TMD’s Tribute To Eddie Van Halen: The Great One!
“If it’s not the Fab four of VH, fuggedaboutit.” – Anonymous rock fan
Late VAN HALEN guitarist, Edward Van Halen or “Eddie” as most called him, was truly one of a kind. I don’t think there has ever been anyone who changed the landscape of hard rock music as dramatically as him. He undoubtedly goes down as one of the greatest musicians of all time.
No other guitarist influenced more kids to pick up a guitar and play.
I remember first hearing Eddie’s most famous guitar solo titled “Eruption” over at my friend’s house and feeling like my ears just got melted off.
For me, it was like God opened up his heart through Eddie’s fingers on the frets. He moved his fingers totally lightning fast and with perfect precision to hit the notes just right, unlike anything I had ever seen before or since, to be honest. Needless to say, I became one of VAN HALEN‘s biggest fans as a young boy growing up in Los Angeles with the goal of becoming a famous name in rock one day myself.
Me, and all of my buddies, totally idolized Eddie Van Halen.
Believe it or not, Eddie never dreamed of becoming a famous guitar hero. Not only was he the best… but he was very humble about how good he was. That being said, music was in Eddie’s blood. His dad was a musician too. His parents names are Jan Van Halen and Eugenia Van Halen.
Eddie was born on January 26, 1955 in Nijmegan, Netherlands.
After coming to America with is family, Eddie developed a passion to become a great guitar player, and he began to win music contests as a young man, despite the fact that he never actually learned how to read music.
To standout against the other players in the field, Eddie designed his own guitar and called it “Frankenstein.” It does not get more metal than that!
“If you want to be a rock star or just be famous, then run down the street naked, you’ll make the news or something. But if you want music to be your livelihood, then play, play, play and play! And eventually you’ll get to where you want to be.”
– Eddie Van Halen
Eddie and his brother, Alex Van Halen, formed the band VAN HALEN in 1972. Joining up with vocalist David Lee Roth AKA “Diamond Dave” and bassist Michael Anthony the band quickly established themselves as the ultimate California party band, jamming gigs in backyards and at the hottest clubs, mainly located in Pasadena.
Despite having the likes of Randy Rhoads to compete with during the early eighties in Los Angeles, in my opinion, Eddie broke more ground overall as a guitar player, and was by far more commercially successful than any other electric guitarist who first rose to prominence in the early days of Heavy Metal.
Eddie’s band VAN HALEN performed at the US Festival in 1983 on “Heavy Metal Day.”
Eddie would go on to compose a movie soundtrack for the film “The Wild Life” in 1984, and he also recorded with the King of Pop: Michael Jackson. According to the RIAA, VAN HALEN is the 19th best-selling music group/artist of all time with sales of 56 million albums in the US.
Beyond those extremely impressive numbers and accomplishments, I feel VAN HALEN did many things to get in the conversation for the greatest rock n roll band ever, including being one of only five rock acts in history to have had two albums (Van Halen and 1984) which sold more than ten million copies in the United States.
“When kids ask me how it feels to be a rock star, I say leave me alone, I’m not a rock star. I’m not in it for the fame, I’m in it because I like to play.”
– Eddie Van Halen
I recently was interviewed on FM Rock Radio station WQEE 99.1 in Atlanta, Georgia, and I shared some amazing details about Eddie’s life. Listen to the audio via the player down below.
My mother spoke to Eddie once, several years ago, and although I cannot share the reason why they talked with one another over the telephone, I can say that my mom told me Eddie was a perfect gentleman and a delightful guy. She said that Alex answered the phone initially and was very polite to her before handing the phone over to his brother the legend.
For me it not only feels like the end of an era, but frankly, the loss of EVH is so huge that it’s hard to explain how much he is going to be missed by everyone.
I know Eddie would be deeply touched by the incredible outpouring of love from his fans all over the world right now. I wanted to honor the man with a befitting send off.
However, this tribute is not just about Eddie himself, but I want to also pay respect to his original VAN HALEN band mates, Alex, Mikey and Dave. Together they were The Fab Four of VH!
“It wasn’t until the fourth or fifth Van Halen record that people would go, ‘Wow! You’re singing backgrounds on those records. That’s not David Lee Roth.’ And I go, ‘Hell, no! That’s not David Lee Roth.'”
– Michael Anthony
I personally want to say “Thank You” to each of those cats for all of the awesome records and concerts. No band in rock history can touch the original VAN HALEN in their prime. No way in Hell.
Sure, VAN HALEN had other lineups over the years, and replaced Diamond Dave on vocals, until he got brought back for one last hurrah at the end. We know the replacement vocalist blocked the chances of Mikey getting back into the band by betraying Eddie ultimately, and that stopped me and millions of others from being able to see our favorite band ever reunite after 36 years of not jamming together.
In my heart and soul, there is no other lineup that counts when it comes to VAN HALEN… but the first lineup!
Those four guys: Eddie, Alex, Mikey and Dave were magical. They were the ones who rocked backyard parties to get it all started and ended up playing sold out arenas all around the world.
Anybody else who thinks they are a part of that history is delusional.
To this day, I absolutely refuse to listen to any VAN HALEN records that don’t include the original four. Would you honestly celebrate any musician who sat in to replace John, Ringo, Paul or George of the Beatles? Of course you would not! People would get very angry and demand the band change their name.
So that is exactly how I feel about VAN HALEN, the best damn rock band of all time.
Eddie brought back Dave in the end, after a very long period of separation, and I feel that he very much wanted to reunite with Mikey too and jam with the original VH lineup one more time, but one man’s own egomaniac antics killed the chances of that ever happening again.
Sure, you can call it all water under the bridge at some point, but the damage was already done, and Eddie has been really sick the past several months, so a chance of Mikey getting to play with VAN HALEN again was not going to be possible.
Now that Eddie Van Halen has passed away I am so glad that I don’t have to read one more stupid press release put out by the replacement VH vocalist trying to get attention so he might somehow find his way back into the biggest rock band there ever was.
It’s not going to happen! GAME OVER. Find another band.
Rest in peace, Eddie, and keep on rocking those VH riffs hard in the afterlife.
http://www.randyrocketcody.com/
Edward Lodewijk Van Halen
(January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020)
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