernon Reid, no Tom Morello, no Kirk Hammett,, at least not as we know them. Also his whammy bar technique has been copied and tinkered with by so many players.
His guitar tone was epic. In the early years he called it his Brown sound. Before volume pedals were an everyday thing, Eddie rigged up a light dimmer switch so he could turn up the volume and gain on his amp to max but then cycle the master volume down to a sane level. This gave him all the nastiness and distortion his amp could generate without destroying eardrums.
And his guitar was another story. He called it Frankenstein. He built it from parts of a Strat and a Kramer. The stripes on it, he painted himself by wrapping masking tape all over it in a pattern and painting it red , leaving the stripes white. He was absolutely an innovator in every way. He deserves mention alongside other innovators like Les Paul, Leo Fender, Tom Scholz, Link Wray and Hendrix. Too say his death is tragedy is understatement. Without Eddie, there is no Van Halen, at least in my opinion.
October 7, 2020 @ 5:27 am
Saw Van Halen once with DLR…. epic. RIP.
Thanks for this article. Classic Country, Classic Rock… good music to be had on both sides of the aisle.
October 7, 2020 @ 5:27 am
One thing that gets way overlooked about Eddie…he was a huge rock star and I still have no idea what his political views were…Awesome! We need more entertainers like that.
October 7, 2020 @ 5:36 am
damn. that’s a serious legend to lose.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U2R2KXNQR1M
My favorite VH song.
October 7, 2020 @ 6:54 am
You and me both. This is my favorite as well. Turn it up.
October 7, 2020 @ 12:54 pm
I’ll third that. Unchained is a close second, and one of my favorite guitar riffs of all time. Fair Warning is such a great, weird and dark album…probably my favorite VH album.
October 8, 2020 @ 5:15 am
It is hands down the best VH disc top to bottom.
“Lord…Lord, strike that poor boy down.”
October 7, 2020 @ 5:39 am
thanks for talking about this. there were many mixed tapes made on my duel cassette tape deck that involved Van Halen, AC/DC, Charlie Daniels Band and Hank Jr. For me, where Van Halen stopped and Hank Jr started was a very blurry line. As a matter of fact a lot of people might not remember that Van Halen made a cameo in the My name is Bocephus music video. they were also name dropped by Hank in the song Young Country. This is the perfect place to pay tribute to Eddie as far as I’m concerned.
October 7, 2020 @ 5:46 am
He was a great talent and created an entire new sound and style on guitar. A couple minor hings that relate Van Halen to the country genre:
– Hank Jr. mentions them in Young Country
– They covered Pretty Woman
– They covered Big Bad Bill, which was also covered by Merle
– David Lee Roth countrified “Jump” in a bluegrass version, which was interesting, at least. He doesn’t have the voice to pull it off, but, after hearing Town Mountain’s version of I’m on Fire, I would like to hear what they could do with the song.
October 7, 2020 @ 6:22 am
There’s an entire bluegrass tribute album to Van Halen called “Strummin’ With the Devil: The Southern Side Of Van Halen” that features Roth’s vocals on both “Jump” and “Jamie’s Cryin'”
October 7, 2020 @ 8:26 am
There’s also the fact that Steve Ripley of The Tractors built guitars for him, and Eddie Van Halen named an instrumental “Ripley” after him that you can find on YouTube.
October 7, 2020 @ 9:35 am
As a kid in junior high in Knoxville Tennessee, when Van Halen came to the Colosseum I had to give every saint in my pocket to a scalper who laughed at me when I told him this wouldn’t leave me enough money for a T-shirt. I had no idea what a great bargain I was getting and I will never forget that show. The music was bombastic and the entertainment value of thatNight with David Lee Roth was so over the top. God bless Eddie. God bless rock ‘n’ roll
October 7, 2020 @ 7:42 am
I saw them in 1984 in a stadium.
Everyone was talking, laughing, just coming in from the parking lot where they’d been smoking and drinking, and the lights go down eventually, the air gets a little chill from the stage smoke, and then … this huge SOUND of Eddie’s guitar. The place just erupts. Alex’s drums sound like cannon shots, Eddie’s guitar starts to laugh and squeal, and the whole place erupts as the lights blast and DLR shows up prancing around and shouting like a vaudeville stripper.
You had to have been there. It was fun.
