RIP Eddie Van Halen

Guess we lost another musical great today.

Wow.....not all that old either. An absolute guitar GOD! On my top ten list of guitarists. Cancer sucks.

Great guitarist for sure. Damn shame.

I don't think he smoked? I did read something months ago where he said he used to walk around with metal guitar picks in his mouth and he speculated that is how it got started..

He was a smoker.

65 is old for a rock star. Most of them don't seem to make it that far. He did have killer talent on the guitar. I saw those guys multiple times in concert when I was growing up. Loved that band in the early days before they all started fighting and got mad at each other.

The original bass player (before Michael Anthony) died a week ago of cancer as well.
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/mark-stone-van-halen-dies/

There's a name the whole World knows and a set of shoes that will never be filled.

I was always under the impression Eddie was a clean-cut, healthy guy. I just read a little on his behind-the-scenes battles, wow, had no idea what he went through.

I heard somewhere years ago that at one time Eddie Van Halen took guitar lessons from Glenn Campbell. Can anyone verify this ?

Buddy of mine since our teenage years has been a celeb photographer (not paparazzi) since 1969.
He's photographed pretty much every musician & band that ever showed up in SoCal.
He said Eddie was always a very nice guy.
That's not as common as one would hope.

RIP, God speed.

Mike.

RIP Eddie

Sad news...I just read it. He was a true innovator of guitar. May he RIP.

Saw him live with Sammy Haggar .
One of the VERY BEST concerts I have ever seen.

Thats definitely a pair of shoes that would be tough, if not impossible to fill


Live this was AMAZING
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDOFIttS69I

Cigs,booze,coke= death.

Saw VH in 1981 at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, what a show! RIP Eddie, he was a famous 2-3 pack a day smoker, always had one on the headstock of his Strat...

RIP Eddie, you rocked a whole generation!

Pete Way & Lee Kerslake were hard to take...as was Martin Birch & so many others this year.....
But this..... Jeez........

And WROTE some of the greatest rock and roll in history

Truly

Truly

A great MUSICIAN

God Bless The King Of The Six String

R.I.P. Eddie.. another rock legend gone… I really thought he was younger than 65 like mid to late 50s!

I believe the story was that he asked a mutual friend,,,Steve Lukather, maybe (?)...to see if he could meet Glen and talk shop with him.

I was lucky enough to see VH 3 times, including the awesome Monsters of Rock tour. A great show each time. We used to cruise the mall parking lot in my Z28 with my Alpine cranked to 11, blasting OU812, 5150, and 1984. VH, along with Def Leppard and Guns N Roses, were essentially my high school soundtrack. RIP Eddie.

I was never a big fan of theirs. I liked mostly heavier stuff like Maiden, Sabbath, Motorhead, Anthrax, etc.

That said, I respected his abilities on the guitar. He was one of a kind. An innovator with a style all his own. Rest in Peace, Eddie.

SoFi

Truly a drag... I remember staying home from school and I was listening to the local rock radio station. They had Alex VH and David Lee Roth in the studio to talk about their concert in Phoenix that night. This was about '76 or so, so VH was a brand new group playing in small clubs. I thought they were pretty funny guys so I kept listening. Then the DJ said;"Here's some of what you'll be hearing tonight" and proceeded to play Eruption and You Really Got Me. I about pooped my pants hearing this music come out of my little radio. It sounded like it was music from another planet!! At this time we were hearing older music or something new from Eric Clapton was "Lay Down Sally". Not really a bad song, but certainly not a real "ballsy" number. I'll never forget how Van Halen sounded to me. I managed to see them about 5 or 6 times over the years. The last time was in 2012. Still listen to them out in the shop. I'm almost 60 and every time I hear VH it makes me feel 16 again.
This getting old crap sucks.....

Besides my dad and Jesus, Van Halen was my hero as a teen. After I heard Van Halen, I locked myself in my room for probably 4 hours a day for like 5 years to try to play like him. I am still devoted to the guitar and it is because of king Edward and my dad. In my book, late 70's and early 80's Van Halen was the best guitar work I've ever heard. I think Steve Lukather said it best when he said "If aliens came to the earth and our fate depended on a guitar duel, 1980 Edward Van Halen was THE guy that he would rest the fate of the world on. I hope you are in Heaven. There will never be another like you

Correction to my earlier post. It wasn't Steve Lukather, it was Alice Cooper that Eddie asked if he could get Glen Campbell to meet with him and show him some stuff on the guitar.

