eddie van halen
Slash, Kirk Hammett and Tom Morello Eulogize Eddie Van Halen During Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony usually takes place in the spring; however, like so many other plans those were changed after the coronavirus outbreak hit. With ample time to figure out an alternate plan, the Rock Hall curated a virtual celebration to honor the Class of 2020, but something it wasn’t expecting was eulogizing the great Eddie Van Halen. The Van Halen guitarist passed away on Oct. 6 after a decades-long battle with cancer, and Slash, Tom Morello, and Metallica’s Kirk Hammett paid tribute to the legendary axe man during the ceremony. “Eddie Van Halen was a tremendously gifted musician,” Slash said. “His style and his sound were completely unique to him. He had a massive impact on guitar playing. I don’t think there’s anybody who’s picked up guitar since 1978 t...
Billy Corgan Recalls Watching Eddie Van Halen Play Guitar in His Studio: ‘It Was Like a Religious Experience’
Following his death earlier this month, musicians who were fortunate enough to meet Eddie Van Halen have been sharing their fondest memories. During an interview with BBC Radio 6, Billy Corgan reminisced about watching the Van Halen guitarist play in his studio circa 1997, calling it “a religious experience.” “Oh my God! For American guitar players, he was the supreme thing. He’s the one who pushed us to be better than we probably would have been,” the Smashing Pumpkins bandleader gushed after he was asked about EVH’s influence on his own guitar playing. “I was lucky because, around 1997 [or] ’98, there was a guitar magazine in America, and I went to them, and I said, ‘I’d really like to interview Eddie Van Halen,’” he continued. “And they said, ‘Why do you wanna interview ...
David Lee Roth Shares New Song Dedicated to Eddie Van Halen
Tributes to Eddie Van Halen have been rolling in since his death earlier this month, and the latest comes from his Van Halen bandmate David Lee Roth. On Friday, the singer released a new song called “Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bar and Grill” and dedicated to the legendary guitarist. “Hey Ed I’m gonna miss ya,” reads text on the YouTube album art. “See you on the other side.” Listen to the track below. [embedded content] Van Halen died on Oct. 6 due to complications from a decades-long battle with throat cancer. He was 65 years old. Roth was one of many who paid tribute when news broke of his death. “What a Long Great Trip It’s Been…” he captioned a black and white photo of himself and Eddie at the time. Former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony also honored Eddie during...
Ozzy Osbourne Says Eddie Van Halen Once Asked Him to Join Van Halen
In a recent episode of his SiriusXM show, Ozzy Speaks, Ozzy Osbourne told a tale about Eddie Van Halen calling him with an offer to join Van Halen. A potential Oz Halen would have been a “shot in the dark,” but the Black Sabbath icon in lieu of Diamond David Lee Roth or Red Rocker Sammy Hagar obviously did not come to pass. Osbourne recounted the tale: “He phoned me up one time and asked me if I wanted to sing in his band — way after Sammy [Hagar had exited the band]. I think he was a bit drunk,” the singer said, adding, “We’ve all done one of them — calling at four o’clock in the morning, going, [intentionally slurs speech].” In 1978, Van Halen opened for Sabbath, and Osbourne recalled Van Halen’s guitar wizardry with awe. “You think you’ve see...
Steve Perry Insists Eddie Van Halen ‘Guacamole Incident’ Didn’t Make Him Cry
It was a food fight for the ages, but no tears were shed in the process… at least according to Steve Perry. The Journey singer, in an interview with Rolling Stone, opened up about an Eddie Van Halen story that has taken social media by storm. However, Perry says it isn’t entirely true. As the story goes, in 1978, when Journey and Van Halen were touring together, Perry unintentionally got caught up in the crossfire of a food fight. The result? He was hit with some guacamole and, according to the rumors, cried about it. Here’s how Perry recalled the infamous “guacamole incident:” “But one night, I decided I had to go tell him, ‘I just love you guys,’” Perry said. “I open the door and was about to say, ‘Hey, guys …’ Now, back in these days, guacamole came in a cottage-cheese–like contain...
Eddie Van Halen Guitars, Smashed Kurt Cobain Guitar to Be Auctioned
Two of the late Eddie Van Halen’s iconic guitars — his custom-designed, red-and-white-striped, stage-used 2004 EVH Charvel Art Series, and a black-and-white striped Fender Stratocaster-style headstock numbered on the back #54 — are going on the auction block. Each guitar is estimated to sell between $40,000 – $80,000 at the Icons & Idols Trilogy: Rock ‘N’ Roll annual music auction on Dec. 4 and 5, live at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills and online here. The event will span over 700 historic artifacts of every genre, including items from the Beatles, Johnny Cash, Jim Morrison, the Rolling Stones, Queen, Guns N’ Roses, Little Richard, Cher, and many more. In 1991, the Charvel Art Series guitar with the red body, below, was gifted to Van Halen’s friend Bryan Cash, the o...
