We Lost a True Rock Icon: Eddie Van Halen

 Of all the great musicians that have passed away in recent years, or even in my whole life, the loss of Eddie Van Halen this past Tuesday (October 6th) has had the greatest impact on me. Eddie has long been considered by the world as one of the best - if not the best guitarist of all time. In my mind, he was the very best. Yes, props to Clapton, Page, and Hendrix, but for me, Eddie took the best of all those players and developed his own unique style and sound, surpassing them all. Some might argue, but that's how I feel about Ed.

My record LPs and CDs of all the David Lee Roth-era Van Halen

albums. That includes the 2012 "reunion" studio album.

The Beatles prompted me to pick up the guitar at about age 12-13, I strangled that splintered acoustic for a few years, Rush influenced my musical tastes further and helped me learn the instrument far better, then it was Van Halen that inspired me to work hard and stick with it. I still remember reading an early 80's issue of Cream magazine dedicated exclusively to Van Halen, learning about Eddie's incredible work ethic, how he spent hours a day woodshedding. It was his inborn talent, his dedication to guitar, and the sheer amount of practice that brought him up to a level beyond all others.

My own guitar playing never went beyond average, but I had a lot of fun within my limits. Because I didn't seem to have a lot of natural talent or any formal training at all (self-taught, with the help of a few books and some pointers by a skilled guitarist friend), it wasn't exactly in the stars that I'd go very far at all. But that never affected my enjoyment of the instrument. I played daily from the late 70's through much of the 80's, improving mostly as a rhythm guitarist. Though Van Halen's music was far beyond my capability on guitar, it did inspire me to practise a lot.

My little collection of Van Halen shirts, all cool enough that

they are all in constant rotation.

Into the 90's, I found musically like-minded friends who wanted to jam, and that's when I discovered that special "high" when you click with others as you play songs you all love. It was often just me and a drummer, but sometimes another guitarist or bassist would join the fray, and we would bash out our garage versions of our favourite tunes. I was always baffled by my inability to figure out Van Halen songs... it was only in more recent years that I learned that Eddie tuned his guitar down a half step. No wonder! I was completely ignorant of this alternate tuning stuff for all those years. The only Halen tune I could play some semblance of was Ain't Talkin' Bout Love, which I slaved over (without tablature for reference, either), and had some fun with.

So Eddie was important to me almost from the beginning of my guitar self-instruction. He was already an impressive newbie to the world of rock music, so much so that I was recording Van Halen songs off the radio onto tapes for re-listening. That might have been up to about 1980, when I finally bought my first Van Halen record, their third release, Women and Children First. In hindsight, I wish my first VH purchase had been their monumental debut album, but Women and Children wasn't a bad choice either. That disc was their heaviest recording ever, probably, laying down the band's most molten metal ever. What came before and after never came quite that close to true metal, though the first album certainly had its moments.

A vintage 80's Halen pin - classy and metallic, that I've hung onto all these years

Van Halen, even though in my mind is classified as hard rock, had a huge influence on the heavy metal genre. Between the wild showmanship, the loud aggressive sound, the screaming vocals, and the extreme guitar pyrotechnics, these were all key ingredients of what metal was all about. The big difference was that Van Halen had a strong pop sensibility, crafting the catchiest melodies this side of the Atlantic (and the other side, too, I'd say).

Even though Eddie was a virtuoso guitarist, he was also a gifted songwriter. He had a flair for melodic, hummable songs and even guitar solos. No wonder this once-dubbed "dangerous" band eventually became American darlings of the Top 40 with hit after hit song.

I really wish Eddie had written his own memoirs, but I made do with 

the still-entertaining and revealing autobio by David Lee Roth. The 

highly-regarded Greg Renoff band bio of their early days is essential

for Halen fans.

I must admit I am soley a fan of the first six Halen albums, the David Lee Roth era. No Van-Hagar for me. So as far as my six album knowledge extended, Eddie performed feats of speed, dexterity, ingenuity, sound and melody on record after record. I know a bit of his later work with the Hagar line-up, but not enough to really comment.

Try to imagine a world without Eddie Van Halen. What would have happened in the music scene during the 1980's? I can't even picture what would have played out without Eddie's influence. Hard rock, glam metal (aka hair metal/pop metal), heavy metal in general... would these genres have progressed or even existed without Ed's pioneering techniques? Ratt and Motley Crue and the whole L.A. Sunset Strip scene would likely never have happened. The legendary and infamous Guns'n'Roses, though stylistically different, rose from that same scene... would they have come about if not for the VH influence? Guitar wizards like Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen cite Eddie as an influence in their formative years. Any guitarist, pro, amateur or hobbyist, would have something positive to say about Eddie's talent and impact on music.

My "uniform"

From Eddie's famous "brown sound" - raw and pure, which was the result of tearing up and rebuilding his Strat guitars, to his mastery of two-handed finger-tapping on the fretboard, he carved out a place of his own in the world of guitar. Entirely unique. As mentioned, the Halen style was responsible for a glut of glam metal and hard rock imitators in the 80's, many uninspired and short-lived, while a few found a foothold and became (modest) stars in their own right.

While other favourite bands over the years have lost some of their appeal, Van Halen has been a constant for me. There's no denying the fire and staying power of their music, and that is largely due to the massive appeal of Eddie's instrumental prowess and his innate songwriting talent. From early metallic hits to the last two Roth-era albums of "hard pop" radio sensations, Ed and his bandmates grew and expanded their repertoire to include music for the masses. So there was something for both headbangers and pop fans. Dancing in the streets... 

RIP Eddie, you will be missed.