Eddie Van Halen is Gone

 At work today I checked a website that I've been known to frequently visit, and I learned of the passing of guitarist Eddie Van Halen.  It hit me like something of a sucker punch because I had no idea he was on his way out.  I knew that he had part of his tongue removed for cancer, and that was some years back, but not being a Van Halen fan I wasn't really keeping up what was going on with him or his bandmates.

Yes, I am very familiar with Van Halen.  They broke in early 1978 and they broke big.  One memory is driving up to Mt Hamilton in San Jose with Hal and KOME played "Jamie's Crying".  I didn't know at the time it was Van Halen and I heard from both Mark and Hal about this new killer song called "Runnin' With the Devil" by Van Halen, and I thought OK, there's this guy with the first name Van and the last name Halen who is breaking national.  I figured out soon it was a band named Van Halen after the two brothers who were in it.

There is no doubt that if you're going to sit down and compile a list of great guitarists, you're going to have to put Eddie Van Halen on that list.  The man no doubt had a talent that wasn't readily resident in most other guitarists.  He had his own style.  That's the mark of a great guitarist.  

I stated more than once, in another forum where Van Halen came up for discussion, that Eddie Van Halen was simultaneously their greatest asset and their greatest liability.  He was an integral part of the soap opera that came with that band.  I'm referring, of course, to his working relationship with David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar, and Michael Anthony.  One manager of another well-known rock group once stated that success changes bands.  They (the members) start fighting.  And it all goes downhill from there.

All of that said, I can't describe myself as a Van Halen fan.  I never saw them.  I liked some of their songs.  I didn't like some of their other songs.  I got a kick out of "Take Your Whiskey Home" and I thought their cover of "You're No Good" was the best ever done of that song.

Eddie Van Halen played hard.  Eddie Van Halen partied hard.  And Eddie Van Halen died hard.

The shame in all of this is that he didn't (to my knowledge) patch things up with Diamond Dave, Michael Anthony, and the Red Rocker.