Five of Eddie Van Halen's greatest guitar tracks - Sydney Morning Herald

If the likes of Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page were the guitar gods who came before him, then Eddie Van Halen was the young upstart who crashed the rock 'n' roll party in the mid '70s and simply refused to leave.

Along with his Van Halen bandmates – brother Alex on drums, singer and fellow showman David Lee Roth and bass player Michael Anthony – Eddie Van Halen announced himself to the world with the band's self-titled debut album in 1978.

Eddie Van Halen (front) in a scene from the 2005 documentary film Metal: A Headbanger's Journey.

At a time when the pursuit of rock 'n' roll stardom was taking itself a bit too seriously and disco was dominating the charts, Eddie Van Halen came along, grinning from ear to ear and ripping out guitar solos like he was having the time of his life. From a young age he studied classical piano, and the double-handed tapping style he used on the neck of his guitar often looked like he was playing piano. More importantly, it added to his global appeal as a fearless innovator, a genuine party starter and guitar player who thrived in the spotlight.

After his death on Tuesday at the age of 65, it's time for a look at five of Eddie Van Halen's greatest guitar moments.

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Panama

A couple of years before original singer 'Diamond' David Lee Roth was replaced, Van Halen released their chart-topping album 1984. It was six years after their self-titled debut album and the band was simply on fire. 1984 contained the song Hot for Teacher with its instantly recognisable drum and guitar intro, each seemingly vying for the greatest attention, plus a film clip that was classic Van Halen. However it was Panama, with Eddie's riffing, that stood out for its sheer bombast, distilling all his years of practice, the countless gigs and endless good times into one mighty song.

Jump

There was another track on 1984 that made a few waves, too. Jump was the first single from the album, released in late 1983, and it featured one of Eddie's signature guitar solos. The song is a little unusual for Van Halen, in the sense it's built largely around a hugely distinctive keyboard sound, but Eddie put his stamp on the song. About halfway through he bursts into a solo that is unmistakably him. The video clip – let's not forget this is exactly when MTV was exploding – is pure showmanship with Eddie grinning the whole time and making complex guitar solos look like the easiest thing in the world.

Eruption

Eruption is the second track, an instrumental, on the band's self-titled debut album from 1978. Let's think about that for a moment. Van Halen has been blasting across stages for about five years by this point, so they know they're good. They know how to put on a show. However, this is their first album and after opening with the comparatively sedate Runnin' with the Devil, Eddie throws caution to the wind on Eruption. "I like the way Eruption sounds. I'd never heard a guitar sound like that before, like some classical instrument," he told Guitar World magazine in 1996. "Back then, bands like Fleetwood Mac and Boston were spending something like three years on album [sic], so you can just imagine the cost. Eruption, like most of the other songs on the first album, was performed pretty much live." It's a statement of intent as much as anything and there's no mistaking Eddie Van Halen's talent at this early moment in the band's career.

Why Can't This Be Love

After the shock of parting ways with David Lee Roth and installing Sammy Hagar as the band's new singer, Van Halen delivered one of their most successful albums with 5150 in 1986. Eddie Van Halen told Guitar World magazine, in the same 1996 interview, that Why Can't This Be Love "sounds so elaborate because of the instrumentation" and says the song is "more pop-popular, but I don't see what's wrong with that. I would love to have written a Christmas carol." The song reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and helped propel 5150 to top spot on the albums chart. "I think people were afraid that Van Halen would start sounding like one of Sammy's solo albums," Eddie said. "But I knew it wouldn't happen because I'd be writing the music."

Poundcake

Why be restricted to just six strings on an electric guitar when you can play 12, or more? Poundcake, from the 1991 album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, has Eddie blasting away on a couple of 12-string electric guitars, along with his usual six-string attack. It's undoubtedly one of his more complex studio creations but when you've got that much technology at your disposal and the swagger to carry it off, why not have some fun? It's classic Eddie Van Halen and why he will be remembered as a genius in the studio, a shooting star on stage and one of rock 'n' roll's truly great guitar slingers.

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2020-10-07 00:59:00Z
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