KISS frontman Gene Simmons has a notorious reputation for being difficult. So it might surprise you what he had to say following Eddie Van Halen's death.
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00:00Kiss frontman Gene Simmons has a notorious reputation for being difficult, so it might
00:04surprise you what he had to say following Eddie Van Halen's death.
00:09Mark Stone was the original bassist for Van Halen, playing alongside Eddie and Alex Van
00:13Halen in the early years of the group, when they were first called Genesis and later Mammoth.
00:17He then played for Van Halen itself from 1972 to 1974.
00:21He was ultimately asked to leave the band due to a perceived lack of commitment on his
00:25part.
00:26In the Van Halen story, The Early Years, Stone said he was caught between playing in the
00:29band and pursuing academics.
00:31The others eventually asked him to leave, but even in those first few years of the band's
00:34existence, Stone recognized the talent of the Van Halen brothers.
00:38Stone said,
00:39"...I knew it early on that they were both virtuosos.
00:41You know, there were few legendary guitar players, and I knew Edward was on his way
00:45to being there."
00:46While Stone never officially rejoined the band, he sometimes performed with the Van
00:49Halen tribute band, Van Halen, giving hardcore devotees a taste of what might have been.
00:54Unfortunately, Stone passed away on September 26, 2020.
00:59Michael Anthony was the final member to join Van Halen's first true lineup.
01:02He and his family moved to Southern California when he was young.
01:05As a student at Pasadena City College, he met Alex Van Halen, which led to him playing
01:10bass for them following Mark Stone's ouster, and the rest is history.
01:13A talented musician himself, Anthony was floored the first time he heard Eddie, Alex, and Stone
01:18play live, and was especially impressed by Eddie's ability to master the music of such
01:23guitar greats as Pete Townshend and Eric Clapton.
01:25In his January 8, 2021 appearance on Talkin' Rock with Meltdown, Anthony said,
01:30"...I remember I was impressed, because they must have played the whole Who Live at Leeds
01:33set or whatever, or any classic Cream stuff they played.
01:36Eddie played the Leeds stuff note for note.
01:38Back then when you're a kid like that, that's very impressive to see somebody playing like
01:41that."
01:42For many fans, David Lee Roth is the voice of Van Halen, singing with the group across
01:50six classic albums.
01:51Like Michael Anthony, Roth also entered Eddie and Alex Van Halen's lives while attending
01:55Pasadena City College.
01:57It wasn't long before he joined forces with them, serving as the face of their party-down
02:01attitude that would typify the band for the rest of his time with them.
02:04It's no secret that Roth and Eddie had a tumultuous relationship, culminating in Roth leaving
02:09the band in 1985 to establish himself as a solo artist.
02:12And while he reunited with Van Halen a few times in subsequent decades, their two powerful
02:17personalities always prevented them from forging any permanent reconciliation.
02:20However, despite the animosity that has characterized their association, Roth, in the wake of Eddie's
02:25tragic passing in 2020, had nothing but kind words to say about his former bandmate.
02:30On his podcast, The Roth Show, he said,
02:32"'Boy, I miss him.
02:33I had a ball with Ed.
02:35I've gotta tell you, playing with Ed, writing songs with Ed, presenting those songs with
02:38Ed was better than any love affair I ever had.'"
02:42Sammy Hagar is Van Halen's second singer after David Lee Roth left the band in 1985.
02:47Hagar made a name for himself in the 1970s as the frontman for the hard rock band Montrose,
02:52before branching out on his own.
02:53It was as a solo artist that Hagar became even more popular, scoring such hits as I
02:57Can't Drive 55.
02:59When he joined Van Halen, the band took on a more polished style that made them perfect
03:03for the growing prevalence of MTV.
03:05Like Roth before him, Hagar had his share of clashes with Eddie Van Halen, which resulted
03:09in him leaving the band in 1996.
03:12Though they did reunite to record some new songs for the band's 2004 Greatest Hits compilation,
03:16The Best of Both Worlds, as well as tour together to support it.
