Topic: Somewhat Olen Related

[MUther]

My condolences on losing your idol to throat cancer.

RIP Eddie Van Halen

[elginherd]

My condolences on losing your idol to throat cancer.

RIP Eddie Van Halen

VH
-Wrote some great, GREAT stadium anthems
-Eddie's brother, Alex, an underrated great rock percussionist.
-IMO (and educated MO) overrated as a soloist. Tapping and fast fingers yes...actually saying something, no.

Dude was talented, no doubt. But EVH & VH as a band were underrated as composers & arrangers yet Eddie overrrated as a soloist.

[MUther]

VH
-Wrote some great, GREAT stadium anthems
-Eddie's brother, Alex, an underrated great rock percussionist.
-IMO (and educated MO) overrated as a soloist. Tapping and fast fingers yes...actually saying something, no.

Dude was talented, no doubt. But EVH & VH as a band were underrated as composers & arrangers yet Eddie overrrated as a soloist.

Many of their songs were covers, too.  I basically made the same argument to Olen once.  But still a loss of an icon in rock.  And fast fingers still have to know what notes to hit,

[svherd]

That’s what killed my father.
You smoke 2-3 packs a day for 40-50 years, it will catch up with you. Sadly.

[Echo 5]

VH
-Wrote some great, GREAT stadium anthems
-Eddie's brother, Alex, an underrated great rock percussionist.
-IMO (and educated MO) overrated as a soloist. Tapping and fast fingers yes...actually saying something, no.

Dude was talented, no doubt. But EVH & VH as a band were underrated as composers & arrangers yet Eddie overrrated as a soloist.

Sold out concerts and sold millions of albums for 50 years.  Over rated?  I'm curious - who makes the cut in your book?

[herd1986]

Used to see him at Trancas in Malibu.  He would play for the fun of it.  Every time, we would just look at ourselves and say: “Can you believe that’s Eddie Van Halen?”


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[elginherd]

Sold out concerts and sold millions of albums for 50 years.  Over rated?  I'm curious - who makes the cut in your book?

No doubt...but that's largely because of great anthems, great showmanship and some pretty good song writing along with the stadium anthems...and they did do some really good well-arranged covers. BUT as a soloist, Eddie did not nearly match Jeff Beck, Carlos Santana, Steve Vai, Alex Lifeson in terms of melodic development plus buildng tension & release. He was flashy & showy on guitar for sure...and that does help sell tickets.

It's like I said; The VH band was underrated as composers (IE Eddie!), Alex under appreciated as a drummer, but Eddie was overrated as a guitarist.

[The E-Man]

I'm not here to rate Eddie Van Halen. All I know is the dude was a bad ass and my ears loved hearing what Eddie played. I'll never forget Eddie talking about playing on Michael Jackson's "Beat It" song that went #1. Eddie thought it was a joke when the greatest Quincy Jones called him. Eddie hung up on Quincy 3 times, before he went to the studio to find out that Quincy really wanted him to play on Michaels song. Eddie ask Quincy, what did he want him to do, and Quincy said, do whatever you want to do. Eddie said, he went into the studio and killed that song. As it turned out, Beat It was a bad ass tune.

[biggreenarms]

Many of their songs were covers, too.  I basically made the same argument to Olen once.  But still a loss of an icon in rock.  And fast fingers still have to know what notes to hit,

The band was arena rock and yes they did a few covers. But EVH was also innovative and created his style as well as guitars and amp designs out of necessity and lack of money. Both pieces of gear went on to become popular with other professional musicians and later mass produced for the masses. If you've never seen this interview I highly recommend it. Even for someone that's not a fan it shows a person's willingness to succeed at all cost, even when he didn't even know he was being innovative by the things he tried.

https://youtu.be/yb26D8bBZB8

[Olen]

No doubt...but that's largely because of great anthems, great showmanship and some pretty good song writing along with the stadium anthems...and they did do some really good well-arranged covers. BUT as a soloist, Eddie did not nearly match Jeff Beck, Carlos Santana, Steve Vai, Alex Lifeson in terms of melodic development plus buildng tension & release. He was flashy & showy on guitar for sure...and that does help sell tickets.

It's like I said; The VH band was underrated as composers (IE Eddie!), Alex under appreciated as a drummer, but Eddie was overrated as a guitarist.

Music is very subjective.

I will share some thoughts in a few days.

[biggreenarms]

Music is very subjective.

Agreed. I hear plenty of melody in his playing. I also hate the stack ranking and comparisons of one musician to another.

[GreenBison]

Agreed. I hear plenty of melody in his playing. I also hate the stack ranking and comparisons of one musician to another.

That's the truth.

Music isn't a competition  8)

[biggreenarms]

Forgot about this one.

https://youtu.be/nP6nKTu6TGY

[Taft#1]

Music is very subjective.

It sure is , just take a look at the music thread here on the Tavern , a wide variety . I can and do listen to all types of music , only one I cant stand , thats the hip hop stuff with the bad language .Ill even admit some disco music is OK. I wasnt a huge Van Halen fan but Eddie was a very , very fine player , definitely up there pretty high on the all timer list . Personally , I think SRV is number one .