Eddie Van Halen RIP. Dead at age 65

[Jimmy9190]

How would you describe their sound? I’ve heard it called “party rock” and “power pop”.

I would call it..

Blistering



Loud-Rocking



Has always made me feel good every single time I hear it, no matter what else has happened that day..



Absolutely Ripping. Far beyond anything that had been done up to and including 1978, and nothing else near as good since then either..



Virtuoso. There have been and still are a lot of great guitarists in the music world but no one else has and no one else ever will play a guitar the same as Edward did.

 

[Donald]

Eddie was a smoker.

Yes he was. Wonder if he had HPV also. Many people with tongue or throat cancer have HPV.

 

[PimTac]

For those who were not around or too young to understand, the music of the 70’s was just horrid. Disco and bubblegum rock songs permeated the airwaves. This started early on but really took hold around the mid 70’s. A couple of examples; Midnight At The Oasis and Please Mister Postman were typical of songs that got incessant AirPlay

There were still good bands though but they were not played like these junk bands were. Two bands started to turn the tide. Van Halen was one. The talent of Asia was another one.

Van Halen was so distinctive in their sound. Nobody was close. Their debut album just flew off the shelves. Their second album had pretty much the same success and they went on from there.

This is just my opinion.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Here is a good interview with Ted Templeman talking about his friendship and working with Eddie:

Producer Ted Templeman Remembers Eddie Van Halen: 'He Wasn't Just a Shredder'

Van Halen producer Ted Templeman pays tribute to Eddie Van Halen. "He was the last guy to think he was some kind of guitar god," he says.

www.rollingstone.com

 

[Jimmy9190]

A very cool early picture of Eddie with The Shark, and a good testimonial that sums it all up for a lot of VH fans:

MelodicRock.com

ROCK MUSIC REVIEWS - NEW, CLASSICS, RE-ISSUES & MORE

www.melodicrock.com

 

[odie]

Van Halen definitely had their own sound and is very hard to categorize them. Lots of energy,powerful,yet very melodic.

Almost Beach Boys like ?

 

[aquariuscsm]

Almost Beach Boys like ?

Haha VERY much the opposite

 

[odie]

Almost Beach Boys like ?

Beach Boy like harmonies ?

 

[A_Harman]

How would you describe their sound? I’ve heard it called “party rock” and “power pop”.

The many imitators of Van Halen that came later were called "hair bands", but I thought Van Halen was unique and never really thought of categorizing them.
I was always slightly annoyed by D Lee Roth, and looked forward to their next album when I heard that Sammy Hagar was going to join the band. I bought 5150 with the highest of hopes, but only listened to it once. Hagar took their irreverent edge away.

 

[aquariuscsm]

The "1984" lp I would definitely classify as power pop. Their best lp imo. Actually one of my all time favorite albums.

David Lee Roth's solo efforts were a joke (actually sounded like comedy lps) and I always hated Van Hagar.

 

[Dave Hess]

VH was better with DLR.

I was disappointed when DLR left the band and went solo.

 

[Jackson_Slugger]

Yes he was. Wonder if he had HPV also. Many people with tongue or throat cancer have HPV.

I mentioned the possibility of this elsewhere as well. Between the alcohol, coke, and pot, there was always the girls...

Anyone interested in Van Halen I recommend Noel Monk's book Runnin With The Devil, he was their manager from 1978 to 1985 and was fired just prior to Roth leaving the band. He has great insights, the one that surprised me was that Eddie Van Halen (aside from Michael Anthony that is like a puppie apparently) was the only band member he really genuinely liked. He thought Al a drunken, two faced prick and Dave a "sociopath" narcissist (although he respected both's talents immensely), but Ed was the sweet one (something you hear recurringingly by many different people), that was genuinely sensitive and introspective...

 

[PimTac]

VH was better with DLR.

I was disappointed when DLR left the band and went solo.

Yep, they were definitely different with Sammy. It changed the complexion of the band and the sound.