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— Valerie Bertinelli (@Wolfiesmom) October 6, 2020
What a Long Great Trip It’s Been.. pic.twitter.com/M5pmkVi7hW
— David Lee Roth (@DavidLeeRoth) October 7, 2020
October 6, 2020
Eddie Van Halen has died!
I'm reading the news at my son John's blog. Lots of video clips over there. Sad!
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45 comments:
Very Sad Like the year started with Neil...legends.
Holy crap. What a loss. And he was at St. John's hospital in Santa Monica, about 1 mile from my house. Maybe I will drive by today and blast some Van Halen.
Eddie Van Halen and I were members of the Class of '73 at Pasadena High School in California. I never met him, our class size was about 1,000 students and we ran in different circles.
Wow! There had been rumors that his health was not good, but nothing definite.
Not really a fan of his, but still sad to see him go.
So sorry to hear. Van Halen was everywhere when I was growing up. Every other song on radio.. I was kind of pissed when Eddie married Valerie but we probably wouldn't have lasted....
Circa 1990, I was exiting a restaurant on a Sunday evening. Four young women walked past, and one said to her friends, "I hope one of yiz has a can 'a hairspray." I said to my friend, "I'll bet they ALL have a can of hairspray." My friend replied, "Van Halen must be in town." It was actually David Lee Roth, but that was pretty close.
I’m a Kenny Vaughn guy Myself.
On the way home from the gym just about a half an hour ago, I heard Michael Jackson's "Beat It" on the radio- I thinking about how great Eddie Van Halen's solo work on that record was while I was driving. Now I read about his death.
No one gets out alive.
There was a virtuoso who had no problem expressing the joy he was feeling in his playing, and his fans ate it up.
Never a big fan of the band though the songs were catchy...they seemed kind of like the elevator music version of metal.
That said, the guy could seriously play...even though he said he never really learned how to read music...I think that's more common than generally thought about many great musicians...
Slightly off-topic, his second wife (not an actress/model) is better looking than Valerie B imho : )
Man... RIP EVH!
My oldest son will be hit hard by the news, though not unexpected. Son took guitar lessons for 6 months and then was off and running. He can play - and play it well - most of Van Halen's catalog.
I appreciated his undeniable talent.
He wasn't much older than I am.
Van Halen made it big while I was in hhool; tdid some of my favorite songs.
I'm sure somehow Libs will pin this on Trump.
And how is Keith Richards still walking the earth? What kind of Faustian bargain did he make?
Seriously though, this is very sad. Many VH songs were the background of my high school life in the early to mid 80s. I still crank the car radio when "Panama" comes on....
He always looked like he was having a lot of fun. Hard not to smile watching him play. There's a big jam going on somewhere, Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Chuck Berry and Eddie. Playing their guitars like a ringing a bell.
What kind of Faustian bargain did he make?
There's only one kind.
@Sally 327
If that jam is in heaven, I don't think Chuck is there...
Oh no! No no no...
I remember hearing Alex tell stories about how he would get ready to go out on a Friday night while Eddie sat at the foot of the bed playing guitar. He'd leave early in the evening and return late at night to find Eddie still sitting at the foot of the bed playing. He was one of those guys who was almost more fascinated by the instrument than the music. He's as much an engineer as a musician.
I never got into Van Halen's music, and even today I pretty much only really know the hits off 1984. I remarked to my mother earlier today that I don't remember them listening to or playing it a lot (and they played almost everything). She said, "I loved their music, but I couldn't stand David Lee Roth. I liked Sammy Hagar, but then I didn't like the music."
In high school, every Saturday night there was a 20 keg party at 100 Acres Quarries. For 2 years straight someone cranked the entire album, both sides. "Runnin with the Devil", "Ain't talkin about Love", "Your Really got me Going", "Jamie's Crying", yeah that was some real Rock and Roll.
He died from throat cancer. Just saw a video of him playing a guitar solo while smoking a cigarette. Hard to do unless you have a convenient holder for the cigarette between puffs. His was on the neck of the guitar.
Don't know which one is worse...lung cancer or throat cancer.
His dying wish was that Sammie Hagar replace David Lee Roth at the tribute concert.
Jump is one of their worst songs, but David Lee Roth is a way better transvestite than that guy in the Proud Boys video the other day, and Roth is serious about it.
Rick Beato has some things to say.
RIP Eddie .. one of the best rock guitarists.. ever.
Van Halen's music always made me feel happy. Even on a sad day like today, watching the videos of Eddie playing the guitar brought a smile to my face. Rock on, Eddie!
Oh, @LakeLevel, I came here to post almost the same thing! Desert keggers, not quarry, but the VH music coming out of someone's open car doors! So many memories for me. RIP
Dance the night away...
