18 FEATURE guitarist Angeles-based critic Mag Candy Rock from fans andmusiciansalike only serveswhataunique guitartalenthewas. toconfirm Eddie Van Halen our in-houseshredder Great Maninactionback inthe’70s,andatechnical explanationofEddie’sabilitiesfrom us inon‘Diver Down’, whichwas imminent. Butitwas Monk, theband’s manager at thetime, andNoelfilled too –about concert promotion. Hebrought inNoel were always around. playing thiskindofmusic? Itperked upmy ears.Sothey like anybody unless they were obscure. Andsomeone were testifying how great Eddie was, andthey didn’t washed over me. Ididn’tgetit. Halen’s guitar, itwas soloudandIwas soclosethat itall even thoughwe were inatheatre. Asfor Eddie Van cartoon that was playing to thebackrow ofthearena of theexecrable BlackOakArkansas. Alarger-than-life David Lee Roth resembled noone somuchasJimDandy Santa MonicaCivicbefore thefirst albumcameout. headliners. Isaw themopeningfor NilsLofgren at the As in,itdidn’talways fit. Van Halen were born to be AND IT gonna pass. Tinseltown did.Onewondered iftheirmomentwas land. Everybody inLAknew them,butno oneoutside The Devil’. Butstill, Van Halenwas stuck inno-man’s We knew becausewe heard itonKROQ.‘Runnin’With broke outofit. to hangwithlike-minded people. Itwas aniche, andfew Roxy. You went to theStarwood andGazzarri’s to rock, it. The stars played theWhisky, theTroubadour, the just thoseon theway uporthosewhowould never make the Starwood orGazzarri’s, whichnever featured stars, here. Andyou could seethemallthetime. At clubslike up roots andmoved to Hollywood. Van Halenstarted bands fermented intheirlocalburbandultimately pulled AND THEN attention, you’re onamission. virtuoso. When nooneiswatching, nooneispaying Van Halenisn’t.Hepaidhisdues.You’ve gotto bea favourite Van Halensong.Itsoundssoalive, butEddie AND THECRADLEWILL I took aclass withJimRissmiller – he’s gonenow Until ‘Van Halen II’.When theclerks at Rhino Records So GeneSimmonsdecidedto pony upfor ademo. REMEMBERING was n they started knockingaround town. Most Steve Vai ot anactthat played nicely withothers. EDDIE VAN HALEN1955–2020 pays tributetoEVHwitha heartfelt opinionpiecefromrespectedLos passedon6Octoberattheage of65,andtheoutpouringemotion , nolongerrock. That’s my Rock Candy Rock Bob Lefsetz Oliver Fowler boss , a personal appreciation of Eddie’s craft by legendary bylegendary , apersonalappreciationofEddie’scraft … Derek Oliver

AND DAVID ‘1984’ that broke thebandwide, Imeanto everybody. subtle, twisting andturningalongtheway. wasn’t pure balls-to-the-wall, itmixed in-your-face with loud to understated. Itingle asIlisten rightnow. This Of BothWorlds’. Itwas theriff andthedynamics.From with Dave. Butmy favourite opensthesecond side, ‘Best most played cut,is‘Dreams’, whichcould never bedone out. Andit’s very good.At thispointitsmost famous, get enoughofit,you played itover andover again. different, you didn’tquite getit.Butthen you couldn’t the onethat cameoutinadvance. Andat first it was Van Hagarcameoutwith‘5150’. wounds. Andthentwo years later, thenewly configured the Van Halenbrothers andMichaelAnthony licked their AND DAVE could addnew sounds,hewanted to grow. Eddie astar onguitar, hemastered thekeys too. He was oneofthealbum’s breakthroughs. Notonlywas Eddie hadto gethishipsreplaced. stood still. Van Halenjumpedaround to thepointwhere television service, didperformance videoswhere they classic rockers, thosewith careers before themusic But somehow they trulybridgedthegap. Most ofthe left theairwaves. over andover that springandsummer, longafter ithad ‘Jump’ was inthejukebox at theRainbow, itwas played January whatsoever. Anditdominated theairwaves. Day, whenat thetimenooneputoutany musicin pipes, butlookat thevenues playing Hagar’s now. testimony to Van Halen’s skills.Sammy Hagarhasthe succeed at thesamelevel withanew leadsinger. That’s Van Halenwas oneofthevery few bandsthat could continue withanew leadsinger, butnotwithoutEddie. was always Eddie Van Halen,always. Van Halencould It was still the vinyl era. IboughttheLPday itcame The hitwas ‘Why Can’tThis BeLove’. The work track, Actually, my favourite track on‘1984’is‘I’llWait’. That And ofcourse Van Halenwas supercharged by MTV. But backto ‘1984’.Itwas released onNew Year’s ’s insightfulrecollectionsofseeingThe went onto singabout‘California Girls’as Lee Roth thoughthewas theact,butit

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