Eddie Van Halen has died

[liv2ski]

This thread has made me smile with memories, but I still feel a real loss in my soul. Eddie was only a few years my senior and that makes me very sad. Time comes for all of us, some sooner than later. I hope you all have a lifetime of great days ahead of you, as once it is over, you're just a memory. Go make some!

[Benny Profane]

I learned a little trivia today, @ 3:12, unmistakeable!

Van Halen himself would admit he was initially skeptical of contributing to Jackson’s album, wondering how much he had in common with a singer he remembered for chanting “A-B-C, easy as 1-2-3.” But Jackson had written “Beat It” as a rock song, anchored by a hard and funky ruff by guitarist Steve Lukather. When Van Halen arrived at the studio in Los Angeles, Jones told him he could improvise. Van Halen listened to “Beat It,” asked if he could rearrange the song and added a pair of solos during which, engineers would long swear, a speaker caught on fire.

As he was finishing, Jackson walked in.

“I didn’t know how he would react to what I was doing. So I warned him before he listened. I said, ‘Look, I changed the middle section of your song,’” Van Halen told CNN. “Now in my mind, he’s either going to have his bodyguards kick me out for butchering his song, or he’s going to like it. And so he gave it a listen, and he turned to me and went, ‘Wow, thank you so much for having the passion to not just come in and blaze a solo, but to actually care about the song, and make it better.’”

Van Halen worked for free, was not credited on the album and didn’t appear in the video. But his touch was undisguisable. After the record’s release, Van Halen would remember shopping in a Tower Records while “Beat It” was playing on the sound system.
https://apnews.com/article/music-edd...789be08bfe3fc5

Yeah, I posted that video in music and books, commenting that I believe to this day that Beat It made that album the blockbuster it was. I remember that album release in real time, and it really took off when that second single after Thriller was released. Brought the whole white rock crowd in. And he didn't get a cent out of it!

[Skidog]

Yeah, I posted that video in music and books, commenting that I believe to this day that Beat It made that album the blockbuster it was. I remember that album release in real time, and it really took off when that second single after Thriller was released. Brought the whole white rock crowd in. And he didn't get a cent out of it!

Case of beer is the story i've heard told....true rockstar...

[Tri-Ungulate]

Real bummer about the passing of Edward Van Halen from this Earth. Not really surprised given his history of polysubstance "abuse" and given that he had been diagnosed with a head and neck cancer with progression to esophageal...

Yeah, alcohol and eating pussy are both risk factors for head & neck cancer, and I have no doubt he had plenty of both.

[Bobcat Sig]

I learned a little trivia today, @ 3:12, unmistakeable!

Van Halen himself would admit he was initially skeptical of contributing to Jackson’s album, wondering how much he had in common with a singer he remembered for chanting “A-B-C, easy as 1-2-3.” But Jackson had written “Beat It” as a rock song, anchored by a hard and funky ruff by guitarist Steve Lukather. When Van Halen arrived at the studio in Los Angeles, Jones told him he could improvise. Van Halen listened to “Beat It,” asked if he could rearrange the song and added a pair of solos during which, engineers would long swear, a speaker caught on fire.

As he was finishing, Jackson walked in.

“I didn’t know how he would react to what I was doing. So I warned him before he listened. I said, ‘Look, I changed the middle section of your song,’” Van Halen told CNN. “Now in my mind, he’s either going to have his bodyguards kick me out for butchering his song, or he’s going to like it. And so he gave it a listen, and he turned to me and went, ‘Wow, thank you so much for having the passion to not just come in and blaze a solo, but to actually care about the song, and make it better.’”

Van Halen worked for free, was not credited on the album and didn’t appear in the video. But his touch was undisguisable. After the record’s release, Van Halen would remember shopping in a Tower Records while “Beat It” was playing on the sound system.
https://apnews.com/article/music-edd...789be08bfe3fc5

Extra fun fact since we're pulling on this thread; Fall Out Boy's cover of Beat It featured John Mayer playing Eddie's solos, he too was/is uncredited with this work (I believe).

[Skidog]

Extra fun fact since we're pulling on this thread; Fall Out Boy's cover of Beat It featured John Mayer playing Eddie's solos, he too was/is uncredited with this work (I believe).

Mayer rips a god damned guitar too, but I wish he took a cue from Eddie and never opened his fucking mouth.

[ötzi]

First week of freshman year in college I heard 2 albums that really got me, Van Halen and Never Mind the Bollocks. I hope John Lydon is doing well these days, and RIP Eddie.

