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RIP Eddie Van Halen


Patrick Bateman

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1 hour ago, dcar00 said:

Jensen Co-Axial 6x9's FTW.

 

1 hour ago, dcar00 said:

Jensen Co-Axial 6x9's FTW.

The Crutchfield Catalog!

I sold CUTCO knives the summer of '86 so I could buy a Yamaha amp, cd player, equalizer and tuner, a Nakamichi cassette deck, and Polk Audio speakers.

One of these days I will scan all of the ticket stubs from the 80s, which include a Van Halen show at Reunion where i was standing on Section 13 Row 1 Seat 1 when the stage was rushed.   Right in front of both Eddie and Dave.  Then Lisa Claire jumps up on the chair next to me and shoves her tongue down my throat.  Van Halen had that effect on teenage girls.

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My older brother bought the first VH album when I was 6.  After I heard it I wanted a guitar for Christmas. I wanted to be Eddie Van Halen. I listened to that album non stop. That Christmas morning I did not get a guitar under the tree.  Then there was a knock at the door and "Santa" was there with a guitar and said sorry I forgot this.  I played and played.  I eventually switched to the bass when I was in a band and the other guitar player was just flat out better than me.  Turned out I came to be a pretty good bass player and got into Rush. But we played those songs form the early VH albums.  They were staples for us.  I still play today and it's all due to Eddie Van Halen.

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1984 was the first cassette tape I bought with my own money.  My dad made me throw it away because of the smoking angel, but I fished it out later, sliced a hole in my mattress and there the cover stayed for 10 years.  Still have it.  My first defiance of authority was due to VH.

It was my first cassette also. Well, I bought 1984 and Midnight Star’s No Parking On The Dance Floor at the same time but let’s forget that little detail.
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6 minutes ago, Moby Ric said:

My older brother bought the first VH album when I was 6.  After I heard it I wanted a guitar for Christmas. I wanted to be Eddie Van Halen. I listened to that album non stop. That Christmas morning I did not get a guitar under the tree.  Then there was a knock at the door and "Santa" was there with a guitar and said sorry I forgot this.  I played and played.  I eventually switched to the bass when I was in a band and the other guitar player was just flat out better than me.  Turned out I came to be a pretty good bass player and got into Rush. But we played those songs form the early VH albums.  They were staples for us.  I still play today and it's all due to Eddie Van Halen.

Exact same thing at the same age.

Minus the guitar.  But I got my first at age 12 (an EVH copy “Olympic” guitar).

Edited by Rip76
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3 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:

This was my first live experience of Van Halen.  I crammed 6 other kids into my 65 Mustang (that's a lot even then for that car - we were skinny I guess) and drove down from Denton.  Still tryin' to cop those licks.  I'll never get 'em like Eddie.

 

 

 

Sammy - "All I'm supposed to be thinking about is right now.  Tomorrow is not guaranteed.  Yestday is history and history sucks..."

Damn, I could hardly type that without falling apart.  I already miss you EVH.  Even more than your guitar, I'll miss that infectious as fuck perpetual Eddie smile. 

Yeah, history sucks.

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Just now, Sbbruin said:

Wait, you were in Rush?   And I thought Geddy Lee played bass for Rush.  You're not Geddy Lee, are you?!!!

No but I have had the privilege of meeting Geddy.  Very cool guy.  But I don't want to talk about him right now cause I WILL FUCKING LOSE IT IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO HIM!!!!!

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32 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:


It was my first cassette also. Well, I bought 1984 and Midnight Star’s No Parking On The Dance Floor at the same time but let’s forget that little detail.

dude, ain't nothing wrong with a little old school funk in the playlist.  "Freak-A Zoid's please report to the dance floor!"

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I've already linked this clip, but LISTEN.  The dude is still wet behind the ears.  He's super young.  He is channeling every bit of Jimi he knows how to do, but HE IS DOING THINGS JIMI DID NOT KNOW HOW TO DO.

God damn he was other-worldly.  Yeah, he didn't "invent" tapping. He just made it musical.

There's a point where he's totally Jimi-ing with massive feedback in front of his double stacked speaker cabinets, and he bends a note into perfect pitch.  It's like he's using a lever to move a boulder in a field.  It moves slowly but eventually it gets there.  Dead nuts on.  His ear was fucking perfect. 

He might have made mistakes, but I'll bet what we thought were mistakes weren't, and what we thought was perfect wasn't perfect to him.

What a fucking loss.  Laphroaig, here I come.

 

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13 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I've already linked this clip, but LISTEN.  The dude is still wet behind the ears.  He's super young.  He is channeling every bit of Jimi he knows how to do, but HE IS DOING THINGS JIMI DID NOT KNOW HOW TO DO.

