Van Halen weren’t just a band; they were the embodiment of the 1980s—loud, over-the-top, and impossible to ignore. They took the thunderous rock of the 1970s and supercharged it, making everything bigger. Not necessarily better—Eddie Van Halen himself would have admitted that their idols from the past had already set that bar high—but certainly larger than life. Riffs? Bigger. Solos? Absolutely massive. Personalities? David Lee Roth alone was enough to fill an arena.
Even the most devoted Van Halen fans can admit that there was something a little obnoxious about it all, but that was the point. It was rock music turned up to 11, drenched in excess and attitude. But the reason Van Halen never felt like a gimmick was simple: the music delivered. The songs were infectious, Roth was electric onstage, and above all, Eddie Van Halen was a game-changer on guitar.
There’s a strong argument that every guitar virtuoso since has simply been trying to catch up to the impact Eddie made with ‘Eruption.’ Even decades later, they’re still trailing behind. His playing was so ahead of its time that he kept his techniques a secret early on, famously turning his back to the crowd while performing to keep prying eyes from stealing his tricks. For Eddie, his guitar work was like a magician’s illusion—once the mystery was gone, so was the magic.
Inevitably, Eddie became larger than life, hailed as the next Jimi Hendrix almost as soon as he arrived. But he never seemed interested in the hype. In a 2020 interview with Forbes, when asked about his status as a guitar god, Eddie sidestepped the question entirely and instead launched into a discussion about how he kept his Stratocaster in tune during live shows. That speaks volumes about who he really was—while others were busy idolizing him, he was laser-focused on his craft, fine-tuning every detail.
But there was one moment when the usually reserved Eddie let his guard down.
Recalling a concert in Philadelphia where the crowd chanted his name at the end of the show, he admitted, “It brought tears to my eyes. It makes me feel kind of weird, but obviously, the man upstairs gave me something, and it touches people, and I’m just so blessed.”
By this point, the band’s bassist was none other than his son, Wolfgang Van Halen. And that’s where the heart of the band truly lay—not in the wild solos, the massive stage shows, or the larger-than-life personas, but in family. Van Halen wasn’t just about Eddie’s guitar wizardry; it was a family affair from the very beginning, with his brother Alex on drums and, eventually, his son carrying on the legacy.
For all the stadium anthems and legendary solos, Eddie Van Halen’s greatest pride wasn’t being a guitar god—it was playing alongside his family.