RIP

But I am surprised of of much David Lee Roth is left out of the discussion, in that David played a major part in the success of the Van Halen and their shared fame.

Nobody is an island in the music business, as much as they may want or be declared to be.

Mick didn't get the memo apparently.

Because DLR is a whack job and was only around for their early success. I never did see VH with Sammy, but Sammy wrote some awesome VH songs! VH might not have been around long if they didn't get Sammy...

God bless em..My wife and i are saddened to hear about his passing..

When my Dad was in his 90's he often said that the thing he hated the most was that he was outliving his friends. I don't want to insinuate that Van Halen was a friend but watching him, Tom Petty, Mac Davis, Charlie Daniels, Little Richard, Helen Reddy, Kenny Rogers, Bill Withers, and many others pass on reminds me that we are all getting old(er).

I think I'll find 'Dance the Night Away' on Youtube and play it.

It truly was out of this world. Lets not forget that it was Van Halen and Eddies' guitar work that was used as an alien encounter sequence between Marty McFly and his teenage father in the film Back To The Future.

The first time I got to see them was before they released their first album as the opening band at a Day on the Green concert at the Oakland Coliseum. I ended up with every one of their albums. Great band. RIP

Ahh yes, Day on the Green. I spent a week there on night

sad to read

RIP

Yeah I was just thumbing through my record/tape/CD collection and it became readily apparent that the dead guys are starting to outnumber the living guys... *sigh*

Haha, no kidding! Nor did Keith Richards!

Sad to hear the loss of Eddie. What great music Van Halen made, with David Lee Roth and Sammy!

saw that on the news last night.
R.I.P. Eddie

I was 3 months short of my 18th birthday when I saw Van Halen in 1979. That experience along with numerous shows by Canadian band Streetheart totally altered my perception of what a live rock show should be like from an entertainment value point of view. I was of course already familiar with Eddies virtuosity via owning both of the albums.....Hell, those albums were literally the soundtrack of every outdoor bush party we attended that summer...whoever had the best car stereo opened their trunk & let the 6X9's fly....

I had always been (and remain) a big Sammy solo/Montrose Fan. But with the exception of a couple singles, I never really warmed up to what the merger of the two did to the band until after it was over...by then of course it was too late to see them live.

As much as I appreciate Sammy Hagar & follow him to this day, jcc is correct in one regard: With out DLR being the flamboyant front-man that he was, Van Halen the band would not likely gotten the attention they did.

That said, Roth is still alive & the conversation is about the passing of a beloved musician, so there is no reason to include him in the discussion.

I was sadden to see he had passed but, I knew he was a heavy smoker/drinker/drug user. Grew up with his music in the 80s and 90s although I prefer their older stuff.

I never got to see Montrose, but they were a big part of my growing up and I am still a huge Sammy fan and see him whenever I can. I missed going to his birthday in Cabo by a week a few years ago, I didn't realize that when I booked my vacation...

One of the bands that had influenced me growing up. I had seen them in concert a few times, most recently with David Lee Roth a few years back. He was truly and innovator and a talented musician. Yes he had his demons, and there are some pretty graphic stories on how hard of times he had fallen on. But, he seemed to overcome them. I recently lost a very good friend to throat cancer. Also a huge smoker. Prayers to his family. And his music and legend will live on. Sad day for the music world for sure.

.

1998 - 5150 Studio Tour
Never seen before
Toward the end he picks up his original Frankie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpzyxHnN7HM&feature=emb_logo

Yeah, he was sick for a long time and had some pretty major issues, but, being in denial for a couple years, it took me by surprise.
I really didn't expect the loss would hurt quite that much.
#RIPEVH

RIP to our rock legend, can you imagine the jam session in heaven right now, Eddie, Randy Rhodes, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, wow.

Was thinking of Van Halen related stuff, and the movie Better off Dead popped in my head, the burger playing the Frankenstrat, hilarious.

officialjackwhitelive
Verified
i thought it could be a nice gesture for me to use this blue eddie van halen model guitar for one of the songs tonight on SNL. the guitar was designed by eddie (with a few customizations i had added). eddie was very kind to me and saw to it that this guitar was made for me to my specs. i wont even insult the man’s talent by trying to play one of his songs tonight. thanks again
eddie for this guitar and rest in peace sir.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGLP0XmJuop/