ANTHRAX‘s Scott Ian has reflected on the passing of Eddie Van Halen, saying the VAN HALEN axeman was “the complete package in every way.”
Ian discussed his appreciation for the groundbreaking musician, who died from cancer on October 6 at age 65, during an appearance on Dean Delray‘s “Let There Be Talk” podcast.
He said (hear audio below): “There’s not a bad song from ‘Van Halen I’ to ‘1984’ — for me, there’s nothing that I don’t love. Every song, for me, is as important as the big songs. Every song. I love ‘You Really Got Me’ — of course I do. But for me, on the first record, my favorite song is ‘I’m The One’… His solo on ‘So This Is Love?’ Oh my God. He cleaned the tone up. And just the feeling in that solo and the way he moves around. ‘Top Jimmy’… You can go and on. Every song is a fucking masterpiece.”
“He was the complete package in every way — in every way,” Ian continued. “He was the [John] Lennon and [Paul] McCartney of hard rock, or heavy metal. They were metal before people were saying metal. ‘I’m The One’, ‘Romeo Delight’, ‘Light Up The Sky’ — those are metal tunes. ‘Atomic Punk’ — it’s fucking metal. Unbelievable songwriter and arranger and just overall musician. Just a fucking master.
“I think you could argue that he was the greatest overall talent, he was the biggest talent of the last… from 1975 on,” Scott added. “To me, there’s nobody more talented in any field of entertainment. For me, Eddie Van Halen would be the biggest talent of all. And where does that go? What a void that leaves.”
Eddie died at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California. His wife, Janie, was by his side, along with his son, Wolfgang, and Alex, Eddie‘s brother and VAN HALEN drummer.
The iconic VAN HALEN axeman died from complications due to cancer, his son confirmed.
VAN HALEN was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2007.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked Eddie Van Halen No. 8 in its list of the 100 greatest guitarists.
