RIP Eddie Van Halen

[GR8 2B]

Eddie Van Halen, legendary guitarist, dead at 65 — Rolling Stone

End of an era. RIP

 

[deuce]

He was "simply the Best!"

RIP

 

[CGgater]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH.... NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

First, we lose Neil, the greatest drummer ever.

Now it's Eddie, also without equal.

2020 is the WORST!!!

 

[Bushmaster]

Been youtubing Van Halen all afternoon.

This **** just sucks. I never mentioned Eddie's name when greatest guitarists of all time came up, because it was just a given he was IT. He revolutionized the instrument. There were some other greats, but the MFer is on a planet by himself. His son Wolfgang is about as good. Heard some of his stuff and its good. VH simply didn't put out any junk. ANY! Been listening to all their albums again all day and their stuff is legendary.

I think my favorite so far is Take Your Whiskey Home. The guitar and bass in that one is just insane.

Side note. Eddie started out on drums and Alex on guitar. They had to switch when Alex hurt his hand or something and couldn't play guitar, so he jumped on drums and Eddie picks up the guitar. And the rest is history.

 

[Musclepug]

 

[Swamp Donkey]

The future?

 

[Spurdog98]

Saw them 4 times, all with Roth and it was a damn party all the way. First time I heard their music I was at a friends house. The 8-track tape of VH1 was sitting on his stereo and I pushed it in because the cover looked cool. The rest is history and I traded him my Nantucket tape for Van Halen because he liked tucket better. RIP brother your music will live forever.

 

[CGgater]

The future?

The first time I heard Eruption/You Really Got Me, absolutely blew me away - I think some brain matter hit the floor. My musical taste was primarily a mix of classic rock and 70s Motown, but hearing that made me a metal head that day.

There are many who mimicked or tried to surpass Eddie, but it was more than just his quantum leap forward with the finger tapping - his wide range of guitar skills and songwriting gave him the staying power that the wannabes could never attain. And when somebody would point to the newest guitarist and say, "he's better than Eddie!" I would say, "The fact that you have to make that comparison just proves Eddie is the standard. Eddie's name comes up in EVERY comparison. What does that tell you?"

 

[TLB]

Radio this morning played some clips going over his career and several interviews. One in particular stuck out where he had been taking piano for 5y and never learned to read music. He had a good ear and watched the instructors hands and got by. Instructor didn't know for 5y until he was performing a new piece and asked EVH to turn the page and Eddie couldn't, had to admit he couldn't read the music.

That, and the fact he taught himself to play guitar - his own way. They had to create a whole new way of teaching to adapt to his abilities. Amazing.

 

[Gatordiddy]

The Tattoo You tour in ‘81 came to the Orange Bowl for two shows. Some high school buddies of mine drove over from Tallahassee for the Saturday show. We got there super early and were able to get right to the front. The Henry Paul band opened then Van Halen came out - wow. EVH blew us all away (DLR was no slouch for a front man either). Like Clapton, you never really get a good sense of just how good these guys are until you see them live. (semi-interesting side note - the future Mrs Diddy was at the same show, but with some guy who was probably a doosh ;)
And to this day, I swear I can see me in the picture on the back of the Diver Down album (don’t tell me otherwise).

RIP Eddie

 

[Treebeard]

 

[Swamp Donkey]

The Tattoo You tour in ‘81... then Van Halen came out - wow.

I had no idea. Would be pretty amazing:

A Weekend with Van Halen and the Rolling Stones— This Week in '81

 

[Frozen Gator]

Saw him with Roth in Huntsville, what a show!