Eddie Van Halen Temporarily Honored in New York City Subway Station
Late superstar guitarist Eddie Van Halen has a New York City subway stop named after him, in a temporary, guerilla-style homage to the shredder’s massive musical influence. New York street artist Adrian Wilson takes credit on Instagram for making Brooklyn’s Van Siclen Avenue on the A/C line into “Van Halen Avenue.” Seemingly perturbed by the lack of press, he states on the post, “I left it 4 days for someone else to head to Brooklyn and take the credit but nobody stepped up, so ok, I guess I’ve got to do it myself… you’re welcome.” Wilson told people it was “easy” to do: “A famous person dies, look up the name of a subway stop and put a sticker over it to memorialize the person.” In the last two years, NYC stations saw official tributes to Prince and David Bowie, done by Spotify at th...
Jack White to Honor Eddie Van Halen on SNL by Playing Custom-Designed Guitar
Jack White may not have much time to prepare for his Saturday Night Live performance tonight, but he found a touching way to honor Eddie Van Halen nonetheless. On the eve of his last-minute performance, White shared a post on social media revealing that he’ll be playing a guitar designed by the late legend. “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,” White wrote alongside a few photos of the instrument. “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.” The tribute begins and ends with the guitar, though, so don’t expect a Van Halen cover. “i wont [sic] even insult the man’s talent by tr...
Kenny Chesney Remembers Eddie Van Halen: Raw Talent, Hard Work + Friendship
The first time I heard Van Halen was in my friend David Farmer’s garage. We’d had football practice, and I went over to his house after. His uncle was playing this music I’d never heard before, and I remember thinking, ‘What IS this?’ It made me want to move. It made me curious. It made the blood go through my veins a little quicker — and want to know more about where it came from. At my house, we’d heard a lot of country music, and whatever my mom and Aunt Sharon were listening to. But this was something very different. The tone of Eddie’s guitar, the way he played… the way the whole band played. It hit a sweet spot in me that never left. I didn’t know that I’d grow up and make music for a living, but I knew whatever I did, this would be part of it. Raw talent and hard work...
Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony Share Video Tribute to Eddie Van Halen
Sammy Hagar’s birthday bash always takes place in Cabo San Lucas around this time. This year, obviously, due to the pandemic, that changed. Hagar and his band, the Circle, are performing on Catalina Island off the coast of California (and home of the Catalina Wine Mixer). Former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony is in Hagar’s band (following his own departure from the band), so when the news of Eddie Van Halen’s death hit, they were obviously together. The two paid their respects to Van Halen on social media, but they’ve since recorded a video honoring their former bandmate. In it, Hagar says that hearing about his former bandmate’s death — who he had just started talking to again earlier this year after years of acrimony — hit him like a “freakin’ Mack Truck” and said that perfo...
Van Halen Manager Says Classic Lineup Reunion Tour Almost Took Place in 2019
Van Halen manager Irving Azoff confirmed what many had hoped for when David Lee Roth leaked the news a few years ago: a new 2019 tour that would have reunited the band’s classic lineup for a stadium tour. In a Pollstar interview, Azoff said that the hoped-for tour was close to happening, but couldn’t due to the late Eddie Van Halen’s health issues. “We had lots of stops and starts, but there was every intention of doing a summer stadium tour (in 2019), and as the cancer moved around, [Van Halen] was physically unable to do it,” Azoff said. “There is no doubt in my mind that it would have been massive.” “But I’ve never seen anybody fight the fight that [Van Halen] fought over the last 10 years, fighting the cancer,” he continued when describing the late guitarist’s battle. Azoff also l...
Eddie Van Halen’s 10 Best Solos
When the Van Halen brothers started playing music together in Pasadena in the 1960s, Alex played guitar with younger brother Eddie on drums and it was Alex’s growing prowess on drums that led them to switch instruments. From those humble beginnings, the duo formed their eponymous band with Eddie Van Halen becoming one of the most celebrated rock guitarists of all time. Eddie Van Halen, who died on Tuesday at the age of 65, was the rare innovator who was equal parts showman and scientist, a notorious perfectionist who married his explosive displays of technique to irresistible pop songs and was more thrilling to watch than any stage pyrotechnics. In celebration of his remarkable career, here are Eddie Van Halen’s 10 best solos, with and without his band, and on and off the guitar. 10. “Jump...