Loved the first album, the second was pretty good, too. Kinda defined my teenage years, in a way*. Reminds me of Summer 1979. We used Runnin' With The Devil in a float I helped make in high school.
* Well, no. I just remember the second album very well. I was a Kansas/Styx kid.
I regret not seeing VH play the tiny "The Shuffle Inn" in Madison back in '78. A few months later they were huge!!
To this day if "Panama" comes on the radio on a nice day I'm cranking it to 11 and there is a chance I'm getting a speeding ticket.
I wasn't into Van Halen that much but always liked Eddie and his smile. One thing that made an impression. I'm about same age as Valerie Bertinelli and grew up watching her from age of 15-23 on that otherwise dumb show. She was (then) my ideal of what I wanted and my first live in girlfriend was just like her (maybe a little prettier). So when EVH married VB (while most world famous guitarists were banging groupies and sleeping/marrying 14 year olds) I was impressed. They stay married for more than 20 years, even though she gained weight. She tried to get him to stop smoking but failed.
No one here gets out alive...
Earliest memory of EVH was my very first gig watching him rehearse the Keyboard intro to Jump alone on stage during a sound check on the 1984 Tour, over and over. Not a difficult piece by any stretch, could have substituted recording/tech, but clearly wanted to play it himself live.
Now, wish I took that swig off his bottle of Jack Daniels that he offered us on another tour stop. I was on the clock, seemed professional then; still, would have been totally cool-ass in retrospect, despite the habit's contribution to his demise.
Probably the best tribute to a person, his son Wolfie seems like a good kid, even if it had more to do with his mom. Polite, no pretensions, even when he joined his father's band. Glad to see the shared humor of anonymity when Wolfie brought EVH to the Tool show that Althouse blogged.
RIP
I grew up with their music, and was a big fan until Roth left the band. I didn't like the band as much with Hagar (Van Halen fans are wont to call that period, Van Hagar)- the music was a little too commercial to my ear- that rawness from Van Halen I and II was kind of lost completely by the time Roth left, but it had started a bit with songs like "Jump", though 1984 is still a great album- I second the commenters above on "Panama".
I only got see them in concert once (at Mohegan Sun Arena)- sometime in the mid to late oughts after Roth had rejoined the band. It was a good show, but not quite what I had hoped for- they seemed old even then.
I heard Michael Jackson's "Beat It" on the radio- I thinking about how great Eddie Van Halen's solo work on that record was while I was driving. Now I read about his death.
It was good work but it would have been better for VH if Eddie didn't work on it. During those sessions Eddie naturally worked closely with MJ and learned just how much more money there was in pop than hard rock which ultimately led to the band's destruction. They could have been the Rolling Stones stadium touring for 30 years. Instead they got a couple of forgettable albums for 14 year old girls.
I 3rd the Panama sentiment. Crank it.
weeee
The van Halens, the most famous Dutch-Indonesians in America. Edward Lodewijk van Halen was born in Amsterdam a year before my wife. As a young teenager, my wife saw the van Halen brothers many times at the Dutch-Indo social club in L.A.
RIP brah.
Eddie Van Halen was an amazing and innovative guitarist. He had a sound, unique to him, that you could recognize as his as soon as you heard it. I don't think there are any other guitarists that I love and appreciate whose songs demanded to be played at 11+. Viva Eddie Van Halen, RIP.
"I don't think there are any other guitarists that I love and appreciate whose songs demanded to be played at 11+."
I humbly submit Mr. David Gilmour.
I've heard all of the 'greatest' guitar players, and he is the only one who I've never heard miss a single note...not even in live concerts.
As a bonus, he can sing : )
The first Van Halen cassette was a staple in my high school cruise mobile. Saw VH live on the Women and Children First Tour.
Not that it matters, but I would somehow feel better knowing that EVH contracted throat cancer from oral sex and not from smoking or chewing on guitar picks. I am not Laslo.
I think the songs crafted in Van Halen early years are best. I love Sammy's voice, but I never cared for the songs that came out of VH during the Sammy years.
I remember hearing Alex tell stories about how he would get ready to go out on a Friday night while Eddie sat at the foot of the bed playing guitar. He'd leave early in the evening and return late at night to find Eddie still sitting at the foot of the bed playing. He was one of those guys who was almost more fascinated by the instrument than the music.
Like Eric Clapton. If legends are correct, he was probably learning Eric Clapton’s solos from Cream note for note at that time just like Eric Clapton sat in his bedroom every night until 3 am learning solos from American blues musicians off of vinyl note for note.
Not my personal favorite. But the guy could certainly bend strings.
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