The first time I heard Eddie Van Halen play, it was in 1984. Oddly enough, it’s the synths parts of the mega-hit Jump that stood out for me, not the guitar playing. The song was released on my 9th birthday at the end of 1983 and at that age, I was far from the guitar player that I became. I remember hearing it on the radio, it was so catchy. Was it pop or was it rock? It didn’t matter to me at that time, it was good music. Actually, it seems that everything was good in 1984, what a great year to be a kid with a radio.
Van Halen, the top40 era
Where I grew up, I didn’t have MTV, I didn’t even have cable, it probably took me a few years to finally see a Van Halen video. Fortunately, the top40 radio stations played Jump a lot, that’s how I discovered Van Halen. I don’t recall hearing any other Van Halen songs in the David Lee Roth era, with my age I wasn’t really aware of existing hard rock stations in my area. Also, I didn’t have an older brother to guide me on my musical journey, I had to find my way and buy some albums, more on that later.
Two years later, Why Can’t This Be Love came out on the radio. It was Van Halen, but it sounded so different, I wasn’t aware of the personnel change in the band, these were the days, way before the internet. I was in high school at that time, and I remember one of my best friends talking about this company called Columbia House where you could buy 11 cassettes for one cent. Of course, you would have to buy a bunch of albums at the regular price over the next year or two, I think they were 11.95$, but the concept was interesting.
I heard that song on the radio!
I started working during summer, mowing the lawn at every house on my street, trying to get money to buy these cassettes. Finally, in 1988, my parents gave me the approbation to do it, feeling that I was mature enough to invest in that kind of thing. When my friend learned that I would get some albums, he asked me to buy a few for him. One of the albums I bought for him was 5150. I still remember to this day when we were unpacking the cassettes, something the kids of today will never experience, and putting that album on the tape deck. The second song was Why Can’t This Be Love, I was so excited that I shouted: “I heard that song on the radio!”.
The guitar years, Eddie my hero
Maybe it was a coincidence, but my friend and I started playing guitar not long after that. It was the end of high school in 1990, and my life was about to change in many ways. My parents separated, the college was coming close, and I was now a guitar player. At that time, my musical tastes had evolved a lot, I was into Metallica and Guns N’ Roses, I needed guitar heroes. Now that I knew the instrument better, I could appreciate even more what the best guitar players were able to do.
One day I discovered an amazing fact, something I didn’t know at all, again no internet. To solo in Beat It by Michael Jackson was done by none other than Eddie Van Halen, the guitarist form the band Van Halen. It was shocking news, but I didn’t own the Thriller album, for some unknown reasons I couldn’t buy some Michael Jackson on Columbia House. I had to wait to hear the song on the radio to refresh my memory. When I finally did, I was blown away. I was mesmerized by the sounds he could make with the guitar, I was also ashamed that I didn’t notice how amazing that was before I started playing guitar.
Where would I be without Eddie Van Halen?
Years have gone, I’ve been playing guitar for 30 years now. There is a lot of the Eddie influence in my playing, in the playing of most of the guitar players I know. I learned tapping because of Eddie, I learned pinched harmonics because of Eddie, I used the tremolo bar because of Eddie. Of course, there are other great guitar players that had a strong influence on me: Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Kirk Hammett, just to name a few. But it’s not crazy to say that these guitar gods were also inspired by Eddie.
I still play some Eddie Van Halen songs regularly live. The cover You really got me is in the setlist of my rock band since the late 90s. I also recently added Beat It and Jump to my 80s tribute band. I can’t play those leads perfectly even in my dreams, but I try to sound good. Eddie had a style that is so unique and so hard to understand, I really wonder how he came up with some of the things he did. It just shows that he is the genius, the wizard, and I am just a simple guitar player.
Rest in peace Eddie Van Halen, thanks for inspiring guitar players like me to be creative, and have a great time doing it.
