Van Halen 2020

 The news on October 6 gave me this weekend’s blog topic.  Within minutes on Facebook, it seemed that literally everyone had heard of, and acknowledged, the untimely death of Eddie Van Halen, the famous guitarist for the band of his name.  I’m ill-inclined to simply tell everyone what they already know, so I’ll try to address the issue in a way that gives some form of personal perspective.

Those who know me personally know I grew up in Paris, France, attending high school at the American School of Paris, from 1982-1986.  These were the tail end years of the classic David Lee Roth era for Van Halen, though the first Sammy Hagar album 5150, came out when I was still at ASP.  As 1984 was the first VH album that came out after I got into the band, Diver Down must have been the most recent when I did, and my recollection is that it was Diver Down which was my introduction to the band.  I was shocked to read EVH saying he didn’t like the album, mainly because about half of it is covers long after the band learned how to write its own material – for which he blamed that singer guy, David what’s-his-name.

Of course I got the first album, and VH II.  At some later point I got Women & Children First and Fair Warning, but could never keep straight which was #3 and which was #4.  1984 and the later albums we got when they came out, except for anything after For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.

Live-wise, I didn’t get to see them in concert until Hagar was singing:  1988 (OU812 tour, Van Halen’s Monsters of Rock at RFK Stadium in DC) and 1991 (For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge Tour, November 1991, for which Layne Staley era Alice in Chains were the opening act).  Much later, in 2012, my brother and I caught a DLR-fronted lineup, with Wolfgang on bass, at the Verizon Center in DC (reviewed in more detail in my prior blog, “Van Halen 2012”, which was mostly about that show in particular rather than the band in general).  So no, I never saw the DLR & Michael Anthony lineup live.  And of course I didn’t see them open for Black Sabbath on the Never Say Die tour.

Roth vs. Hagar.   I have a slight preference for Roth, but Hagar certainly gets the job done on his own merits.  Each is so different as to be different to make a fair comparison.  The singer I completely zoned out on was Gary Cherone of Extreme. 

Influence?  Actually, slim to none.  My favorite two bands are Black Sabbath and AC/DC, thus Tony Iommi and Angus Young are my primary influences.  Sometime in college I discovered The Heavy Guitar Bible and blues/pentatonic scales, and once I learned those, all those Iommi and Angus solos suddenly came into focus – including “The Warning” and “Overdose”.   EVH is all over the place.  Here’s a guy with such an immense intuitive knowledge and natural talent that he essentially writes all his own rules for guitar.  I think I learned “Eruption” – all that double-tapping – and “Black & Blue”, and that was about it for learning anything by Van Halen on guitar.    

I read Hagar’s autobiography, and naturally Eddie figures in it.  Unfortunately, he had all sorts of issues which interfered with simply being a guitar player and keeping a band together consistently.   However, he didn’t die from a heroin overdose, or from alcohol-related issues, or even COVID19; it was garden variety cancer which punched his clock.  Whether we had V H tattooed on us and listened to the material every day, or were – as I was – shocked into reminiscing by his death and only now pulling out our Van Halen albums again to listen to in his honor, we all will be in mourning for awhile.