Open Happy Birthday Thread: Eddie Van Halen

In terms of influence? Certainly top ten. His two-handed technique defined metal in the 1980s, but in terms of talent and ability, those who emulated him eventually outstripped him in terms of ability and diversity of style. Unfortunately, after about 1987 he stopped really being innovative. Still, those other guitarists (Satriani and Vai immediately come to mind, though there are others) couldn't have done what they did without Eddie paving the way. He opened hard rock and metal to more technical playing styles, and made it cool and worthwhile for guitarists to pick up the complexities of music theory rather than just bashing out power chords.

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Plug in your zip code and check out where the libtards will meet… nothing happening in my hood… thank God.

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"Let me be clear"… it is very scary.

Thought that was Valerie Bertinelli….:)

has there ever been a couple that looked more like siblings?

**Bill and Ted Air guitars**

EXCELLENT!

// Unfortunately, after about 1987 he stopped really being innovative ///

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge ("Right Now" is considered the apex of VH's singles collection, and a piano riff in a rock/metal band is NOT TYPICAL) and Balance (Feelin' and Aftershock are most CERTAINLY innovative) belies that contention. The band stopped being creative when Eddie hit the sauce & began firing lead singers on a constant basis, culminating with his firing of one of the most important backup vocalists in rock history, Michael Anthony, & replacing with his son Wolfie.

EVH has been the epitome of innovation, ranging from hard rock ("In n' out", "Unchained") to rock/blues ("Black and blue", "Finish what ya started") to rock n' roll (most of the rest) to just plain different ("Little Guitars", which was pre '87) and all throughout he's redefined what a guitarist is: a musician, as he ushered in the keyboard/synthesizer era of the 80s ("Why can't this be love", "Jump") while being the owner of the most popular guitar solo song in history, "Eruption".

Too bad that he's made VH little more nostalgia band, doing little more than touring & playing 20 year old songs. That's what alcohol can do, I suppose. Ah, but it was great while it lasted.

Mick and Bianca…and Donny and Marie.

Beat me to it….

i was gonna say mick & bianca, but the donnie & marie comment was even better!

Gifted beyond measure and reason. I read once that so many tried to copy his technique that he started doing all his playing in the shadows or with his back turned to the audience. Not sure how much truth there is to that, however he was a huge pioneer.

And now he's done what so many like him have done – wasted it all on being wasted.

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You'll get a laugh!

What? Silly 'rock stars' is it now? What a waste of time.

Happy birthday Eddie! You were partially responsible for my musical tastes. Van Halen's greatest hits was the first CD I ever owned.

Overrated and not in your personall Top Ten? Eddie has plenty faults…being a world class delta bravo seems to be one of them…but in terms of quantity, quality, innovaton, influence and durability, Ed should be at least be considered as a top ten rock guitarist. Maybe not an "all time" top ten, but in his genre…I think it's a no brainer. BTW, loved Randy Rhoads, but there's no way he would've overshadowed Eddie to the point of making him an historical footnote…Ed and Van Halen owned the rock world from roughly '83 to '85 (everything from their debut album in '78 thru Diver Down in '82 led up to the mega-album "1984") and continued to turn out quality stuff thru the "Carnal Knowledge" album in '91.

Happy Birthday Eddie! I've always loved your music but in recent years I have watched you drool over vintage guitar replicas and I've seen you fawn over Les Paul, and you are a class act my friend. Happy Trails to You!

Edward Happy Birthday!!!! One of the first albums I bought was the first Van Halen album in 1979.

This morning I was listening to you guys performing "One Way to Rock" from "Right Here, Right Now".

Thank you sir!!!

please see my above comment regarding "Spanish Fly". find a copy of that track, listen to it, and come back when you're not quite so uninformed…

Anyone interested, come vote in our poll — we're trying to get a picture of how everyone grades Obama and the Republicans:

http://commentarama.blogspot.com/2010/01/commenta...

