17 replies to this topic

[AllseeingEye]

Not local obviously but "wow" Eddie passes from cancer. Age 65. Sad -

 

https://www.cnn.com/...dead/index.html

[Wayne]

Sad news.  An incredible guitarist. 

 

First diagnosed in 2000 with Mouth Cancer.

[Victoria Watcher]

It was the summer of 1982 and Eddie Van Halen was chilling at home in L.A. The phone rang and Eddie asked, “Who is it?” The voice on the other end replied, “It’s Quincy!” Eddie asks, “Quincy who?!” And the guy says, “Quincy Jones!” Eddie instantly screams, “**** off!” and hangs up the phone. This happened four times before Eddie Van Halen realized it wasn’t a prank call, and it was indeed Quincy Jones calling him.

 

Quincy was reaching out because he was in the middle of producing a brand new album by Michael Jackson which he knew was going to be big. He explained to Eddie how the album — which still had no working title — was going to “save the recording industry” (which was tanking at the time), and he wanted the guitar legend to do a solo on one of the tracks called “Beat It”. Jones wanted to include a rock song on the album in the vein of the Knack’s “My Sharona”, and although Jackson had never previously been interested in rock, Jackson later said, “I wanted to write a song, the type of song that I would buy if I were to buy a rock song … That is how I approached it and I wanted the children to really enjoy it — the school children as well as the college students.” Jermaine Jackson has suggested the inspirational seeds for “Beat It” and its accompanying video came from the Jackson family experiencing gang activity in Gary, Indiana. “From our front window, we witnessed, about three bad rumbles between rival gangs.”

 

Eddie was initially reluctant to do the solo work on the track because he had a deal with his bandmates that they would never do any side gigs or solo projects. In the end, the lure of one of music’s most prolific producers proved too big to resist. Because his bandmates were out of town, Eddie made the decision to go ahead and do it on the down-low. He told Quincy he would agree to do the solo on three conditions: 1) he would never be credited for the work because he didn’t want other members of Van Halen to find out about it, 2) he didn’t need to be paid because it was just a favor so all he wanted was a case of beer in return, 3) Eddie also asked for Michael to “teach him how to dance someday.”

 

https://www.feelguid...cksons-beat-it/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 06 October 2020 - 02:04 PM.

[AllseeingEye]

Hard to believe the first point since anyone with even a passing familiarity with rock music/lead guitarists of the time would instantly recognize that signature riff in "Beat It".

[Spy Black]

Eddie was a true innovator on the guitar.

For me, it's Jeff Beck that's always going to be the "best of the best" ... but Eddie is right up there with Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Gary Moore and a very few others.

 

As a fan of Eddies from the beginning (of their wide fame), I consider this interview to be the most insightful as to Eddies real personality. It gets a bit technical in places, as Eddie attempts to describe how he gets his "Brown Sound" ... but the real Eddie Van Halen shines through in this interview, and does so from start to finish.

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=yb26D8bBZB8

[AllseeingEye]

Was always more of a Robert Fripp and John Frusciante fan, but Eddie certainly had his signature sound which was instantly recognizable the world over. I knew he'd had cancer for several years but didn't realize he was originally diagnosed in 2000. Very sad. Hope he passed peacefully.

[catfluff]

One time while in Spokane for Monsters of Rock, I got to meet Eddie in an elevator at the Sheraton. It was a brief, exciting and awkward meeting. I was star struck and could only mumble a few words. I remember how big his hands were compared to mine after we shook hands. That was about all the contact that could be had considering his bodyguard with him.

 

Good show: Kingdom Come, Dokken, Metallica, Scorpions and Van Halen.

[Rob Randall]

1980:

 

[Victoria Watcher]

^ THOSE TAPE PUCHASES TODAY:

 

 

 

Van Halen 1 sells 10 million albums with tracks including Running with The Devil, You Really Got Me, Jamie's Cryin' and Ain't Talking About Love.

 

Van Halen 2 has Dance the Night Away.

 

Women and Children First had And The Cradle Will Rock and Everbody Wants Some.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 07 October 2020 - 05:27 AM.

[Rob Randall]

Satriani, Vai, there's a lot of amazing guys that can make the guitar wail and moan and can play a thousand notes a minute. But does anyone besides guitar nerds actually buy their albums? Eddie and the boys could craft riffs into classic songs you can actually listen to over and over again. Is there greater driving pleasure than hearing "Panama" or "Running With The Devil" on the car stereo?