[Benny Profane]

First week of freshman year in college I heard 2 albums that really got me, Van Halen and Never Mind the Bollocks. I hope John Lydon is doing well these days, and RIP Eddie.

Johnny's just fine.

[Benny Profane]

Yeah, alcohol and eating pussy are both risk factors for head & neck cancer, and I have no doubt he had plenty of both.

Wait, what?

[mtnjam]

Wait, what?

HPV

[frorider]

Wait, what?

Don’t worry, you eat ass so you should be fine.

[Ted Striker]

First week of freshman year in college I heard 2 albums that really got me, Van Halen...

I see what you did there

[Benny Profane]

Don’t worry, you eat ass so you should be fine.

Hey, it's right next door.

[frorider]

Sweet riff will live forever

[Benny Profane]

Metallica’s Kirk Hammett: Eddie Van Halen ‘Blew Open Everyone’s Minds’ https://nyti.ms/3jEcFGp

[Bunion 2020]

Never really a Van Halen fan (the band). The music while entertaining was a bit shallow.

Eddie OTOH was unmistakably original for his tone and mechanics much like Hendrix or SRV or BB King, when you heard him play you knew who it was. RIP.

[ötzi]

Yeah that's about exactly here I am. Never a huge fan of the band but EVH was something else entirely, especially early on when nobody else could make those sounds at all.

[Norseman]

[Rideski]

[pureantigravity]

Big Van Halen fan here.
Listened to every song and solo he ever made at 1/2 speed on my old record player so that I could learn how to play them.
He was my idol till I turned 18.
Sammy was the best thing that ever happened to that band.
Sammy kept them human, acted as a bridge for peace between new and old and between band members.
He was revolutionary in the guitar scene.
RIP.

[Ripzalot]

Missing a few stubs but these survived...

Sent from my SM-A505FN using Tapatalk

[pureantigravity]

To be really honest, I just didn't hear anything new from him after 5150 and he seemed to just rehash the old hash.
Sammy, Mikey and even DLR have still got a smile and passion for music and being goofs.
The same just can't be said for Eddie.
Today I esteem many other guitarists as just better overall musicians, and even listening to 1970's and 1980's other artists, I'm not sure anymore just *how much* Eddie's playing was as novel as it is made out to be.
There was a vibe in California rock in the late 1970's and mid 1980's that just doesn't exist today because
destroying hotel rooms, fucking chicks and boozing and boozing on stage
just are not so cool.
It is sad though, he was so young and a guitar hero to many, at some point, in our musician lives.
In my post Van-Halen years, I finally learned to play rhythm. To FEEL the rhythm.
It was learning rhythm that convince me that slowing down the solos and playing more strategic notes,
was a good thing for everyone. Pink Floyd, Clapton, Triumph, Queen!, Jimi Hendrix, The Sultans of Swing, even the sixties and 70's hippi music,
all had great licks too. There are Eddie-like sounds and riffs that are similar even before Eddie.
I really appreciate Van Halen's bomb-track, of constant beat and drive (the drums, the bass, the DLR screams), and if you swapped any other talented guitarist into those songs, they would be just as catchy and good. Eddies *sound* was unique.
His brown sound and gear setup enabled a lot of harmonics and feedback to drive the sound even browner.
I modded my first 100W head with a varister so I could crank it to 10 without it being so loud.
My first Les Paul (Epiphone) got hacked, new strat neck and new pickups and new whammy installed, just like Eddie,
... soaked in Dr. Zoggs Surf Wax to reduce the squeal when the volume
was loud enough to jiggle my underarm hairs!
Good remembrances.
Oh yes, and playing Van Halen records, at half speed, to learn the solos.
Good remembrances.

Sammy is still sounds amazing for his age - When It's Love - Sammy Hagar & The Circle (with Michael Anthony)

[fhw]

Never really a Van Halen fan (the band). The music while entertaining was a bit shallow.

Eddie OTOH was unmistakably original for his tone and mechanics much like Hendrix or SRV or BB King, when you heard him play you knew who it was. RIP.

This is about where I'm at. RIP EVH. You were far too young.

[frorider]

Come on guys, Hot for Teacher was a deeply metaphorical song in which the protagonist embarks on a spiritual journey at an impressionable age. A Bildungsroman of sorts.

[pureantigravity]

It will blow you away by how much the start of eruption sounds like this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdp3FtLYjvE