Some of Eddie Van Halen’s greatest performances

LOS ANGELES » A technical virtuoso with a rock star’s natural flair, Eddie Van Halen played instantly identifiable electric guitar so identifiable, in fact, that his namesake band spent decades cycling through styles and lead singers without ever sounding any less like itself.

Van Halen, who died Tuesday at 65, arguably made his instrument the most important voice in Van Halen, which he formed in Pasadena with his older brother, drummer Alex, along with bassist Michael Anthony and frontman David Lee Roth. (Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone later sang with the band.)

For all its instrumental dexterity though, Van Halen behaved and sold records like a fun-loving pop group; it never showcased the oftenshirtless guitarist’s chops at the expense of providing a good time. Here, in chronological order, are some of Eddie’s most memorable moments: “YOU REALLY GOT ME” (1978) » Van Halen’s first chart hit wasn’t a densely composed original but a cover of the Kinks’ stupid-brilliant powerchord classic. Yet Eddie’s squealing lead lines undeniably announced the arrival of a new kind of guitar hero. (Mikael Wood)

“AIN’T TALKIN’ ‘BOUT LOVE” (1978) » Less a love song than a creep show scored by Eddie and his guitar, the hardest jam on Van Halen’s self-titled debut focuses on a “semigood lookin’” woman with a disease and a narrating dude who offers something he thinks she needs and he ain’t talkin’ ’bout love. Centered, as usual, on Eddie’s recurrent melodic licks, the song takes flight when the rhythm section joins in. The final third is a thrillingly repetitive chorus of “Hey! Hey! Hey!” (Randall Roberts)

“JAMIE’S CRYIN” (1978) » By the tender age of 22, Eddie was serving a master class in guitar theatrics. In “Jamie’s Cryin’,” David Lee Roth’s portrait of a remorseful woman who turns down a one-night stand, Eddie teases an array of emotions across the span of six strings, ranging from weepy lament to shrugging indifference. (Suzy Exposito)

“RUNNIN’ WITH THE DEVIL” (1978) » Van Halen made its first pass at this track with Gene Simmons of KISS in the producer’s chair, but the version that ended up on its 1978 debut is one of the hookiest singles in hard rock, about a young band getting a taste of road life and its peaks and perils. It helped set a new template for glossy, explosive and pop-friendly metal that would come to dominate the early days of MTV. (August Brown)

“DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY” (1979) » Eddie’s penchant for ridiculous solo runs often eclipsed his skill at arranging a few choice riffs just so and harnessing them in service of Brill Building-structured pop songs. “Dance the Night Away” is like “Dancing in the Streets” or “The Loco-Motion” but driven by a yowler, two rhythm jocks and a guitarist good enough to hold back when he needed to. Specifically, Eddie’s solo is little more than gentle harmonic string taps, backed by bells, wood-block percussion and open space. (RR)

“AND THE CRADLE WILL ROCK” (1980) » Better known as the “Have you seen Junior’s grades?” song, the first track on the band’s “Women and Children First” album celebrates the young and disruptive. The cover of the album finds the handsome quartet posing like some eight-legged leotarded beast, with Eddie in the middle of the scrum, his arm strangling the neck of his guitar. Designed for cruising and boozing in a just-waxed Trans Am, the song’s main riff isn’t actually an electric guitar. Rather, Eddie ran a Fender Rhodes electric piano through a flanger and fed it all into a Marshall amp. (RR) “BEAT IT” (1982) » Some rockers might’ve played it cool in a guest spot with the world’s biggest pop star. Not Eddie: His solo in Michael Jackson’s chart-topping “Beat It” set to a memorable knife fight in the song’s iconic music video is among his most gloriously showy. (MW)