Eddie Van Halen Honoured At Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Eddie Van Halen was remembered as ‘the Mozart of our generation’ in a new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tribute.
Van Halen, who co-founded the rock band of the same name with his brother Alex back in 1972, died from throat cancer earlier in October this year.
The 65-year-old was considered to be the one of the greatest guitarists of all time, with hundreds of fellow musicians and fans paying tribute to him in the wake of his death. Now, the Hall of Fame has produced a fully-fledged tribute.
The 35th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony aired on HBO and HBO Max on Saturday, November 7. Van Halen was inducted back in 2007, but the show took a moment in the In Memoriam segment to give the legend his due.
As per People, Guns N’ Roses’ Slash said: ‘Eddie Van Halen was a tremendously gifted musician. His style and his sound were completely unique to him.’
He continued: ‘He had a massive impact on guitar playing, and I don’t think there’s anybody that’s picked up the guitar since 1978 that hasn’t been touched in some way by his influence. I’m gonna miss his playing and I’m gonna miss him as a friend.’
A number of icons shared their praise for Van Halen during the show, with archival footage of the guitarist playing in the background.
Metallica’s Kirk Hammett also said, as per NME: ‘Eddie Van Halen was amazing. Not since Jimi Hendrix had there been a guitar player that had so much impact and was so inspiring to me. He just explored the most simplest thing: a harmonic on a string and brought it into this realm of technique that no one even thought was possible. He was from a different planet.’
Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine said: ‘Eddie Van Halen was the Mozart of our generation. He had the kind of talent that maybe comes around once a century. Eddie Van Halen inspired me to practice 20,000 hours to try to get within 100 miles of his inspired mastery of the guitar.’
13 days agoAmong others, the In Memoriam segment paid tribute to Little Richard, Bill Withers, Neil Peart, John Prine, Ginger Baker, Ric Ocasek, Dr. John, Kenny Rogers and Charlie Daniels.
As for new inductions, the Hall of Fame’s ‘class of 2020’ featured Depeche Mode, the Doobie Brothers, Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, the Notorious B.I.G. and T-Rex, as well as Jon Landau and Irving Azoff.
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