RIP Eddie Van Halen, Dead at 65

[kevinb1994]

Heard about his problems, he was a heavy smoker and had part of his tongue removed in 2000.

[roadman65]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/10/06/eddie-van-halen-dies-gene-simmons-flea-george-takei-and-more-react/5900531002/

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Considering there have been rumors of Eddie being on his deathbed for 3 years now, this should have been the least surprising, most surprising thing to occur in 2020 (but alas...)

Thanks for the memories, Eddie.

[GreenLanternCorps]

Not a huge Van Halen fan, but will always remember him and them for this:

[Henry]

No doubt that he was the greatest rock guitarist of his era, besting Neal Schon, Gary Richrath, Richie Sambora and Slash.

Here's to you, Eddie!

[bwana39]

Heard about his problems, he was a heavy smoker and had part of his tongue removed in 2000.

Yeah. The smoking seemed to be the beef between he and Sammy Hagar.

No doubt that he was the greatest rock guitarist of his era, besting Neal Schon, Gary Richrath, Richie Sambora and Slash.

When asked what the "World's best guitarist" thought of something, Eddie's reply was " I don't know, you'd have to ask Alex Lifeson. "  Alex Lifeson is only two years older.

[hbelkins]

In the spring of 1986, Van Halen came out with the 5150 album with Sammy Hagar on vocals. I was a fan of Hagar's solo works, but I never really warmed to "Van Hagar." Then, a couple of months later, Roth hit with his solo Eat 'Em And Smile. Steve Vai was the guitarist, and his style was very similar to Edward Van Halen's (odd that he was credited as "Edward" on the first album but "Eddie" in later years). My thought at the time was that Roth's band was more like Van Halen than the new Van Halen.

[The Ghostbuster]

I like the Sammy Hagar era Van Halen songs more than the David Lee Roth era songs. My favorite Van Halen song is 1988's When It's Love. About the only David Lee Roth fronted songs I really like are Jump, Panama, and Dancing In The Street.

[SectorZ]

Van Halen was the first hard rock band I got into as a 6 year old in 1984. They were the entry point to me being a lifelong fan of hard rock and eventually heavy metal (which some of their stuff bordered on being).

I can never thank Eddie enough for that.

[GCrites]

In the spring of 1986, Van Halen came out with the 5150 album with Sammy Hagar on vocals. I was a fan of Hagar's solo works, but I never really warmed to "Van Hagar." Then, a couple of months later, Roth hit with his solo Eat 'Em And Smile. Steve Vai was the guitarist, and his style was very similar to Edward Van Halen's (odd that he was credited as "Edward" on the first album but "Eddie" in later years). My thought at the time was that Roth's band was more like Van Halen than the new Van Halen.

Van Hagar was a big shift as far as arranging, songwriting, the whole bit. A lot more love songs, a little bit less of the loose party vibe and a big change that non-musicians can hear but can't always articulate is that they went to standard tuning instead of the 1/2 step down tuning (Eb) that they used with Roth. This brightened up the sound quite a bit.

It's sorta like when Anthrax hired John Bush out of Armored Saint. Sure they had a new singer and a different songwriting approach that moved away from comic books, the NOT! business and social issues a little to more of a psychological approach as seen in the Armored Saint records of the time, but the way they played the instruments shifted drastically away from big riffs to more of the chordy, landscape-oriented approach heard specifically on the Saint's "Symbol of Salvation" record (but no previous records by them). I feel like OU812 and F.U.C.K. pioneered that kind of "hey, let's play to the singer" approach. With Dave it was "Eddie plays a crazy cool part then Roth gets a vocal jab in" but with Sammy it's more all one piece. Much different than Black Sabbath where if you know how to play "Snowblind" then you already know how to play "Headless Cross" from 17 years and four singers later.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

While I don't believe Van Halen performed on Saturday Night Live, there is a story concerning Eddie making an appearance on SNL.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/that-time-eddie-van-halen-became-an-snl-musical-guest-just-because-he-was-in-the-building?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR1TBGSk4gWEwmJD9CgK43w69cn91C4I5-b_nbuqC3Cb4CYTh3az8WSB1wQ&fbclid=IwAR3ok10A6jttyzJk2Zz_km3KJlrG-Ay-mQbYBrdktRq9MxknGNooeieOoKI

Video of Eddie with the SNL Band - https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/musical-performance---eddie-van-halen/n9553

[Takumi]

Jack White paid tribute to Eddie with his guitar on SNL this past weekend.
https://youtu.be/bhN4M4aS50U

https://youtu.be/pH-iOaWuC_s

[jakeroot]

[bugo]

Eddie Van Halen attended a Tool show one year ago. His health was at least good enough to go to a show. Tool was amazing on that tour.

Western Electric Model 500

[GCrites]

Tool huh? I didn't know he listened to any music after about 1978. Like he literally didn't listen to music he wasn't playing at the time -- at all. Maybe later in life he eased up on that.