THE INFLUENCER
Eddie Van Halen took inspiration from Clapton and Page and in turn influenced generations of guitarists. TG charts the timeline...
1966
Eric Clapton
The young EVH used to slow down Cream albums on his record player to figure out Clapton’s solos note-for-note.
1984
The Early 80s LA Scene
Every guitarist in Hollywood wanted to be Eddie. Dokken’s George Lynch and
Ratt’s Warren Demartini did it best.
1985 Bay Area Thrashers
Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax and Testament all recognised Van Halen as the benchmark, and stole a whole pile of licks.
1969
Jimmy Page
Seeing Page reach behind his fretting hand to bend strings on Heartbreaker gave Eddie the idea to try tapping.
1982
Allan
Holdsworth
Van Halen called this Bradfordborn genius ‘the best’. His alien legato inspired Eddie’s stretchiest licks, like Ice Creamman and Beatit.
1986
Steve Vai
Employed by the solo David Lee Roth as the heir to Eddie, Vai elevated the virtuosity and whammy abuse...
1987 Jennifer Batten
Michael Jackson recruited Batten because she could do justice to Beatit. She took Eddie’s technique further, developing eight-finger tapping.
1978 Van Halen’s debut
For rock guitarists, nothing would ever be the same again.
1987
Joe Satriani
Satch took Eddie’s fluid hammer-ons and made a whole vocabulary. Almost the entire shred genre can be traced to
Eruption and Satchboogie.
1988
The Hair Metallers
Winger’s Reb Beach and White Lion’s Vito Bratta saturated MTV with the EVH combination of
tapping and melody.
1994
Weezer
Long before Vanweezer’s announcement, Weezer toted Vh-style wings on their logo and appeared on magazine covers with
Frankenstrats.
1990
Nuno Bettencourt
The Extreme guitarist’s entire style is somehow original, yet unmistakeably descended from Van Halen, as Nuno will happily admit.
1992
Dimebag Darrell
Dime’s wide stretches were straight from EVH’S songbook. He was buried with the bumblebee
guitar from Vanhalenii.
1995 The Smashing Pumpkins
Even in the 90s, when everything 80s was verboten, Billy Corgan was quick to praise
Van Halen’s influence and importance.
2009
Djent
Tosin Abasi wrote an actual
essay on the greatness of EVH – and he might not even
be djent’s biggest VH fan.
2009
Steel Panther
Satchel started as a VH tribute and never really stopped. Proved there was still a market for Roth’s
‘big riffs + jokes’ formula.
2020 Jack White
The Van Halen influence isn’t always obvious, but Jack appeared on Saturdaynightlive tapping on
a Wolfgang in memory of Eddie.
1991
Jerry Cantrell
After Alice in Chains supported Van Halen, Cantrell and Eddie became friends. Jerry was the second highest profile 5150 user.
2003 The Noughties Shred Revival
Dragonforce, Trivium, and Avenged Sevenfold raided EVH’S lick stash – and amp warehouse – to bring back high-octane guitar solos.
2008
Dillinger Escape Plan
Covering Hotforteacher on tour in 2008, Dillinger showed their respect for another band that changed heavy music.
2021
Yvette Young
Along with Ichika Nito, the Covet guitarist is taking EVH’S tapping techniques into a new decade and a new sonic universe.
“Every guitarist in hollywood
wanted to be eddie...”