RIP, Edward. You brought joy to rock and inspiration to everyone who played guitar, including all kinds of country guys who were happy to see an instrument so central to the stage.
October 7, 2020 @ 8:29 am
R.I.P. Eddie! My condolences to your wife and son and all of your family and friends! A true guitar legend!!!!!
October 7, 2020 @ 8:32 am
This is the guitar playing that “inspires” me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4juzguDEwA
October 7, 2020 @ 8:48 am
I know I’m in the minority and that’s fine but I never cared for him or the band. Funny that he said his inspiration was Clapton. Clapton once said to judge a great guitarist it’s not what he/she plays it’s what he/she doesn’t play. In other words less is more. EVH took the other approach….the more notes and faster he could play in a song the better or so he thought. And David Lee Roth was a joke both as a singer and a person. Anyway, just my humble opinion….carry on.
October 7, 2020 @ 11:26 am
Oh, c’mon, Most great guitarists pack a blindingly fast number of notes into their playing–at least some of their performances, where they show off their guitar skills. I’m more of a country fan than a rock fan, so the performers that come to mind are Doc Watson, Roy Clark, Glen Campbell, Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Reed, and even Chet Atkins (though Atkins may be more of a slow-hand type)
October 7, 2020 @ 1:17 pm
Disagree with the notion that Eddie was only 110% all the time from a speed / intensity perspective. Part of his genius was the musicality and creativity he brought to his playing and writing. Fast playing just happened to be a big part of that in many cases, but it wasn’t his main thing and did not detract from the overall genius or musicianship in his approach to playing. Now, I would agree that most of the uncountable imitators in the 80s had the “too many note” problem and used it as a crutch, but that’s not Eddie’s fault.
October 7, 2020 @ 10:19 am
Never was a fan of the band or that ultra squealy guitar sound. But the man’s influence on guitar playing is unquestionable, as are his contributions to the guitar/amp/music tech engineering and innovation side of things. An absolutely revolutionary figure in the world of music. And for that, even non-fans like me feel this loss. RIP, EVH.
October 7, 2020 @ 10:26 am
When you feel the passing of someone you never met like you would a family member, you realise just how much music the musical journey you follow in life makes you who you are.
Happy Trails Ed
October 7, 2020 @ 10:50 am
As a now fairly long time reader and occasional poster on this site, I am always quick to point out that I am a rock fan first and foremost. Like many who have posted here, Eddie Van Halen looms large in my youth for his amazing guitar work. I remember being a 12-year-old in my kitchen in 1978 and hearing Erruption segue into You Really Got Me on the FM radio on the counter for the first time and having my poor little mind blown permanently. Having been a Zep and stones fan, and more importantly, a Kinks fan (and thus knowing you really got me from its original incarnation) this was like nothing I have ever heard. I got on my bike and rode to the local record store that afternoon to try to find Out who that was ( the bastard DJ didn’t say who played the song, instead making a joke about it being the Lawrence Welk Band [and no, Kids, there was no internet back then to check]). I bought my first VH album then and there. Eddie brought me many years of happy head banging and air guitaring thereafter, first with David Lee Roth, then with Sammy Hagar (no comment on the Gary Cherone lead album needed). He will be missed. Thanks for recognizing, Trigger, you were right to do so. I am sure many of the current country guitar slingers have incorporated elements of Eddie’s innovative techniques into their own arsenal and it makes the acknowledgment on your site totally appropriate.
October 7, 2020 @ 11:47 am
I was in last 10 mins of my country show last night when I heard the news, I played Icecream man from first album as a tribute. I made an apology to sadly EVH has passed away and I will be finishing the show with Van Halen.
Thought I would get a load of complaints or negativity, not one, so many people liked the fact that I would honour a great player from another genre.
He was the last great Guitar Hero.
October 7, 2020 @ 12:45 pm
he could out-synth was the new wave set, and Finish What Ya Started is better than most country songs
October 7, 2020 @ 1:10 pm
I’m 40 years old, and I liked (mainstream) heavy rock n roll waaay before I was ever into country, or americana, or roots, or anything acoustic really. I think that for a certain slice of people Eddie is the first big loss of one of our heroes. Not a tragic, unexpected death, but a death attributed to life. Sure there’s Cobain and Prince and Prine and Petty but those guys are gone through tragedy, not the regular course of life that will eventually take us all down. Could you make an argument as to whether Eddie Van Halen or Kurt Cobain made more of an impact on the lives of that certain slice of people and the world they grew up in? Sure, probably. It would be a never ending debate. Can you say that more people fear dying from cancer than the downward spiral of depression? I think you can definitively say yes to that.
