My friend Marco had a boom box that he hooked up to his parents stereo console, one of those giant pieces of furniture that looked like a coffin with speakers. It was the only piece of furniture in their Sheepshead Bay house that wasn't covered in plastic. One afternoon we smoked a lot of weed and listened to the new Van Halen record, their second. That was 1978 and my entry. I somehow missed the debut, although I have memories of seeing Columbia House Record Club commercials on TV and hearing snippets of "Running With The Devil" and Jamie's Crying" back when that type of cool shit would randomly happen on an otherwise uneventful programming day. Marco's house and "Van Halen II." That was my real entry and that day of pot smoke and jerry-rigged audio remains a Top 5 memory.
Van Halen fans have a favorite Van Halen record. "1984" is mine. It was the first time I saw a rock star smiling and having fun, like you're supposed to when you're playing music and making money. So, every time I play "1984" I smile. I have fun.
Eddie Van Halen is arguably the greatest guitar player of all time, with all due respect to the 75 guitar players who some guy or the other thinks is the greatest. I don't even know if I believe that Eddie was the greatest. But tonight... he sure is.
R.I.P, EVH.
8 comments:
Absolutely stunned....Eddie was a true guitar genius and hero.
I was lucky enough to see VH supporting Sabbath; Aberdeen 19th May 1978 indelibly seared into my memory...folklore says that they blew Sabs off that tour and I'll concur with that (and I loved Sabs). To this day i still play that 1st album and to this day it still sounds like it's been beamed in from the future....fuckin' enormous riffs.
RIP Eddie
Like I said in a comment on this blog September 8: "Billy Zoom still smiles as he plays, tho he's on a stool these days for the shows. I always liked seeing him, and fellow Angeleno Eddie Van Halen, smiling as they kicked out their sounds, as if they were....having fun."
My second oldest brother tossed me the first album (on cassette) when it came out and said "Me and (my oldest brother) used to see these guys play in Pasadena at parties". I wasn't particularly a metal fan at the time, but goddamn those sounds, those tunes, that energy -- it was irresistible. Still one of the best debuts of all time, in an era when so many great debuts (Cars, Beat, Knack, Pretenders) came out. I hold them somewhat responsible for all the trash that followed them out of L.A., wherein the flashy garb and the one blond in a band of brunets came to define good-time metal, but of course that wasn't VH's fault for so re-setting the template.
C in California
C in California
"...his parents stereo console, one of those giant pieces of furniture that looked like a coffin with speakers."
Hahaha. Great description.
I got to interview Van Halen for a weekly paper on their first album's tour, they were the opener on a bill with Montrose (the instrumental version) and Journey. Roth talked a mile a minute while the other guys relaxed on their beds. Eddie spent the time silently fingering a guitar until I compared them to Aerosmith. He stopped with the guitar and said, "We're nothing like Aerosmith." Then went back to the guitar.
The common place indicates that younger musicians are declaring their love and admiration for this true genius, and how they decided to take the same path...even when their music shows no influence or reference to his.
I listened to F.U.C.K really loud today as a way of a tribute to this amazing musician. A long time since I last heard it and it put a smile on my face once again.
God bless him.
Roy
Great point about the SMILING. I hadn't given Van Halen and Eddie enough credit for that.
The lead on the NYT article sum that up perfectly and make me like VH even more in retrospect:
From the NYT:
"Mr. Van Halen structured his guitar solos in roughly the same way Macy’s choreographs its Independence Day fireworks shows, shooting rockets of sound into the air that seemed to explode in a shower of light and color. His outpouring of riffs, runs and solos was hyperactive and athletic, joyous and wry, making deeper or darker emotions feel irrelevant."
A tremendous quote from Pete Townshend in 1984: "That incredible virtuosity combined with that beautiful grin allows me to forgive him for letting David Lee Roth stand in front of him." If I was Roth, I would have needed a minute to get over that one.
For me, Eddie is a Mount Rushmore guy. Those six albums through 1984 are really sonically perfect. There is no telling what is in the 5150 archives, and Wolfie seems like a good person to be in charge of letting some of it out. It's always been interesting that the band was so wild and Roth never quit talking, yet the Van Halen camp is as tight as it gets. A true Van Halen The Kids Are Alright-style documentary would just be endlessly entertaining, but I don't see how it could ever happen.
My kids are 15, 13 and 10, and our drive to school in the morning is about the same time as Eddie's guitar solo from the Live Without a Net video in 1986, so I treated them to that this morning. They will probably remember more from that solo than what they learn in school today.
I'm glad Eddie got to settle down and enjoy the last decade of his life and appear to enjoy some peace. He truly was a genius.
Bryan
Eddie turned a lot of young boys into guitar players, with an eye on the title Lead Guitar.
One of the most influential of all time. I was heartened last summer when a friend's nephew came to visit from Texas. A 13 year old who was a new guitar obsessive. When I came over to meet him he was beaming. He just got back from Guitar Center where he picked up a Van Halen guitar book. I saw myself in him, valiantly trying the hammering and the insane licks; happy to just hit a couple of notes that sounded close to Eddie. I can't think of another since him who has brought the fever to many a young man or woman.
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