Jump to content

RIP Eddie Van Halen


Patrick Bateman

Recommended Posts

2008, my oldest son (guitar player) was a junior at Bryan High, wrote him a note to leave school at lunch, we drove up to Dallas checked into our hotel, hung out and caught Van Halen at American Airlines, came back the next day. I was the coolest dad at Bryan High for letting my kid miss a day and a half of school for Van Halen.

 

bought tickets on Eddie's side of the stage but for some reason he played the whole show right in front of Alex, not sure why.

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Love this song, I don't care if nobody else does
 

This entire album is spot on.

I think that run of six albums from 78 to 84 you just don’t see anymore.

I loved all the little guitar only bits he put in - eruption, Spanish fly, cathedral, the intro to mean streets.

Man.. this one stings.
  • Hook 'Em 2
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Deej said:

Great rhythm player. I feel those that don't pay attention don't notice. 

I came back to post this.

Eddie was such a great fucking rhythm player.  It tends to go unnoticed buy some, but good lord what a great rhythm guitarist.

And an intro king.

Edited by Rip76
  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, honolulu horn said:

EVH was my reason for picking up the guitar and has been my most consistent inspiration for the last few decades of playing. The first time the 8-track blasted out the intro car horns for Runnin with the Devil I was on a new path. I remember riding in the back of my sister's light blue Grand Prix with the stereo turned ALL THE WAY UP for House of Pain. When that E-string starts the bridge from chorus to solo, that car was vibrating and my ears were ringing. First concert I ever attended -- 1984 VH tour. Still have the t shirt. I suffered through the 100 degree Dokken trash fight at Rice Stadium for Monsters of Rock because I knew Eddie was on stage in just a few hours' time. It was worth it. 

So after working as an usher and as security at the Erwin Center for a few years during undergrad, I worked my way up to getting my one dream slot -- manning the dressing room door for Van Halen on their 1992 tour. My stomach dropped and heart stopped when Eddie walked down the hall. I looked at him and said, "My hero." He smiled and said, "I get that a lot," but not in a douchey way. He signed my 5150 album sleeve and we shot the breeze for a few a minutes. I couldn't believe it. He went in and out of the dressing room a few times, no big parties or anything, just super chill. He eventually came out into the hallway with his guitar and warmed up for the show literally four feet away from me. I was speechless. Eddie was super cool, very gracious, and treated me really nicely. He didn't have to, but he did. A true legend, and one of those rare instances where your stupid naive hopes and dreams about meeting your idol are actually eclipsed by reality. One of the absolute highlight moments of my life. Eddie Van Halen for life. 

e7ce5340f4f625890ef94f957168d756--eddie-

 

Fuck yes

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Rip76 said:

I came back to post this.

Eddie was such a great fucking rhythm player.  It tends to go unnoticed buy some, but good lord what a great rhythm guitarist.

And an intro king.

His rhythm playing is unmatched. I try to explain this to non-guitar players, but they don't get it. 

On Fire is so advanced and unusual, but sounds so natural. Isolate the guitar track from the second chorus rhythm to solo back to intro and then verse...goddamn. All over the fretboard but it doesn't sound busy or muddled. Just an absolute master. 

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, saw the brothers at many a beer bash party before Dave & Mike came on. They played our high school before hitting it big. Absolutely gutted. Edward was a unique dude, could be a good guy or an ass if you got on his wrong side. So damn sad to go out like he did, damn cigarettes. Glad I got to see them as often as I could, it’s almost like losing a good buddy

  • Hook 'Em 4
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very sad to hear about this. Maybe because of the time I grew up and because of the emergence of MTV, but I consider 1984 to be THE definitive 80s rock album. My love for Van Halen (the band) doesn’t go as deep as some, but there is no doubt Eddie was the greatest rock guitarist of all time. It’s touching to hear the impact he’s had on the lives of so many. I was a little young for concerts that the time, but the era of colossal stadium rock shows must have been heaven.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember being on a church trip to Wonderland Park in Amarillo, when one of my friends sneered as "Jump" started playing on the Himalaya ride: "Eww, Van Halen." And I remember thinking, "Wait, I like this song." Which was odd, because it was really the first time I remember having an opinion of my own that went against what the rest of the group had.

Sixth grade, everyone in class's favorite album was either Chicago 17 or 1984. I didn't really know them, but then the Columbia Record Club came into my mailbox with their usual nonsense... 1984 was one of the albums I bought, then, and along with Synchronicity and Rio, one of the ones I wore out.