03:20Luckily, Hagar looks back on his past with Eddie through rose-colored glasses, telling
03:24KUSI's Paul Rudi,
03:25"'Eddie always played great.
03:27That's the thing that used to make me mad.
03:28Because he could drink as much as he wanted, do anything he wanted, and come out there
03:31and still play good.
03:32I'd be going, this guy is making me mad.'"
03:36Gary Cherone started performing with cover bands in the 1970s, before hitting it big
03:41in the late 80s as the lead singer of Xtreme.
03:43But he's maybe best known for his very brief stint as the lead singer of Van Halen.
03:47Cherone joined the group following Sammy Hagar's departure and David Lee Roth's disastrous
03:51reunion in 1996.
03:53However, Cherone was only in Van Halen for the 1998 album Van Halen 3 and its tour, before
03:58reportedly being forced out by the band's record label.
04:01Still, there were seemingly no hard feelings.
04:03Cherone told Rolling Stone,
04:04"'Eddie went out of his way to make me feel comfortable.
04:07As the years went on, I saw him do that to everyone else.
04:10He knew people were meeting Van Halen and Eddie.
04:12He knew who he was and how people could get funny around the king.
04:15So I remember on my first day how he extended himself to me, and how he was just a regular
04:19guy.'"
04:21Wolfgang Van Halen is Eddie Van Halen's son, and he has made quite a name for himself in
04:24the music world.
04:25Born on March 16, 1991, his first gig was taking over Michael Anthony's old bass duties
04:30with Van Halen in 2006, followed by playing bass with Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti's
04:35solo project, Tremonti.
04:36Wolfgang eventually struck out on his own with his band Mammoth WVH.
04:41While Van Halen fans around the world mourned the death of Eddie in 2020, few were as devastated
04:45by his untimely passing as Wolfgang.
04:48Wolfgang revealed to People that despite how difficult his father's loss was on him, Eddie's
04:52memory has been a source of great motivation for him, saying,
04:55"'What really helps me keep going is my dad.
04:57Because if I just gave up and stopped and crawled in a hole, which I feel like doing
05:00every day, I know he'd be really pissed off at me.
05:03He's the only thing that keeps me going.'"
05:05"'I think he's the Mozart of our generation.'"
05:08James Todd Smith, better known as LL Cool J, first rose to prominence in the 1980s as
05:13a young rapper and one of legendary record label Def Jam Recordings' first acts.
05:17He's since gone on to become a hip-hop icon, paving the way for countless other acts to
05:21enter the mainstream while also embarking on a second career as a celebrated actor.
05:25In 2013, LL Cool J recruited Eddie Van Halen for his album Authentic, appearing on the
05:31songs Not Leaving You Tonight and We're the Greatest.
05:33LL Cool J spoke fondly of his time with Eddie on his outlet Rock the Bells, saying,
05:37"'I will always remember his humility and his willingness to share his talent.
05:41That man came in the studio with me at a time when, creatively, I was trying to get my sea
05:45legs and trying to figure out what to do and how I wanted to do it.
05:48It was just pure artistry, and I respected that about him.'"
05:52Gene Simmons needs little introduction.
05:54He's been the bassist and vocalist of KISS since 1972, recording and playing with them
05:58on all of their farewell and subsequent reunion tours.
06:01Simmons also played an instrumental part in the formative years of another important rock
06:05band, Van Halen.
06:06In the 1970s, Simmons saw them perform at the popular nightclub The Starwood and was
06:11instantly floored.
06:12He met them after their set and gave them some useful advice about the music industry
06:15and even financed their trip to New York City to record a demo.
06:18As a favor to Simmons, Eddie and Alex Van Halen recorded an early KISS demo of Christine
06:2316, comprising an informal power trio together.
06:26Simmons was so impressed with Eddie's guitar playing that he had KISS guitarist Ace Frehley
06:30copy the solo he recorded.
06:32Following Eddie's death, Simmons reminisced about his talent in Rolling Stone, where he
06:36stated,
06:37"'Lots of guys play fast, but with no melody or heart or soul.'
06:40Eddie's solos had all that, not since Hendrix had anybody bent strings like he did.
