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RIP Eddie Van Halen, 65


laughedatbytime
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My first live concert experience was Rush in February of 1988, and of course it was amazing.

 

However, months later, my second live experience was Van Halen (Monsters of Rock tour with Scorpions, Dokken, Metallica and Kingdom Come) and it was also amazing, thanks largely to EVH's energetic performance. One of the highlights was watching him do Mine All Mine, when he played keys and guitar in the same song (unlike latter tours when they used a backing track).

 

Every hard rock band that started in the early to mid 1980's might as well have sent 10% of their royalties to EVH, such was his influence on the genre.

Edited by CrimsonE
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I knew Eddie had been battling cancer for years, but I thought he was in remission. I always expected him to recover and go on one last tour. I own all of Van Halen's albums. To me Eddie was the greatest guitar player and probably the greatest musician of all time. He was the Mozart of rock music who elevated guitar shredding to an art form. Eruption in my opinion contains the best guitar solo that was ever recorded. In addition to his guitar playing, Eddie was an accomplished classically trained pianist. He learned to play piano long before he ever picked up a guitar. Eddie actually sang lead vocals in his first band Mammoth. There's a reason why Van Halen was called Van Halen. Eddie was the brains, the composer, the heart and soul of the band. I really admired him for his ability to forgive and always trying to be the better man in his dealings with David Lee Roth. It made me very sad when Eddie said, "he [Roth] does not want to be my friend" because they had been through so much and worked together off and on for 4 decades. Eddie wasn't perfect and never claimed to be, even though millions of young musicians idolized him. He had his demons like everyone else. Be that as it may, his death hits me even harder than Prince and David Bowie. Eddie Van Halen was truly a legend. Edited by Krystal
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I'm sure most of you VH fans have a similar story about the first time you heard Eruption. You probably had a friend or relative bring you over to their stereo, and then they said, "Wait till you hear this." And they dropped the needle, and your ideas of what rock guitar were went out the window.
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I lost 2 of my biggest heroes ever this year: Neil Peart and Eddie Van Halen.

 

Who is gonna die next? Jimmy Page? HUH?

F**k it, Angus Young? Kirk Hammet? Brian May?

 

Cuz I will tell you what. I'll listen to the whole Beatles discography before Ringo Starr or Paul McCartney die.

 

 

Damn YOU, cancer.

 

:banghead:

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I'm sure most of you VH fans have a similar story about the first time you heard Eruption. You probably had a friend or relative bring you over to their stereo, and then they said, "Wait till you hear this." And they dropped the needle, and your ideas of what rock guitar were went out the window.

I knew someone, a guy called Steve Haslam, who brought Eruption to school on a tape and played to people saying it was him and his brother playing drums. Of course he got laughed out of there as there were plenty of Van Halen fans around. Talk about stupid! And he didn't even have a brother! :LOL:

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His death feels very unexpected, but at the same time, it really doesn't.

 

We all knew that Eddie was gonna pass away sometime soon, I think. But it feels very different knowing he's dead now. Plus, I didn't expect this to happen on a day like how it started for me today.

 

I ate an awesome plate of spaghetti for lunch, and destroyed a damaged VHS tape for fun. After I threw the tape out, I found out Eddie passed. What a f**king whirlwind today has been.

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I lost 2 of my biggest heroes ever this year: Neil Peart and Eddie Van Halen.

 

Who is gonna die next? Jimmy Page? HUH?

F**k it, Angus Young? Kirk Hammet? Brian May?

 

Cuz I will tell you what. I'll listen to the whole Beatles discography before Ringo Starr or Paul McCartney die.

 

 

Damn YOU, cancer.

 

:banghead:

 

I know it's very morbid of me to say this, but I would say Ozzy is next in line, sadly.

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I lost 2 of my biggest heroes ever this year: Neil Peart and Eddie Van Halen.

 

Who is gonna die next? Jimmy Page? HUH?

F**k it, Angus Young? Kirk Hammet? Brian May?

 

Cuz I will tell you what. I'll listen to the whole Beatles discography before Ringo Starr or Paul McCartney die.

 

 

Damn YOU, cancer.

 

:banghead:

 

I know it's very morbid of me to say this, but I would say Ozzy is next in line, sadly.

Sadly possible

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I'm sure most of you VH fans have a similar story about the first time you heard Eruption. You probably had a friend or relative bring you over to their stereo, and then they said, "Wait till you hear this." And they dropped the needle, and your ideas of what rock guitar were went out the window.

 

I knew someone, a guy called Steve Haslam, who brought Eruption to school on a tape and played to people saying it was him and his brother playing drums. Of course he got laughed out of there as there were plenty of Van Halen fans around. Talk about stupid! And he didn't even have a brother! :LOL:

 

And his real name was Percy Nesbit.

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I'm sure most of you VH fans have a similar story about the first time you heard Eruption. You probably had a friend or relative bring you over to their stereo, and then they said, "Wait till you hear this." And they dropped the needle, and your ideas of what rock guitar were went out the window.

I remember my friends and I had just listened to Steve Miller's Book of Dreams and were walking then down the street to go play football. The sounds of Eruption came blasting from a neighbor's house and we all just paused in shock. It was truly breathtaking...
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My earliest memory of Van Halen was a house party when I was a junior in high school (1978). The just-released album Van Halen was the only one being played - over and over and over.

 

None of the other albums in the house mattered.... :o

Edited by Principled Man
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2020 is a terrible year for me, in a different way (sorta)

 

When this year started, I had a severe ear infection that had tons of fluid in it. It's healed now, but I can still hear a lil fluid.

 

I also suffered severe depression with suicidal thoughts, mainly due to stress, deaths, and tons of slander IRL.

 

I lost a hero (Neil Peart), a parakeet that passed away on Superbowl Sunday, and a loved one in the beginning of March.

 

Then coronavirus came. And that's how far we go there.

 

I went to a therapist, that helped somewhat with my mood... but...

 

I also suffer quite a lot of stress nowadays, and some aging problems. And then I lost my favorite musician ever, and I feel very depressed about this. I just hope that I can feel better soon.

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Very sad news. I have all their albums up to and including 0u812. I need to hear some of the later ones too.

 

Anyway, I think his playing changed rock forever. I don't consider him a heavy metal guitarist like some do but I can see how he was influential in that genre.

 

RIP Eddie.

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