Who Eddie Van Halen was to me

Today, guitarist Eddie Van Halen’s long battle with cancer ended. He died. He was 65.

My condolences go out to family and friends. I never knew the man like you knew him. I can’t imagine what you might be going through right now.

And this post is not about newsjacking or talking about the trend of the day. Eddie Van Halen was — and still is — a huge inspiration to me.

Something about 80s music always resonated with me. It’s reflected in some of my own musical efforts.

1984

As I started learning guitar at 17, I gradually got into rock. I was honestly more into pop and hip-hop at the time, but before I knew it, I got sucked into Collective Soul, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and many, many others because of my guitar teacher.

One day, my guitar teacher played something in the style of Eddie Van Halen, and right then and there, he knew I was into it.

No doubt I had heard Van Halen as a kid. But up until that point, I had yet to place a name or face with the songs I had probably heard on the radio. Songs like “Jump” and “Panama” of course.

In those days, the Columbia House CD club was still a thing, and I remember my sister got a bunch of rock albums, including some Aerosmith and Van Halen. Somehow, I ended up with all…