RIP EVH

I feel a bit guilty. I've been around long enough to witness the passing of many musicians that informed, influenced, and infected my musical tastes. Some were purely nostalgic losses (like Johnny Nash who died yesterday), others were mourned for their contributions though they weren't among the artists who I strongly connected with (John Prine's passing earlier this year is an example). And then there are the ones that really hurt. 

They're the ones that silence a voice or an instrument that was formative in my life. Sure, nostalgia plays a part as does self-reflection on one's mortality, but some just hit me in the gut as if I lost a family member. Neil Peart's passing this year was rough. I'm not a drummer, but it's my favorite instrument. I spent a chunk of my teen years kneeling next to my bed, beating along to songs on it with a used pair of Zildjian drumsticks gifted to me by a friend of the family, futilely trying to deduce the rhythmic patterns of masters like John Bonham, Lars Ulrich, and the aforementioned drum lord, Mr. Peart. But I digress. 

Hearing yesterday that Eddie Van Halen passed away after a long battle with cancer sucked, but it didn't temporarily stop me in my tracks and crush my soul like when Chris Cornell, Prince, and George Michael died in recent years. Maybe I expected that the news of EVH's passing would come sooner than later given Eddie had been fighting health battles for at least the past 20 years. I don't know. It's a monumental loss. It sucks. I loved Van Halen growing up and into my 20s. Eruption / You Really Got Me, Jamie's Crying, and Dance the Night Away were the first VH songs I can remember hearing as a grade-schooler. I didn't have a wealth of knowledge on the history of the guitar, its masters, or the pivotal songs that highlighted the six-string machine at my disposal back then, but I knew Eddie's guitar sounds were different than anything I'd heard before. And they continued to be with each album that Van Halen released through the 80s, either with David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar at the mic.

Knowing and respecting what Eddie Van Halen brought to rock music and how he elevated the guitar like few others did; setting millions of kids' dreams of being a rock star in motion, it seems I should feel much more emotionally impacted than I do. So yeah, I feel a bit guilty. Eddie will be mentioned in the same breath as the guitar gods and game-changers for the rest of time. Clapton, Page, Hendrix, Lifeson, BB, Buddy, Stevie Ray Vaughan...the Van Halen name belongs in this elite company without question. 

I do a little thing on Spotify called Ten For The Win (aka 10FTW) where I create a playlist of my 10 favorite tracks by a specific singer or band. When the mood hits, I can fire up the appropriate 10FTW playlist (I've got over 300 of these...I know 😂) and have a concentrated blast of the songs I love the most by its respective artist. Some are easier than others to narrow down to just 10 tunes. Van Halen, when I did theirs years ago, was so difficult that I broke them out into separate playlists for the Diamond Dave and Van Hagar eras. As I've listened to both playlists the last 24 hours, I'm certain that Ed's axe-handling was the common denominator that made me keep coming back for more. Siden note, it's also my favorite part of Michael Jackson's Beat It. 

RIP Eddie Van Halen. Thank you for permanently and significantly changing the game and taking the guitar to a level that many others will try to reach in vain.