I did not have any particular intention to write about Eddie when I learned of his passing yesterday, but my wife told me that she wanted to read what I'd write about it, and no one can turn down that particular command performance.

[www.nationalreview.com]

It is an honor to get to write pieces like this for publication, but I am thoroughly tired of mourning my favorite musicians in print this year. Enough, at least for a while, already.

Will,

Thank you for writing this splendid piece. Enjoyed it immensely. Okay to share a link to it on Facebook to friends and family?

Robert

Thanks, nicely done. And kudos for mentioning his Asian roots, too, sometimes overlooked about his background.

A beautiful tribute. Thanks for sharing it.

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Robert M
Will,

Thank you for writing this splendid piece. Enjoyed it immensely. Okay to share a link to it on Facebook to friends and family?

Robert

By all means, and thank you.

I wanted to read it but too many damn pop up adds.

Thanks, Will. That was fantastic.

Nicely done.

I leaned last night that the iconic red and white guitar from the ‘80s was Frankenstrat 2, the first being the black and white one used in ‘78. (But then what would ‘79’s “bumblebee” iteration be?)

Something else I’d read he said was that his substance abuse occurred while writing and practicing, not performing or partying. A minor point perhaps, but it dispels the stereotype of a rocker who is “always high” or whatever.

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deckeda
Nicely done.

I leaned last night that the iconic red and white guitar from the ‘80s was Frankenstrat 2, the first being the black and white one used in ‘78.

Same guitar. Eddie added the red layer in between Van Halen's first two tours.

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deckeda
(But then what would ‘79’s “bumblebee” iteration be?)

A different guitar, built later by Eddie.

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deckeda
Something else I’d read he said was that his substance abuse occurred while writing and practicing, not performing or partying. A minor point perhaps, but it dispels the stereotype of a rocker who is “always high” or whatever.

Sadly, I don't think that's accurate. Eddie's dad gave him a shot of vodka to steady his nerves before a piano performance when Eddie was just 13, and he carried on from there. By his own description, he was drunk virtually every time he went on stage until he was in his 40's (and very often after that). People who worked with Van Halen in the 70's and 80's all remarked that Eddie was never far away from a bottle of Heineken, or, even more unfortunately, a cigarette.

Will, thank you for the link. I learned a little from it.

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Schpark
I wanted to read it but too many damn pop up adds.

Firefox and uBlock Origin kept it to only internal links for me.

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In tha 360. MRF User Map

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Will Collier
Sadly, I don't think that's accurate. Eddie's dad gave him a shot of vodka to steady his nerves before a piano performance when Eddie was just 13, and he carried on from there.

In the 1995 Rolling Stone interview I read last night, Eddie stated that his dad gave him the vodka shot to reduce the pain after Eddie had been bitten by a dog. I guess it should come as no surprise that an alcoholic would prescribe alcohol as a pain killer:

Van Halen have always been associated with the hedonistic rock lifestyle. What was your particular drug of choice?
Between 1980 and 1984 I did a lot of blow. And drinking. I didn’t stop until about five months ago. I always got hammered to be able to cope. I have zero social skills, and I don’t know how to act, so I get drunk. And then I make a real ass out of myself.

Did you start young?
When I was, like, 12 or 13, Alex, my dad and I were out in Covina [Calif.], and a German shepherd jumped through the screen door and bit me. It hurt like a @#$%&. So my dad said, “Have a shot of vodka, Ed. This will make you feel better.” And he gave me a Pall Mall to smoke. I started drinking and smoking all in one day, right then and there.

[www.rollingstone.com]

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It is what it is.

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Schpark
I wanted to read it but too many damn pop up adds.

You gotta read it someway. Will did a fantastic job.

Excellent piece!

I was never really a fan of EVH. At that particular moment, I was rather pompous in my tastes. I liked the prog-rock of the previous few years. It took YEARS to appreciate Tom Petty's simple sound, but I never really came back to VH's sound. It just didn't do it for me. That said...

This is an excellent paragraph and really captures the moment VH broke onto the scene perfectly.

"Start with the sound. Van Halen’s distinctive tone cut through the sludge of 1970s proto-Metal and British studio excess like a thunderbolt. At once clean and distorted, the clarity and power of his parts was like nothing anyone had heard before. Jimi Hendrix didn’t sound like that. Jimmy Page didn’t sound like that. Certainly Eric Clapton never sounded like that. This was something new."

The @#$%& NATIONAL REVIEW!! wow... great job Will... really.

Very nice article, I enjoyed reading it. Thank you!

great read Will. Great player for sure, but it was his constant smile that killed it.

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!#$@@$#!

If there are spelling issues, please pardon, Owen the cat is sitting on my keyboard.

That was a very good read Will, thank you for posting.

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Mr. Lahey: A lot of people, don’t know how to drink. They drink against the grain of the liquor. And when you drink against the grain of the liquor? You lose.

Randy: What the @#$%& are you talking about?

Wonderful article, I really enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing!

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JoeM

Thank you Will.

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San Antonio, TX (in the old city)


"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Eli Weisel

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

"I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it." - Billy Graham 1981

"Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise" - Barry Goldwater

You're a great writer, Will, I had no idea. Thanks for sharing that article. I have some incredible memories of his music, circa 80 and '81. RIP

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Mac mini (M1 2020, 16G) • Big Sur 11.x • Dual 25" Acer 1440p LCDs • 11" i5 MacBook Air •

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Fritz
great read Will. Great player for sure, but it was his constant smile that killed it.

Yeah for me that can’t be overstated. I probably never heard him speak but he just comes across in photos as a nice guy who happens to make being a virtuoso in a megaband named after him look easy, not @#$%&-ish.

Many thanks for all the kind words, everyone.

What a great piece. Thanks for sharing this, Will.

Nice piece, thanks for sharing!