It was after 5150 came out that my neighbor gave my brother a mix tape of all the classic Van Halen tracks. "Is that a synthesizer?" I asked. Because it was the mid-1980s, and synthesizers were big, then. "No, that's a guitar." "There's no way that's a guitar; he's playing too fast..." And that was my introduction to "Eruption."

 

Jr. High through High School, I was all about Van Halen. And college. Through the 1990s, I was the one emailing all my disinterested friends about rumors of them breaking up and getting back together again. And I still have that VHND RSS feed.

Forget his technical chops; it was how he played and interpreted things that made him stand out. Even my wife, who isn't into any of the guitar and metal stuff that I love, makes an exception for Eddie Van Halen because he alone meets her ridiculously high standards; she can hear the legit virtuoso in the Pasadena backyard party rock band.

There never was one like him before and never will another one like him since. 

  • Hook 'Em 3
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, phdhorn said:

 

He got bored of the piano - again, bored of the piano. So he bought a drum set and started playing drums. Then one day he heard Alex playing a surf rock solo on it and decided to take up the electric guitar around age 13. To say the rest is history would demean the word history.

 

RIP.

Simple decision really, guitar payers get more ass than piano players, and drummers....

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, USC_TMB said:

Grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, saw the brothers at many a beer bash party before Dave & Mike came on. They played our high school before hitting it big. Absolutely gutted. Edward was a unique dude, could be a good guy or an ass if you got on his wrong side. So damn sad to go out like he did, damn cigarettes. Glad I got to see them as often as I could, it’s almost like losing a good buddy

Unfortunately this is one part that isn't surprising.  Anyone who followed him knows that at least as far back as the mid-90's, he was in bad shape, beaten up and really old for his years; as shocking as this is, it can't be surprising. You hoped he would linger on but you also wondered when and if he'd be overcome by all of his ailments.  He apparently cleaned up the booze but did enough coke and bennies to wreck a football team.  He actually said in a 2012 Esquire interview that A Different Kind of Truth was the first album he ever - again ever - made sober.   He also said he almost never partied (not sure I'm on board with that) but took all the stuff to keep going - a refrain we hear from almost every rock star who's been in the business.

You know, when I was younger, like many kids I sort of wanted to be a rock star.  And who wouldn't have wanted to be with the "glamorous" life portrayed?  But more and more I'm sort of happy that never happened to me.  I think it's a life that's insane and causes people to self-destruct.  Almost no one has escaped that; a lucky bunch survive it.

After the initial thrill of being famous and rich, it seems like it's a dogshit life.  Eddie was part of it, and it killed him early.

Edited by phdhorn
  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Simple decision really, guitar payers get more ass than piano players, and drummers....

And it's really hard to find a piano or set of drums at a party these days.  But there's a guitar in every closet.

I spent yesterday going through the VH catalog.  Damn they had a ton of good stuff.  I was thinking about that '91 West End show.  At the time, I was watching an "elder statesman" band after the seismic shift of Nirvana.  But I was also watching the band that had been responsible for the last seismic shift in rock.  Everyone between VH and Nirvana borrowed from Eddie one way or another.  It was just impossible not to because his music permeated the culture in such a profound way, both in style and substance.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been thinking thinking about this for the past 18 hours, and I cannot think of another band from the U.S. (prior or current) that would even hold a candle to their impact and musicianship.  Roth or Hagger versions.

If one of your kids, or someone from another country wants to know what American Rock sounds like, you play them Hot for Teacher, turned up to 11.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Simple decision really, guitar payers get more ass than piano players, and drummers....

I'll tell you the truth, as I've played a lot of both in bands.

There are usually at least 2 chicks who go to concerts/gigs together (yeah think of Office Space and Dietrich).  The guitar players always get the outgoing one, the slightly more "you know she'll go until the sun comes up" one.  But the friend is often the quieter Girl Next Door type.  Just content to let ol' Flossie Funbags lead the way (as we used to call it, she's the "wingman").  And I have found that these types are a bit suppressed, and when they get into the hay, omg they are like a herd of Mustangs.  Only without the baggage of the "outgoing" one the guitarist is banging in the other room (and who might move onto the bassist in 10 minutes).

The 2nd girl is by far the preferred, often understated sexuality which comes out like herd of buffalo in the right setting.

