Eruption

I can’t help but reply to those critical of Eddie. I was tempted to just say, “Dear Eddie haters, you suck,” but then I figured while that’s what I felt inside, it just wasn’t a very good argument. So, to the Eddie haters:

In the course of human history, there have been but a few rock guitarists who will be remembered for changing the face of rock guitar. So far we have Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, and Kurt Cobain (but not in a good way, so I’m not going to talk about his crappy guitar playing and the era of music that was the buttcrack of rock that he was responsible for making popular). What about Jimmy Page? Well, to be honest, Page didn’t really change the face of rock guitar, he just wrote some of the most amazing riffs of all time. What about Iommi? Iommi didn’t really change the face of rock guitar either, but instead created his own parallel heavy metal guitar universe (mainly a sound more than a style) that played along side rock at the time, namely Jimmy Page, who wrote killer riffs in the style that Hendrix invented. So, three guitarists who took what came before and improved on it. Eddie is the last guitarist on this list to change the face of rock guitar and improve on what came before. Their first album came out in 1978, and when people heard it, a new era began. That was 29 years ago folks, and we’re still waiting for the next guitarist to take rock guitar to a greater place. Grunge came along (dang it, I said I wouldn’t talk about this) and guitar playing regressed to the point that the less talent you showed, the more you were revered. That was the point of grunge, it was the antithesis to what was out at the time, i.e. bands that had guitarists who could play. Yes, maybe it had become cliche, shredding guitars that is, but that doesn’t change the fact that it takes far more talent to play what Eddie Van Halen (and all those who tried to copy him) played than it takes to play even the most difficult grunge song.

There are some guitarists who have equaled, even possibly surpassed, Eddie Van Halen in technical brilliance (some mentioned earlier in other posts) although I’d venture a guess that there isn’t a guitar song on the face of the earth that Eddie Van Halen couldn’t play. There may be some who play with more passion than Eddie, although I think he gets unfairly labeled as lacking any feeling: how about 316-an ode to his son you “Eddie doesn’t play with heart” SOB’s, I’m the One (who says happy isn’t an emotion), House of Pain (who says anger isn’t an emotion), Year to the Day (ok, fine, you want sadness and feeling, here’s a depresser), or Josephina (a child to his mother, asking to learn about her childhood)? Just because he hasn’t committed suicide doesn’t mean he doesn’t play with feeling. Anyway, back on track, there may be guitarists who surpass Eddie in every criteria of what it takes to be a great guitarist, but there has never been a guitar player who was as technically brilliant as Eddie AND could play with as much feeling as Eddie, AND influenced a generation like Eddie, AND helped invent guitar hardware like Eddie, AND...etc. In other words, Eddie is the all-around greatest rock guitar player of all time, and Eruption is his trademark song.

If this doesn’t convince you Eddie haters then...YOU SUCK. There, take that.