God damn he was other-worldly.  Yeah, he didn't "invent" tapping. He just made it musical.

There's a point where he's totally Jimi-ing with massive feedback in front of his double stacked speaker cabinets, and he bends a note into perfect pitch.  It's like he's using a lever to move a boulder in a field.  It moves slowly but eventually it gets there.  Dead nuts on.  His ear was fucking perfect. 

He might have made mistakes, but I'll bet what we thought were mistakes weren't, and what we thought was perfect wasn't to him.

What a fucking loss.  Laphroaig, here I come.

 

The end of Eruption transitioning into You Really Got Me is other worldly.  All time rock and roll riff that brings it like very few others do. Everytime I hear that my blood pressure goes up, get chill bumps and i want to rock out like a fool.  

EVERY.

TIME.

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1 hour ago, hundredTT said:

Don’t cry. Spark one up while jammin out on your porch, then go fuck. It’s what he would have wanted. RIP legend.

Learned the phrase "Puff, puff, pass" as a 13 year old at the Summit during the 1984 tour.  I didn't partake but I was definitely in a contact high.

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I was 14 and remember exactly where I was when I heard Smells Like Teen Spirit for the first time and also what I did all day after KC died. Seems like y'all had a similar connection to VH's first record. I remember VH through MTV videos of 1984 and Van Hagar. I always wondered what kind of mega impact they had since they were just unlike anything in the 70s so I really appreciate y'alls stories on what it was like first hearing them and going to their shows. Very few artists seem to bring an entire generation together in mourning.

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29 minutes ago, HornsOverIthaca said:

Geddy Lee posting here would be so absurd I could almost believe it.

I'm sure he's a big Horns fan.

As for EVH, "Jump" was never my fave VH song, but the video used to crack me up simply because Eddie seemed so stoned and happy in it.  Here's hoping he's still smiling upstairs with his guitar in his hands.  Damn -- this is 36 years old . . . 

  

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2 hours ago, Cheeseweasel said:

It was the best. I'm not saying that because I'm a nostalgic old guy. It was the best. We were able to grow up without internet, got to roam the streets without "helicopter" parents and the music kicked ass. 

Spot on

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2 hours ago, Chad Fuck said:

This was my first live experience of Van Halen.  I crammed 6 other kids into my 65 Mustang (that's a lot even then for that car - we were skinny I guess) and drove down from Denton.  Still tryin' to cop those licks.  I'll never get 'em like Eddie.

 

 

 

Yeah, that show in the West End was something else. 

Sammy and the band kept their word.

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2 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

Way too many people in rock are called brilliant when they're not. He hasn't been called brilliant nearly enough.

Yeah, that puts a bow on it.  He was truly next level.  No, he was other-worldly.

I get your point, even if I'm too lazy to pursue the top levels of playing any more.  I can hear a keyboardist and except for the great jazz soloists or top classical players I can see my way to getting close, with enough practice.  On guitar, not so much, but I know I could get to "passable bar band blues lead guy" if I put my mind to it.

Eddie?  Off limits.  Not a fucking chance.  For the sports fans:  the average Austin professional guitarist is pitching A ball, and EVH was Mariano Rivera.

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No more Eddie Van Halen and the Eddie Van Halen Band.  Bummer.  Any pothead in high school in early 1978 can tell you exactly where they were when they first heard that music.  Usually screaming from a 8 track tape, played thru a Pioneer Supertuner and Jensen speakers.  
I was in Robbie Hickam's 76 Trans-Am in the high school parking lot.  There were about 20 people gathered around her car, listening.    No idea how he was doing that but it was fuckin' AWESOME!
Did your pioneer supertuner have the green LOUD button or not?
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Only time unfortunately that I saw them was the Fair Warning tour in 1981 at Reunion Arena. That was a hell of.a show with Iron Maiden opening up for them. Saw it with my best friend to this day who saw a concert at Shoreline in the Bay Area with Alice n Chains opening up for VH. What I wish that I could’ve been at that event as I never saw ANC. Honestly believe that Sammy brought more to the table than Dave ever did from a musical aspect.

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one of the worst things about this, from an interview he did with Billy Corgan (asking the question below) in Guitar World back in 1996

One of the things that struck me after listening to all your albums is your fearlessness -- you've never been afraid to go where you've wanted to go. You 've played blues, you've played crazy music, you've played synthesizer music…

 

I think my desire to do my own thing came from my dad. He was a real soulful guy. He played sax and clarinet like a motherfucker. Unfortunately, he was also an alcoholic who died when he was 66. But he lived a full life. My mom, on the other hand, is 80, but she doesn't live. So I'm trying to find a balance between them. I don't want to be like my mom and live to be 80, and not live. And I don't want to die at 66 like my dad.

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