The majority of heavy metal guitarists still perform inside the walls that Tony Iommi constructed. Even though his path to rock god status may not have been the smoothest, he could make the blues scale sound incredibly insane during Black Sabbath performances that cemented his place as the greatest riff lord of all time. Iommi claimed that Eddie Van Halen was the first newcomer on the scene that he noticed, while everyone else was attempting to emulate what he was doing in the early days of metal.
However, there isn’t much of an overlap when you listen to Van Halen and Sabbath consecutively. Yes, there are the odd similar-sounding riffs here and there, but was anyone going to mistake the purported Satanic metal band for the group that was all about throwing a round-the-clock party whenever they started performing?
Van Halen had always been a different breed entirely. Sabbath was coming out of a bad place when they came back in 1978. The band’s friendship had completely vanished. Recording albums like Technical Ecstasy felt more like forcing them into the same room than creating a record that was a true expression of their individuality.
However, Iommi found himself shocked by Eddie’s skill on the fretboard when they went on the road. Van Halen opened their shows, revealing Eddie’s impressive talent firsthand. Half the time, Eddie’s right-hand tapping on the fretboard sounded as if an alien had arrived from space. This was in contrast to the other guitar heroes who relied on the blues in their playing.
When Iommi heard songs like “Eruption” for the first time, he was enchanted by Eddie just like everyone else. He told SPIN, “They came on their first World Tour with Sabbath.” They were all eager to go and itching. I thought he was great. The way he played was unlike anything I had ever heard, and I thought, “Wow, this is really different.” They spent, I believe, eight months out with us while we got to know one another.
Even though they quickly became friends, Iommi noticed when their Sabbath worship became a bit too ostentatious. Iommi felt that Eddie sometimes used more of Sabbath’s riffs than he realized during their performances. This was especially true when Eddie began using the same licks in his albums. Such as the instrumental break that occurs in the middle of Women and Children First.
However, Eddie wasn’t exactly trying to replicate Sabbath songs exactly. When a song like “Panama” or “Dreams” came on the radio, it was obviously going to be something different than Ozzy singing doomsday hymns. After all, with Sammy Hagar or David Lee Roth front and center, it would always be a whole different band.
Eddie remained close to Iommi for the remainder of his life. Perhaps it was because they shared a passion for bluesy rock and roll, or perhaps because they could relate to each other’s extreme lunacy when it came to their respective singers. Eddie and Iommi appeared more like old friends than rivals in a scene where guitarists typically strive to outdo each other.