Love Van Halen. I grew up listening to them. When the 1984 album came out, I was just a little kid, three or four, and our neighbors had the album. They'd blast that thing as loud as they could every single morning, and it'd wake up the entire block, but nobody cared 'cause it was such a great album. I knew all the words to "Jump" before I knew my own address.

Having no dog in the Van Halen discussion…I continue to watch 24, but it's not as good as it was. I don't give a rip about the suicidal FBI (or ex-FBI) agent, anymore than I do about the blond chick at CTU who apparently used to be in jail on a murder rap. I am sick of personal sidebars unless they personally involve Jack Bauer in some way. Just get on with the terrorist-stopping already!

I essentially agree. Psycho Renee? Don't care much for this angle. Blond CTU and her hillbilly ex boyfriend – junk subplot, badly written and cast. The foreign president and his family problems? Less than zero interest. Russian gangsters – horrid dialog, laughable casting. Clown show. Chloe – just going through the motions.

This was a filler episode at best. Still too early to give up, but they need to get it together fast.

*Just was watching DVD of Season 7 (only for the extras b/c Season 7 was abysmal) – The writers went thru hell on S7 b/c they felt traumatized by the lackluster Season 6 and felt the need to re-invent the series. It is clear by their comments that they do not seem to had realized at the time that Season 7 was so very bad. Now, with Season 8 airing, it looks like they may have realized how bad Season 7 was b/c they made an effort to wrap up S7 storylines quickly in S8, but they still seem to be faltering…..so far.

We'll see.

Me, too!

Back before there was such a thing as Ticketmaster, my friends and I waited outside the Tulsa Convention Center for three full days in order to grab some primo seats to VH's first headline tour (Van Halen II). Out of the hundreds of shows I've been to, this was THE BEST. They opened up with "Light Up The Sky", with David Lee Roth bounding across the stage and into the crowd to kick off show. It just got more intense from there. Happy Birthday Eddie!! Thanks for the memories!!!! (God, I feel old)

What a MANE! Rawr!

Oh, where to begin?

First off, Van Halen (both the guitarist and band) hasn't been musically relevant in close to 30 years. The last album truly worthy of being called "Van Halen" was "Fair Warning", which came out in 1981(!).

As to performance skills, another commenter above best described Mr. Van Halen's skills as "parlor tricks". Unless your name is Stanley Jordan, putting both hands on a guitar neck should be a criminal offense.

I'll leave out comments regarding behavior, as I've never met the man. However, the stories of him being one of the single most unpleasant people in music are too numerous to completely discount…

Ed a footnote? I was a guitarist in the same clubs playing the same genre as the others in the late 70's. I knew Randy, Ed, George Lynch, Terry Kilgore etc. and can say, having played alongside them that Ed led the pack and was first in every respect. Ed picked up the two hand technique from Terry, who had bastardized it from Harvy Mandel. Randy mimicked a few of Ed's tricks, as did George but both went on to clearly define their own styles and sounds. While Randy was schooled and quite adept at classical tecnique, not much of that technique found it's way into QR or Ozzy's outfit. I doubt seriously that had Randy lived he would have been any competition at all to an up and coming Yngwie Malmsteen in the neo-classical rock genre. Between 1976 and 1982 when Randy was killed, Ed released 5 seminal albums that did more to change the face of rock guitar than anyone since Jimi, Clapton, Page & Beck. He is still ALL OVER most rock guitarist's tecniques. Happy Birthday Ed!

I wouldn't say of all time, think of all the guitarists who played of the centuries that no one out side of their home lands ever heard of? But no doubt, one of the best contemporary electric guitar players.

I do have one beef with him though. He likes to brag that its just him and his guitar, no special sound effects. Which is technically true. Of course being plugged into $50,000 worth of Marshall stacks doesn't hurt either.

Butler, We're going to get together at our blog — doing a live blog — to poke fun at his SOTU. You're welcome to join us. Wednesday night — our place.

