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Sure he is. Maybe not the fastest, the most technical, the most grounbreaking, the most diverse...but here is why Eddie Van Halen is considered a guitar God. Likeability. Plain & simple.
Take Michael Jordan. Are there any better players today? Perhaps. But none of them are likeable the way MJ was. Tattoos, gangster attitudes, selfish, all about money & contracts, cursing, bad sportsmanship, etc... No one can hold a candle to Jordan.
Eddie was a cute guy, great smile, you could put his poster up without your parents freaking out, he married a sweet girl that everyone liked & not some street slut like a Tawny Kitaen or Bobby Brown. He never got caught driving drunk, injuring or killing a friend, overdosing on drugs, buying drugs, drinking binge fights, yelling at fans, throwing things into the audience like so many of todays people do. You would feel safe if your girlfriend went backstage to meet him (not Dave though).
Then there was his playing. Unique sound. You hear it & you immediately know it's him. Popularized the tapping method. Wrote some of the best summertime riffs the world will ever hear that had a unique Americana sound to them ( I give credit to Dave here too). Not to mention his incredible tone that everyone tried to copy but couldn't quite nail it. His music could be loved by Slayer fans to Duran Duran fans and everything in between. Saying you didn't like Van Halen was like saying you didn't like hamburgers, mustangs or the American flag.
The music was about fun. Not political. Not sad about losing your girlfriend. Not about death, war, or your dog running away.
I can't explain why he had this effect, but he did. It would be like explaining why even die-hard (rather push a Chevy than drive a Ford) Chevy fans appreciate old classic Mustangs.
$0.02
Take Michael Jordan. Are there any better players today? Perhaps. But none of them are likeable the way MJ was. Tattoos, gangster attitudes, selfish, all about money & contracts, cursing, bad sportsmanship, etc... No one can hold a candle to Jordan.
Eddie was a cute guy, great smile, you could put his poster up without your parents freaking out, he married a sweet girl that everyone liked & not some street slut like a Tawny Kitaen or Bobby Brown. He never got caught driving drunk, injuring or killing a friend, overdosing on drugs, buying drugs, drinking binge fights, yelling at fans, throwing things into the audience like so many of todays people do. You would feel safe if your girlfriend went backstage to meet him (not Dave though).
Then there was his playing. Unique sound. You hear it & you immediately know it's him. Popularized the tapping method. Wrote some of the best summertime riffs the world will ever hear that had a unique Americana sound to them ( I give credit to Dave here too). Not to mention his incredible tone that everyone tried to copy but couldn't quite nail it. His music could be loved by Slayer fans to Duran Duran fans and everything in between. Saying you didn't like Van Halen was like saying you didn't like hamburgers, mustangs or the American flag.
The music was about fun. Not political. Not sad about losing your girlfriend. Not about death, war, or your dog running away.
I can't explain why he had this effect, but he did. It would be like explaining why even die-hard (rather push a Chevy than drive a Ford) Chevy fans appreciate old classic Mustangs.
$0.02
With my last dying breath, I want to be able to say I tried everything on the menu-twice DLR 2001
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