In a new interview with USA Today, MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee spoke about the recent passing of legendary VAN HALEN guitarist Eddie Van Halen. He said: “I’m still in shock about that. Three weeks ago, I was hanging out with [former VAN HALEN singer] Sammy Hagar and he didn’t mention anything about it. I assumed he had gotten the cancer taken out, and he was on the up and up. But man, what a sad thing. We literally lost one of the most innovative, incredible guitar players of our time. By far.”
Asked if it’s true that MÖTLEY CRÜE singer Vince Neil once bit Eddie, Tommy replied: “Yes. We were all on the ‘Monsters Of Rock’ tour [in 1984]: AC/DC, VAN HALEN, MÖTLEY CRÜE. We were all partying, and MÖTLEY had this thing we would do if we really loved you: Some people high five, other people hug, we would bite you. Vince went over and just chomped on Eddie and Eddie was so mad. He was, like, ‘What the (expletive) is wrong with you?’ He wasn’t very receptive to it. I bit Malcolm Young [of AC/DC], and he hated it, too. We did that for a couple of years until we were either over it or realized it might be a little dangerous.”
Eddie died on October 6 at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California at the age of 65. His wife, Janie, was by his side, along with Wolfgang, and Alex, Eddie‘s brother and VAN HALEN drummer.
A few hours after Eddie‘s death was announced, Tommy took to his Instagram to share a few photos of him with the guitarist, and he included the following caption: “RIP to my friend and man who changed guitar playing forever …FUCK!!! no words”.
