![]() There’s a spectral guitar breakdown on the bridge too just in case, though.ġ1. By the time the group gets to the parent-baiting titular refrain - replete with Roth’s possessed minister babbling and screeching on top - their immortality was already ensured. ![]() “Runnin’ With the Devil” ( Van Halen, 1978)Ī pretty good way to start a career in rock: A screaming horn sound crescendoing and then disappearing into a foreboding bass-and-hi-hat thump, laying the runway for one of the most life-affirming guitar riffs of the ’70s to take flight. Sammy was more amenable, and though his gushing lyric here isn’t exactly William Blake, he only really needs three words to get the point across.ġ2. “Feels So Good” was one of his finest explorations, an arpeggiated throb underlining a sublime organ-patched hook - the kind of sonic approximation of internal ooey-gooeyness that Dave probably never would’ve let ’em get away with. Synths obviously became a much more integral part of the Van Halen experience during its Sammy Hagar era, and Eddie was as open to expanding his craft on 88 keys as he was on six strings. While the song is primarily driven by the latter’s stutter-stepping riff and the former’s sweet-sassafrassin‘ nonsense, special shoutout to the great Michael Anthony, whose bass bubbling provides the song its buoyancy, and whose shimmering backing vocals ultimately leave the song’s most indelible impression. Let it never be said that VH couldn’t boogie: “Beautiful Girls” puts some funk in its strut with Roth and EVH’s finest Toxic Twins approximation. Tone-Loc would sample the lick for his massively popular “Wild Thing” a decade later whether the irony of it being repurposed for an unabashedly pro-sex anthem was noticed by anyone remains unclear.ġ4. Frontman David Lee Roth’s “he made her feel sooooo saaaaad…” schmaltzing at least feigns sympathy, but Eddie’s guitar is all sneering, taunting malice - likely for the best, as VH was always more convincing as charismatic heels anyway. 6), we’re taking a look back at Eddie’s 15 best - songs that still sound like they’re setting fire to whatever soundsystem they’re being played on, and make you feel the phantom callouses on your fingers with every blistering scrape across the strings.Ī third-person tale that only Van Halen would think was a good idea for them to tell, of a girl refusing to go all the way and suffering tear-inducing heartbreak as a result. With the sad news of his death at 65 rocking the music world this Tuesday (Oct. There’s a reason you only got two tracks into the first Van Halen LP before hitting a solo guitar showcase: This was Eddie’s band, first and foremost, and that on its own was plenty to take over the world with. Eddie Van Halen, Rock Legend & Guitar Hero, Dies at 65īoosted by the similarly masterful stickwork of drummer brother Alex, Eddie gave VH an immeasurable advantage over every other L.A.-based, crossover-ready hard rock band of the ’70s and ’80s - and there were so very many - from the moment his two-finger tapping first roared out of the speakers.
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