Monday, October 12, 2020

You Really Got Me

 Van Halen, Live at the US Festival, 1983

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Somehow I missed that Eddie died. IMHO he was a master of guitar gimmickry (or how to make a hot solo without really trying). But the sound was what mattered and he dominated the moment.

If you were a guitar player auditioning circa 1980 the first question was ALWAYS: "how's your Van Halen?"

RIP.

Pastorius said...

Sounds like you feel the same way about him that I do.

He was good, but he was not a great.

He grooved. That was good.

He had his own sound.

He exuded joy in his playing.

Those are good things.

But his music was frivolous, and he never really built anything in his solos, or played melodically in his solos, or gave a sense of rootedness in his solos.

HIs riffs were good, not great.

I won't think about him a whole lot.

But he did define a moment in rock history, and he deserves to be respected for that.

I think Vivian Campbell was a much better heavy metal guitar player.