Make sure you get your drinking games straight.

How about shots every time he uses works like "Let me be clear, unprecedented," and "bi-partisan."

How about Mick Ronson from the 1970's?

Done.

That album was the sound track for my last year in college. Every one was blaring it every where, we'd rigged up a TV set in the digital lab and were pirating MTV satellite signals, so it was always playing in there too.

Chet Atkins and Les Paul are still the best.
Roy Clark and Jerry Reed and Junior Brown are pretty darn good.
Eddie Van Halen has lots of hair.
Still he was lucky to get Valerie Bertinelli.
Maybe it was all that hair?

You realize Rhoads was only 16 when he formed Quiet Riot, right?

I own the CD – Van Halen II… and Spanish Fly is FULL of two hand tapping and other tricks, and some flat out speed – not much different from the rest of his catalogue, really.. However, Just because he's playing it on an acoustic guitar doesn't mean it's in a classical style.

Spanish Fly opens with a hammer technique, and then to fast triplets and some harmonics, followed by a few quick runs, and some more triplets before he starts going to town with the tapping 35 seconds in to it.

Compare that to the intro of Diary of a Madman or Dee – especially the arppegios that Rhoads wrote and plays in Diary, and come back when you're not quite so uninformed.

I've been playing guitar for nearly 30 years. How about you?

He's very talented. Another underrated guitarist from the 70's is Glen Buxton (Alice Cooper).

Thanks Ed! I appreciate that — we want to get as many different views as possible.

Nope. Not in my top ten.

In no particular order other than Randy Rhoads first – but to round out the top ten I've have Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Zakk Wylde (Ozzy / Black Label Society), George Lynch (Dokken / Lynch Mob), John Petrucci (Dream Theater), Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Oz Fox (Stryper – hugely underrated guitarist IMHO), Dave Murray (Iron Maiden) and Marty Friedman (Megadeth).

Steve Vai is a machine. Fantastic guitarist. Don't overlook Joe Satriani, either.. (And I agree about George Lynch – that guy is a phenomenal guitarist.)

Isn't that the truth! His need to blame Bush is almost like a nervous tick!

Did you see the year end year in review article by Dave Barry? Almost every paragraph included some line that ended with Obama blaming Bush for something or other — it was very funny.

I would hate to see the show go out on a low note, but if this season turns out as badly as last season, I just wont get the kick out of it that I used to. It's not fun and exciting anymore. Something is missing…including too many now dead CTU members.

I hope it will not be the last season, but I am tired of disappointment and so far they have only had one decent episode (#4) amidst 5 dull/silly episodes.

Let's see if they get this initial crap out of the way and come up with something good.

It's not a tic. He's got nothing else. If he talks about his accomplishments, he's got nothing. He can't say that, so what ever else they can come up with, and this is about it.

Hi butler-
Just noticed we're from the same neck of the woods… I live outside "the ring around the congo" and given the choice… I would rather jump off the top of Spaghetti Junction than have to watch/listen to Obamao for more than 5 seconds. Word is… he lies, too!

No bitterness – as far as being strange, well… aren't we all a little strange?

There's nothing wrong with enjoying them both. Like I posted earlier, I own a lot of Van Halen CD's.

I just don't get the pedestal for his guitar playing skills, I think there are a number of guitarists that are far better… in the end though, this is all subjective opinion. It's my opinion that Rhoads was/is far better than Eddie Van Halen.

This might not apply to the music, per se, but Eddie and the boys were one of the first hard band that had the balls to smile. Everything's not about being pissed off . This music is fun. Between '78 and '85 they were about as much fun as you could have at a concert. After that, I lost interest…

Er, folks, Donny & Marie *ARE* siblings.

Eddie's best recording…….."Beat It".

Interesting? Revealing? Not really that people are trotting out the 'world's greatest guitarists' and never mention Jazz or classical players, just rock and country and some blues players.