Atomic Punk
What more can be said at this time about the life and
influence of the recently departed Edward Van Halen? All Krude knows
is that one of the most talented musicians of ALL TIME is no longer with us.
This fact is really hard to fathom. Here is my personal take on Mr. EVH. My fan
boyism started way back in 1980. Shit, I'm old. But my memory hasn't faded a
bit. Lucky youse
Hearing the Van Halen tune And The Cradle Will
Rock on FM radio back in 1980 was a musical turning point to young Krude.
That song defined Heavy. Most hard rock in 1980 wasn't nearly as hard as
early VH. Motorhead wasn't known in US. Judas Priest was heavy
but went a bit poppy with the hits on British Steel. And most the huge
heavy bands of the 80's weren't even a thing yet. VH was THE band. With the
best guitarist and most entertaining frontman.
When speaking of VH music it is difficult not to mention how
musical it all is. Riffs with melodies. Driving drum beats. Perfect background
vocals. And lyrics not of the norm. EVH was the architect and pilot to the
whole VH thing. David Lee Roth was the icing on the very rich cake. The
perfect rock band. And they sure knew how to throw a great party- for
15,000 or so of their closest friends every night on tour.
I had posters of VH all over my bedroom walls. When I first
started playing guitar, I had to try finger tapping on the guitar neck (like
EVH made famous). I had all of the VH albums on vinyl. But the only thing I
didn't have was a ticket stub to one of their shows. Either I was too young (by
my parents standards). Or their shows were sold out to the point where only
scalpers had tickets to sell. Bummer. I did get to see VH in 1988 with Sammy
Hagar on vocals. But by then,VH became kinda lame. The music was still
great. It was the fun that was missing.
Getting to see VH in 2008 do a reunion of sorts with their
past glories was pure nostalgic bliss. EVH was in top form playing songs that
were 30 years old at that point. The show itself was a bit disappointing due to
bassist Michael Anthony not being there. EVH's son Wolfgang played
bass and brother Alex Van Halen was on drums,as usual. All songs played
were 1978-1984 DLR era numbers. So the evening was a good one. Just missing the
huge party atmosphere. We all get older...
When the younger generations than my Gen X crowd get
around to determine their musical heroes,I doubt they include EVH. That is
understandable. We all grow up in different eras. But I haven't seen or heard
any musician from the past 40 years that even comes close to the peripheral awesomeness
of EVH. Yes. He was that special
I heard rumors of EVH's poor health last year. I didn't want to believe those rumors. Cancer sucks. RIP EVH. YOU WERE THE BEST
Bottoms Up!
KK
@kapn_krude