The legacy of Eddie Van Halen: the most cheerful rock legend of all time.

Yesterday, a legendary guitarist known as Eddie Van Halen left this world. Edward Lodewijk Van Halen lost his battle to cancer at the age of 65. The American-Dutch musician will be remembered as a pioneer and that’s why we want to dedicate this blog post to his legacy and the influences he left on the music industry.

EARLY YEARS

Born in Amsterdam on the 26th of January 1955, newborn Eddie Van Halen joined a musical family. His father Jan Van Halen was a saxophonist and clarinetist, playing for the Orchestra of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. The family moved to Nijmegen a few months after he was born.

DISCOVERING MUSIC

Eddie’s first hobby was playing the piano with his brother Alex. Later on, they both got bored of the piano. Eddie switched to drumming and Alex switched to playing the guitar. While Eddie was delivering newspapers to pay off his drum kit, Alex began practicing drums and soon turned out to be better than his brother. Eddie then went on to experiment with the electric guitar.

… and thank God he did!

FROM ‘MAMMOTH’ TO ‘VAN HALEN’

Later in life, Eddie developed his skills under the musical influence of Eric Clapton and Brian May. Together with his brother Alex, he founded his first band ‘Mammoth’ in 1972.

Later that year, the band attracted David Lee Roth as a singer and the name changed to Van Halen, upon recommendation of David. At first, a lot of fans thought that Van Halen was David’s last name. Only later did they find out that this was the last name of the two brothers, Eddie and Alex.

Besides his own band, he also did other work as a guitarist. For example the guitar solo in Beat It by Michael Jackson. This song became a huge hit as its solo appealed to not only R&B fans but also hard rock enthusiasts, creating a new crossover genre.

HIS INFLUENCE ON THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

Eddie Van Halen had a huge influence on the music industry. Creating his own guitar (the Frankenstrat) and having his name noted on a lot of gear. He also got famous because of his ‘brown sound’. This sound was a result of a heavy modified Marshall speaker. So it’s safe to say that Eddie has left his mark on the music industry as we know it today.