VH1 was the first rock album I ever bought, back in 1979, and I’ve spend 41 years loving it. I know the band has had their ups and downs but I think that Eddie’s playing on their last album was just as fresh, vibrant and exciting as it ever was. Impossible to overstate the impact this man had on my life, as well as the entire music genre. RIP.
Eddie Van Halen has died
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Re: Eddie Van Halen has died
#152I don't fully understand hacker news I think, I am curious as to why this is still on the front page but the Nobel prize that was announced today has been on page 2 all day (unless I missed its original front page landing)
also, RIP Eddie!
Re: Eddie Van Halen has died
#153I don't fully understand hacker news I think, I am curious as to why this is still on the front page but the Nobel prize that was announced today has been on page 2 all day (unless I missed its original front page landing) also, RIP Eddie!
EVH was a classically trained, incredibly talented and highly creative musician. He was also a founding member of an amazingly successful band that was very popular right around the time many of your average HN readers were growing up. His death is impactful to a lot of these people -- events like this just seem to have resonance. Sorry, that's the best explanation I can come up with.
Re: Eddie Van Halen has died
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I must confess I much more enjoy Eddie The Songwriter rather than Eddie The Guitarist I enjoy his guitar playing as well, but I agree with you here! I have the unpopular opinion that the stuff he was doing with the synth in the late Roth and throughout the Hagar era is better than some of the more traditional hard rock stuff. "Right Now" is one of my favorite songs ever, and it's relatively light on the guitar for…
I agree with that, too. I know it's, ah, controversial to say that Van Halen's songs in the Sammy Hagar era were by and large their best, but -- even though I think David Lee Roth was the better singer (Hagar sounds oddly like he's straining all the time) -- I'm just more likely to go back to the "Van Hagar" songs. I know Hagar's suggested they were writing as a group during that period more than the band was previou…
Eddie became a better composer as he grew like most Musicians. His early work was based more on his guitar virtuosity.
Re: Eddie Van Halen has died
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This deeply saddens me, the pool of people I admire is draining faster than it’s replenished Then you need to stop wading in the shallows of the people you admire and get out in the insane expanse that is the rest of the creative world. In terms of just music alone, there's more talent out there now than there ever was before. Two generations or more of musical education where none really existed before, plus an en…
I got the same feeling as brtkdotse when Chris Cornell of Soundgarden died. "They aren't making them like that anymore". And if they are, I haven't found any. Can you give us an example (like a YouTube link) of a modern guitarist (from the past 15 or so years) that approaches Eddie Van Halen's level of talent or innovation? An uplifting thought is that, like Cornell, although we have lost him, we still have his music…
> "They aren't making them like that anymore"
You should check out Muse and Matthew Bellamy.
Re: Eddie Van Halen has died
#156Never knew until recently, that the amazing guitar solo on Michael Jacksons Beat it was played by him. I can't find any transcripts, but in an interview on the Howard Stern show, van Halen said (if I remember correctly) that the infamous knocking at the beginning of his solo was him knocking on his guitar, like a professional who is giving his workhorse a friendly tap before the race - and that he was amazed Michael…
I heard that Eddy was asked to to play on Beat It and thought to himself "Nobody will notice". His Bandmates were pissed because VH were on No 1 before Beat It came out. The MJ bought it and the VH fans too.
Re: Eddie Van Halen has died
#157I don't fully understand hacker news I think, I am curious as to why this is still on the front page but the Nobel prize that was announced today has been on page 2 all day (unless I missed its original front page landing) also, RIP Eddie!
EVH was a classically trained, incredibly talented and highly creative musician. He was also a founding member of an amazingly successful band that was very popular right around the time many of your average HN readers were growing up. His death is impactful to a lot of these people -- events like this just seem to have resonance. Sorry, that's the best explanation I can come up with.
...but again not a nobel metal recipient because he spent a lot of his life past his career being an amp salesman after breaking up his band. I think his point stands as valid, Hacker News just kind of wings it with what to gatekeep and what not to.
Re: Eddie Van Halen has died
#158One aspect of Eddie's playing that rarely gets mentioned was his rhythm and chord playing. His chordal phrasings and how he could make a song sound huge for just a single guitarist was amazing. AND The first few early albums were mixed with the main guitar track panned hard left.
Re: Eddie Van Halen has died
#159This deeply saddens me, the pool of people I admire is draining faster than it’s replenished. It also reminds me that Death just dragged another bead on his abacus and before long my bead will be up. Also, while I respect and admire what Eddie has done to further the art of playing electric guitar, I must confess I much more enjoy Eddie The Songwriter rather than Eddie The Guitarist.
> I must confess I much more enjoy Eddie The Songwriter rather than Eddie The Guitarist I enjoy his guitar playing as well, but I agree with you here! I have the unpopular opinion that the stuff he was doing with the synth in the late Roth and throughout the Hagar era is better than some of the more traditional hard rock stuff. "Right Now" is one of my favorite songs ever, and it's relatively light on the guitar for…
I like I'll wait from 1984 a lot