Eddie was among the ranks of the untouchable icons that come and go through our collective consciousness, but his passing due to the most ordinary of circumstantiate hits hard. We all face that fate, and NONE of us will ever reach the heights that he did.
When Ozzy goes, I will think he belonged to the previous generation. Same with Bowie. Justin Townes Earle, pure tragedy that no one should ever have to experience. Same goes for Michael Jackson. Cornel, Bennington, Weiland, these guys suffered in ways most people thankfully never have to deal with. The list goes on I’m sure…
Addendum: I’m not trying to devalue the loss of life by cancer, or any other death for that matter, but I just thought I share my quick (and not really thought out) opinion on the matter. I would love to be reminded of others “we” lost to “life” that I am forgetting about.
October 7, 2020 @ 2:48 pm
The power of that band.
Don’t think there is anyone under 70 who hasn’t heard or heard of Van Halen. Nuff said…
RIP
October 7, 2020 @ 3:23 pm
EVH was all that and more.
The only one playing anywhere near his overall talent who is left is Jeff Beck. When he goes, the pickings get a lot thinner.
October 7, 2020 @ 6:20 pm
Yeah. I hear ya. There are a few like Satriani and Eric Johnson. But neither are the trailblazing innovators that Eddie was. Although I think they are both very melodic.. Then there’s Joe Bonnamassa. I personally don’t care for him, though
He’s so technically perfect it makes me sick. And he seems to know it. Eddie was still human and came across as more like a common man. Notwithstanding the fact he was wildly wealthy and lived like a rock star.
But yeah Jeff Beck is amazing, I agree. And he plays without a pick and with minimal effects.
October 7, 2020 @ 6:47 pm
I saw Van Halen twice in college and they were by far the best concerts of my life. I own all their albums in various formats. EVH dying is another piece of childhood that has passed.
October 7, 2020 @ 7:08 pm
Surely America’s most celebrated and influential guitar player!
Even country fans (most of whom would have tastes extending beyond the country genre) can acknowledge Eddie’s stature in music.
Thanks for this fine tribute, Trigger.
October 7, 2020 @ 7:11 pm
One of his most underrated deep cut guitar riffs was on Summer Nights on the 5150 album. This song really spoke to a bunch of young and ignorant junior high savages in 1986-87. RIP EVH.
October 7, 2020 @ 8:15 pm
Trigger, this is well said, and you don’t have to explain why you felt compelled to write it. No apology or explanation necessary. Bottom line is, most music fans are not fans of only one kind of music. The Vinn diagram for country fans and Van Halen fans is going to have a lot of overlap.
October 7, 2020 @ 9:33 pm
I’d already been PLAYING guitar many years by then…but didn’t learn to BE a guitar PLAYER until May 20, 1984 when I put down $400 to stand in the front row and be taught by the master. David Lee Roth was THE showman, but Eddie put on a hell of a show too. One of the few, of hundreds and hundreds of concerts I’ve been to, that I can still replay in my mind, like I’m standing there now.
RIP Eddie
October 11, 2020 @ 12:57 pm
Nice tribute. I’d like to add that Eddie and Alex were born in the Netherlands. His mother was from Indonesia, making them honorary Indo-rockers. They were always proud of their background. If I remember correctly, Runnin with the devil was one of the first singles I bought. At the time I was ‘t even aware of their Dutch roots, because of the way the band name was pronounced. Dutch national news hardly picked up this story, proving themselves to be fake news merchants once again.
October 8, 2020 @ 6:55 am
This is purely anecdotal so I won’t die on this hill, but practically all of the country music fans I know love rock ‘n’ roll too. We will miss Eddie Van Halen. So I’m not inclined to criticize this blog for memorializing him.
October 8, 2020 @ 8:46 pm
Reading this article, and the comments, makes me feel very country, or possibly very square, or out of touch.
I’ve heard this guy’s name, and I’ve heard “Jump” from the laundry soap commercial, but I don’t really know who he is or what he’s done.
