Eddie Van Halen Passed Away

Hopefully not, but with this year who knows

2020, the year that keeps giving.

I was never a big VH fan (though I liked the first album with Hagar (5150)), but when I started playing guitar in the 80s, Eddie was just an omnipresent force. Even if you didn’t like VH’s music or Eddie’s flashy style, the guy’s playing always dropped jaws. He had a fantastic sense of melody and was also a gifted songwriter.

But what I really loved about him was his enthusiasm for the instrument and performing. The guy just always seemed to be having fun and made it look so effortless.

RIP.

I dismissed VH in high school on account of they were dumb. I’m awfully glad I eventually lightened up.

Yes, there was something very inclusive in his whole “OMG HOW COOL IS THIS!!?” style. Few other players so convincingly invited you to have fun with the performance.

RIP.

There are three players I felt really changed music in the 80s: Eddie, Joe Satriani, and Yngwie. They heralded in the great Guitar Gods of the 80s. Satriani taught Vai how to play, and Steve just made that whole whacky idea of instrumental music a success.

Eddie, though, his shit was accessible to guitar players. The riffs weren’t overly hard, but the feel of them was hard to nail down.

While I actually preferred some of his 00s output to the 80s material, I’ll always adore his sheer, glorious sense of smirking superiority in this old clip of “Evil Eye”

The loss of a giant. I don’t know if things got patched up between EvH and Michael Anthony but I’m sure that reuinion tour must’ve hurt when he wasn’t invited. EvH (and his brother) could be spiteful pricks but godamn did they make great music. I came of age in the Hagar era and saw them once in the mid 90s on the Balance tour I think. There’s such a stark contrast between the Roth and Hagar eras but I hold them both with high regard.

This channel has a bunch of recordings of VH during their SoCal highschool touring days if you’re interested.

From the garage, to high schools, to headliners, EvH had one helluva ride.

Yeah, but 80s Yngwie was just a blast in the “he can play WHAT?”

Like they said on Hear 'n Aid “Throw my guitar away. Use it as a coffee table. I like how he puts Yngwie J Malmsteen on his albums to separate himself from the other Yngwie Malmsteens in the business.”

Plus, “How do you spell Yngwie?” “A-s-s-h-”

I don’t think they did, and Michael going on tour with Sammy pissed them off. It’s too bad because one last true Van Halen tour would be awesome. Michael covered for so many of Roth’s sins.

I enjoyed Satriani’s Surfing with the Alien album, and the one from the early 90s. I think the first instrumental guitar music that I got hooked with was Fractured Mirror from my first guitar hero, Ace Frehley. After Ace I think the next thing was Eddie, but there also was finding Hendrix, Clapton, and Page in high school. Ace wasn’t a great guitar player like those guys, but he was the 1st. He did seem to have a knack though for making good covers of other songs, for example his version of 2000 man vs whatever the hell that Rolling Stones thing was.

Never understood the whole smash-yer-guitar-to-bits routine.

Ingwie, show some damn respect for your instrument, you monster.

Surfing with the Alien was good. There was another guitarist from that era of “guitar wankers” I can’t remember, who was also really good.

That stuff blew my mind in my teens and early 20s, but don’t care much for it these days (impressive as it still is) - I’d take Steve Howe’s playing with Yes in the 70s over those guys any day.

Are you thinking of Eric Johnson? I tend to think of all those guys together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9r-NxuYszg

Why be distracted by words and other instruments?

Yes, thank you, Eric Johnson! I used to get those guys all mixed up too, and well now, I forget their names. But in recalling Eric Johnson, I just remembered Steve Morse.

I saw Van Halen on day 2 of the US Festival in 1983. It was the end of a long, hot, slimy day surrounded by 300,000 also slimy heavy metal fans, so I wasn’t in the best mood, but man, Eddie was absolutely amazing and I was so glad I was there for that.

DLR, on the other hand, was drinking a bottle of bourbon and forgot the words to one of the songs…

RIP, Eddie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orvo2EQ9aw0

I had this beginning as a file on a floppy disk way back when. My son, who was maybe 2 years old used to climb on my lap and say, Do it. Music. And point at the keyboard.

Smart kid.

This will always be my favorite deep cut. RIP, Ed.

https://youtu.be/2euKIcljqMk

My uncle is named Yngwie L Malmsteen. And his son is named Yngwie K Malmsteen.

" Yngvi is a louse !"

“Come along, Yngwie.”
“Are you talking to my son?”
“No, my son is also named Yngwie.”
(Overhead on loud speaker): “We need more Yngwie license plates!”