06:45He cast a large shadow.
06:46You think you're pretty good and famous and you're filling arenas, but when you were sitting
06:50in front of Eddie, you were in the presence of greatness."
06:52"'Every once in a while you meet a real human being that touches your heart above and beyond
06:56the talent.
06:58What a tragedy.'"
07:02Brian May is one of the great British rock guitarists, having made a name for himself
07:05with the legendary Queen.
07:07The band dominated the airways throughout the 1970s, releasing hit after hit.
07:11It was in the early 1980s that May took a break from Queen to work on his solo project,
07:15the mini-album Starfleet Project, which featured an appearance from none other than Eddie Van
07:19Halen on the track Bluesbreaker.
07:22Of course, May had encountered Eddie several years earlier, when Van Halen was opening
07:25for Black Sabbath.
07:26May recounted to Guitar World,
07:28"'I got there in time to see Van Halen and I was utterly blown away by Eddie.
07:31I just thought, I've never seen anything like this in my life.
07:35It was almost too much to take in.
07:36I remember thinking, I don't want to believe this.
07:38It was similar to watching Jimi Hendrix for the first time.'"
07:42Thomas Dolby is a singer, songwriter, producer, session musician, and composer who's most
07:47associated with the early 1980s New Wave sound.
07:50He wrote several hit songs for other musical acts, including New Toy for Lena Lovitch,
07:54and helped forge the synth fad of the era by playing synthesizer for such acts as Foreigner
07:58and Def Leppard.
07:59But Dolby really came into his own with his 1983 hit, She Blinded Me With Science.
08:04One of Dolby's more interesting projects was his 1992 album, Astronauts & Heretics, which
08:08saw Eddie Van Halen tear it up on the songs Eastern Block and Close But No Cigar.
08:13It's not the most obvious musical pairing, but Dolby told Ultimate Classic Rock that
08:17the two got along well and found a way to marry their two completely different creative
08:21backgrounds.
08:22Dolby loved jamming with him, and I think he enjoyed it too.
08:25It's a shame that his talents have been sort of limited for the most part to the Van Halen
08:28albums, because he's got a lot more versatility and range than you would know, even as fantastic
08:32as his playing on his own albums is.
08:35Steve Lukather is one of the most prolific session musicians alive.
08:38He found success with his first band, Toto, when they released their debut album in 1978,
08:43which spawned such hits as Hold the Line.
08:45And he also played on hit records for the likes of Boz Skaggs, Cher, and Alice Cooper.
08:50Lukather also lent his musical talents to Michael Jackson's Thriller, one of the best-selling
08:53albums of all time.
08:55Lukather eventually made his solo artist debut with 1989's appropriately titled album, Lukather,
09:00which featured the contributions of several top musicians, most notably, Eddie Van Halen.
09:05Lukather told Guitar World,
09:06"'Eddie was just a humble little guy who just loved to mess with s---- and do things
09:10different.
09:11When it came down to details about equipment and how he liked to do things, he always had
09:14an adventure mentality.
09:15He knew what he wanted, and he wanted really weird s----."
09:19Tony Iommi is one of the godfathers of heavy metal, as a founding member of Black Sabbath.
09:24Playing with the band from their formation in 1968 until their disbanding in 2017, Eddie
09:28Van Halen was actually briefly a part of one of the band's formations, having recorded
09:32a solo for the song, "'Evil Eye," from Black Sabbath's 1994 album, Cross Purposes.
09:37Unfortunately, the recording of said solo had some technical difficulties and was unusable,
09:42as Iommi recalled in his autobiography, Iron Man.
09:45But Iommi and the rest of Black Sabbath had actually encountered Eddie and his band years
09:49earlier, when they toured together in the late 1970s.
09:51Iommi told Rolling Stone,
09:53"'Ed's such a lovely guy.
09:55We really got to know each other well on that tour.
09:57He used to come around to my room most nights after the show, or I'd go around to his room
10:01and we'd sit there talking.
10:02We used to have such a great time together.
10:04We really spilt our hearts out with each other."
10:06Clearly, Eddie Van Halen is missed by many.