And this is a FACT, because now I've posted it on the Internet, which is never wrong.

 

Oh yeah, in response to Chad, true, guitars are more ubiquitous than pianos or drums (and let's face it, EVERYBODY hates the drummer at 2 a.m.), but I've been in two situations where our equipment was looted, just like that.  Only you know what?  The only things left were - you guessed it! - Keys and drums.

Trust me, nobody, and I mean NOBODY, is going to want to rip off a Leslie 122 or a Hammond A-100 or B-3.  

I had my gear and no one else did.

Then I could go and do solos and get all the ass that the poor guitarist and bassist don't get since they got no instrument.

Edited by phdhorn
  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, freyguy said:

Been thinking thinking about this for the past 18 hours, and I cannot think of another band from the U.S. (prior or current) that would even hold a candle to their impact and musicianship.  Roth or Hagger versions.

If one of your kids, or someone from another country wants to know what American Rock sounds like, you play them Hot for Teacher, turned up to 11.

Aerosmith(early) is the only one that would come close.  great songs but they were basically picking up from Who/Stones/Beatles.  VH influenced an entire genre of US Rock music for a couple of decades.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll tell you the truth, as I've played a lot of both in bands.

There are usually at least 2 chicks who go to concerts/gigs together (yeah think of Office Space and Dietrich).  The guitar players always get the outgoing one, the slightly more "you know she'll go until the sun comes up" one.  But the friend is often the quieter Girl Next Door type.  Just content to let ol' Flossie Funbags lead the way (as we used to call it, she's the "wingman").  And I have found that these types are a bit suppressed, and when they get into the hay, omg they are like a herd of Mustangs.  Only without the baggage of the "outgoing" one the guitarist is banging in the other room (and who might move onto the bassist in 10 minutes).

The 2nd girl is by far the preferred, often understated sexuality which comes out like herd of buffalo in the right setting.

And this is a FACT, because now I've posted it on the Internet, which is never wrong.
 
Oh yeah, in response to Chad, true, guitars are more ubiquitous than pianos or drums (and let's face it, EVERYBODY hates the drummer at 2 a.m.), but I've been in two situations where our equipment was looted, just like that.  Only you know what?  The only things left were - you guessed it! - Keys and drums.

Trust me, nobody, and I mean NOBODY, is going to want to rip off a Leslie 122 or a Hammond A-100 or B-3.  

I had my gear and no one else did.

Then I could go and do solos and get all the ass that the poor guitarist and bassist don't get since they got no instrument.

There is no sweeter sound than the Hammond B-3 played well.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

I'll tell you the truth, as I've played a lot of both in bands.

There are usually at least 2 chicks who go to concerts/gigs together (yeah think of Office Space and Dietrich).  The guitar players always get the outgoing one, the slightly more "you know she'll go until the sun comes up" one.  But the friend is often the quieter Girl Next Door type.  Just content to let ol' Flossie Funbags lead the way (as we used to call it, she's the "wingman").  And I have found that these types are a bit suppressed, and when they get into the hay, omg they are like a herd of Mustangs.  Only without the baggage of the "outgoing" one the guitarist is banging in the other room (and who might move onto the bassist in 10 minutes).

The 2nd girl is by far the preferred, often understated sexuality which comes out like herd of buffalo in the right setting.

And this is a FACT, because now I've posted it on the Internet, which is never wrong.

 

Oh yeah, in response to Chad, true, guitars are more ubiquitous than pianos or drums (and let's face it, EVERYBODY hates the drummer at 2 a.m.), but I've been in two situations where our equipment was looted, just like that.  Only you know what?  The only things left were - you guessed it! - Keys and drums.

Trust me, nobody, and I mean NOBODY, is going to want to rip off a Leslie 122 or a Hammond A-100 or B-3.  

I had my gear and no one else did.

Then I could go and do solos and get all the ass that the poor guitarist and bassist don't get since they got no instrument.

Let's hear it for the keyboard player everybody!

My cool keyboard story, short version:  I told my wife I was running down to the Mason's Lodge because they were getting rid of a "keyboard" a friend had suggested I pick up.  I showed back up at the house with a 250 lb. M-3 that it took three good sized guys to (barely) get upstairs.  Luckily, Chad Jr. took a shine to it so the complaints withered, but if she could've killed me with her eyeballs that day, she would've.  No one is moving that thing until I move or die.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...