RIP Eddie

[DeluxAuto]

https://i.imgur.com/n4r3bni.jpg?1

Eddie and DLR before they got big.

https://i.imgur.com/2PAaChd.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/xcuyJmk.png?1

 

[Aglaopheme]

As a guitarist who butchered many of his riffs and licks as a kid, I am saddened to hear this.

The timing is just kinda spooky weird because just a few hours ago my daughter and I were talking about Eddie Van Halen, kinda because of a post you made earlier.

You linked a Chris Cornell album in a post, which I clicked on and had playing. He does a cover of Jackson’s Billie Jean, which my daughter heard and came into my office to listen to, which prompted a discussion of Jackson’s other music. I told her the story of the guitar solo in Beat It, and what happened at Eddie’s house, when recording it.

Weird shit. Haven’t thought or talked about the guy in years, then my daughter and I have a brief conversation about him, and news of his death breaks a few hours later.

Look up the story of Eddie getting his gear back from Fred Durst if you want a good laugh. Rock star craziness at its best.

I looked up both stories. As much as I can be the Cliff Clavin of music trivia no one cares about, I don’t think I had heard either story.

If I were going to pull a couple of tracks for sharing off that Cornell album, Billie Jean would be one for sure. I am a sucker for a well done and unexpected cover. Chris Cornell has done several.

It's a weird concidence, I've only recently begun to learn a few of his licks. The rhythm bits, not the leads. And as I started to deconstruct his playing more and more I came to realize that the essence of his thing was way more unique than I thought at first.

There are some musicians that -especially as a musician- you can listen to and know what they're doing. Then there are those whom you hear and you don't know how they do what they do, and... this is a gift to a practiced ear, because you get to enjoy the purity of the thing rather than hearing the sum of its parts.

EVH was so far afield of the latter camp that I never even tried. I shouldn't have waited so long. He reinterpreted the instrument, much like Hendrix did. And he truly inspired a legion of guitarists, but none of them had that surprisingly simple originality. Rest in peace, baby. Nobody swings like the King.

I had a little trip down memory lane that lead me to reading up on Paul Gilbert’s top ranked guitarists.

https://www.musicradar.com/news/paul-gilbert-these-are-the-10-guitarists-who-blew-my-mind


He my husband’s friend. I went back to read what had been written about who played their guitar with a drill first. It seemed a much more contentious point at the time.

 

[OldJourno]

Bought the first album the week it came out.
Climbing up and down the frets on Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love was perfect. Almost blew out my amp cranking it up.
Probably one of the reasons my hearing is not so great today.

 

[Not Normal]

I'm still thinking a lot of Eddie and what a loss this is. Rock guitar was totally changed by Eddie Van Halen.