[Rob Randall]

I found this article about the famous Pueblo show which took place just 11 days after the Victoria Memorial Arena show.

 

https://www.chieftai...STYLE/303289939

 

The gym floor was damaged from the weight of the stage, triggering the famous "No Brown M&Ms" rider and the subsequent rock star mayhem. But the accounts of the local crew call into question Dave's insistence that the M&M rule was to identify potentially life-threatening technical issues being overlooked as the crew skims the contract.

 

“I remember specifically looking at that rider and going, ‘What’s up with the M&Ms?’ ” said Frazier. “We kind of laughed at it, but it wasn’t our area, so we passed it on to the caterer, SAGA.”

The band used rooms in the nearby University Center before and after the concert. According to reports in the USC Today newspaper, SAGA employees saw the M&M demand before the show but refused to comply with it. At that point, the band started smashing the candies into the carpet. The food fight escalated and continued after Van Halen’s performance.

 

[Spy Black]

Satriani, Vai, there's a lot of amazing guys that can make the guitar wail and moan and can play a thousand notes a minute. But does anyone besides guitar nerds actually buy their albums? 

Album sales haven't really been a money maker for all but a very few of the biggest artists for over a decade now. Artists like Adele and Taylor Swift may get rich off album sales, but everybody else makes a living selling tickets to live shows, and monetizing merchandise, selling tickets to meet-and-greets, etc.

 

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai can sell out 1500 seat theatres in North America 365 nights a year if they wanted to, and "yes" the audience is largely guitar geeks and music snobs ... but there's 1500 of them, and that's how the likes of Vai and Satriani make a decent living in the music business.

 

Van Halen were superstars in the vein of Led Zeppelin and The Who ... and unfortunately, superstar rock bands are largely becoming a thing of the distant past ... nothing but a memory. 

The era of arena rock bands has all but closed, and with Eddies demise comes Van Halen's demise ... and arena rock bands are one step closer to extinction.

[AllseeingEye]

The solo that sold a million guitars - 

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=mIpHZo7BsT8

[Mike K.]

Kids also don’t care for music as much, at least mot classical instruments. Today it’s samples and beats. Then auto tune. And a camera.

I hardly know anyone with a kid who plays guitar.

[Spy Black]

Kids also don’t care for music as much, at least mot classical instruments. Today it’s samples and beats. Then auto tune. And a camera.

I hardly know anyone with a kid who plays guitar.

^^This is so true^^.

 

30 and 40 years ago, Victoria was legendary in Canada for its live music scene, and the number of excellent guitar players (and drummers, bass players, and keyboard players) around town.

All the hard core players that still play are now over 60, and despite my being somewhat involved in the entertainment scene, I don't know a single young, good, determined guitar player today.

 

Beats, samples, Pro Tools ... that's the scene today. 

Granted, it's all still making music ... but it's not the same as putting together a four piece rock band, and heading out on the road playing clubs all over Western Canada for a decade or more!

Indeed that once thriving live band club scene in Canada is now dead and long buried.

Edited by Spy Black, 08 October 2020 - 06:58 PM.

[Mike K.]

Right. And now COVID is going to take a chomp of whatever is left.

Pretty sad, really.

[Victoria Watcher]

Beats, samples, Pro Tools ... that's the scene today. 

Granted, it's all still making music ... but it's not the same as putting together a four piece rock band, and heading out on the road playing clubs all over Western Canada for a decade or more!

Indeed that once thriving live band club scene in Canada is now dead and long buried.

 

it's certainly not as large. 

 

there are a couple industry groups (like FACTOR) that have been able to move some money usually allocated to touring bands right into live music venues to try to keep them afloat until this is over.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 09 October 2020 - 01:21 AM.

[North Shore]

Kids also don’t care for music as much, at least mot classical instruments. Today it’s samples and beats. Then auto tune. And a camera.

I hardly know anyone with a kid who plays guitar.

Which is *really* sad.  Every rocker from the 50s through to the ~2000s picked up a guitar when they were bored and practiced until their fingers bled.  Hard to do that nowadays with YouTikFaceTwit running rampant.

I remember doing 'art' projects in school: one cut out pictures from magazines, and glued them together in a collage...et voila: 'Art'  No comparison whatsoever to an original photo/painting/sculpture or what have you..

Guitars gave us the VanHalens; Samples and beats gave us CardiB