Eddie Van Halen – Rolling Stone

Top 250 Guitarists of All Time – #4: Eddie Van Halen

If “Eruption” was all Eddie Van Halen ever released, it would have secured a place in the guitar pantheon. With finger-tapping piano-like cascades of sound, gut-punching dive bombs, and trumpet-like celebrations, he showed the world that the guitar was capable of more than anyone could have ever dreamed of with this single.

But Van Halen's real magic was how he could turn these showmanship tricks into songs that people wanted to sing along to: “Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love,” “Dance the Night Away,” and “Everybody Wants Some!!” — tracks that melodically combined Van Halen's formidable techniques with David Lee Roth's bombastic lyrics.

The Mozart of our generation

Aside from the party anthems, guitar solos like “Spanish Fly,” “Cathedral,” and “Little Guitars” sounded more like riffs than solos, and he never stopped experimenting; In “Poundcake”, he picks up a power drill next to his pickup truck to make his machine scream. “Eddie Van Halen fascinated everyone,” Tom Morello said posthumously. “Because everyone knew that the Mozart of our generation was ahead of us.”

Even when Van Halen wasn't playing, he applied his genius to his instrument, built the Frankenstrat, invented the floating whammy bar, and obtained various patents, completely changing the way people thought about the guitar. Oh, and he was self-taught. -Kg

Key Songs: “Eruption”, “Ain't Talking 'Bout Love”, “Hot for Teacher”