Eddie Van Halen

The man who changed guitar playing forever

Eventually, all of our heroes will die. And so it is, on the 6th of October 2020, the most important guitarist of the last 40 years has passed. He was 65 years old.

The news was broken on Facebook by his son, Wolf Van Halen.

I welled up and cried when I read that. Some people are so special they seem immortal, and Eddie was one of those people.

You don’t have to be a fan of Eddie Van Halen to appreciate the magnitude of his contribution to the arts. All you have to do is listen to the band’s debut album. The self-titled 1978 release blew every other guitarist out of the water. Edward Lodewijk Van Halen’s sonic landscapes, his incredible fluency, mind-bending speed, unforgettable riffs, and catalogue of entirely alien sounds had jaws hanging around the globe. Nobody could figure out how he did it, and everybody wanted to. When playing live shows, Eddie often performed with his back to the audience, just to keep his secrets. He hadn't just taken what had gone before and reinterpreted it, he had created something entirely new, something previously unimaginable.