October 9, 2020 @ 7:43 am
King H, go to whatever streaming service you use, or Youtube and simply type in ‘Van Halen Eruption”, then come back here and leave a comment.
October 9, 2020 @ 7:55 am
Here is a good interview that explains it all (pretty much) if you have some time on your hands. Some great playing demonstrations as well at 24:50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb26D8bBZB8
October 9, 2020 @ 9:10 am
The impact of EVH’s arrival cannot be understated. No one sounded like that when their first album came out. It was literally jaw dropping and ground breaking. Any yet, even today, when so many try to sound like him, his playing still stands above. It wasn’t that he played fast, its that he played fast with a purpose. There is very little “wankery” in his playing. His solos are concise statements that drive the song forward. His tone-the “brown sound”- was astonishingly warm and lethally spare at the same time. His rhythm playing is astonishingly good. He was a slave to the melody which gets lost on most shredders today. Combine that with his Les Paul like engineering and design creativity and you have a master of his craft. One of the most, if not THE most influential guitarist of all time.
October 11, 2020 @ 6:42 pm
I hate the idea of “rating” artists and or musicians but if I absolutely had to I would declare EVH as the greatest post-1970s rock guitar player of all time, just based on the first six VH records alone. EVH raised the bar and established an entirely new prototype re: guitar gods. His playing on those VH albums was just miles beyond what any other rock guitar players were doing at the time and it immediately spawned a whole guitar revolution that for better or worse defined 1980s rock music.
I always wished he’d have pushed himself and worked with more capable and challenging musicians just to see what would come of it instead of working with showmen and buffoons, but it was his career and his to do with as he saw fit. I really hope he always loved it and it never became a burden to him, as he was really a generational talent.
October 13, 2020 @ 6:23 pm
It’s took Eddie Van Halen 1 minute and 42 seconds to change the course of guitar playing and Van Halen one debut album to perch themselves in the pantheon of rock gods.
I’ve seen Van Halen 4 times since 1984. The 1984 was like Las Vegas, The Gong Show and New Years Eve wrapped up into one. It was AWESOME!
Saw VH again in 1988 (Monsters of Rock) with Sammy and the vibe of the band was that of guys who really liked being around each other in the studio and on stage. They sounded polished and tight.
Saw them in 2004 (the reunion tour with Sammy) and I couldn’t have been more disappointed. The whole band sounded flat, tired and uninspired. Eddie’s addictions are well-documented at this time, too.
The 2007 reunion with Diamond Dave show was a H U G E step up from the 2004 show. Hit after hit. The band, minus Michael Anthony, sounded incredible and Eddie was just ripping it up. Dave? He’s never been known as great live singer, but he must have been taking care of himself because he sounded miles better than I’d ever heard him.
Yeah, Eddie Van Halen was a guy who would rather be at home in his studio writing and recording then touring. I couldn’t tell because he looked right at home onstage.
I, along with everyone else who grew up in the late 70’s, saw and heard the Van Halen machine take shape just explode into a cultural and musical phenomenon. And they don’t make them like Eddie Van Halen and classic Van Halen anymore. Kudo’s to guys like Brad Paisley for the props to Eddie and Kenny Chesney for saying such kinds words about Eddie and Alex.
R. I. P King Edward
October 15, 2020 @ 4:46 am
Eddie Van Halen changed my life. I was 15 and they were on their 1984 tour. I knew the concert promoter in OKC. He got me backstage passes and front row tickets. There was one show scheduled. It sold out in minutes (before Ticketmaster). The scheduled a second and it sold out in minutes, they discussed it and had room for a third and it sold out. They estimated they could have made a fourth and fifth easily.
I was at all three shows. I was backstage and as the band went on stage Ed slapped everyone’s hand and also Valarie was backstage. He looked me in the eye and he said enjoy the show. Ed saw me at the third show and he said, “you’re back again”. I stood out because I was 6’5″ 225 at 15. I was at the last show and he saw me again and we started talking before the show. I told him I wanted to learn to play and he encouraged me. He said to learn to play and the next time we’re in town we can play together. I was so excited and went to learn how to play. The next time they came to town they had a new frontman and a new promoter so no backstage passes. I went to see them but I didn’t get to talk to Ed. He probably forgot anyway but I owe my ability to play the guitar to him. He was such a nice person and he was quiet. Anyway, that’s my Van Halen memory.