Van Halen Article #126

Dr. Rox Remembers;

“Van Halen” 

WFNU Article #126; October 2020

By: RLSchwinden aka MrZerr0

 

 

So in the middle of the day on Tuesday 6 October I got a message from my Guitar Player Zach (MrZERo). That Eddie Van Halen had died. It did not come as a shock to me as I knew he had been battling cancer for some time, it just seems to me, most people do not beat cancer, and unfortunately it ultimately kills them. So I thought I would write an article on what Eddie Van Halen meant to me.

 

Let us start off with, in my mind there have been 3 Greats in the Rock World, of all time:

“Chuck” Charles Edward Anderson Berry: 18 October 1926; St. Louis, MO. – 18 March 2017 releasing: 54 Singles, over 30 Albums & 8 EPs

“Jimi” James Marshall Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix) 27 November 1942; Seattle, WA. – 18 September 1970 releasing 7 Albums and 14 Singles.

And the subject of this article:

Edward Lodewijk Van Halen: 26 January 1955; Amsterdam, Netherlands – 6 October 2020 releasing 16 Albums and 41 Singles. From the Band: Drummer: Alexander Arthur Van Halen 8 May 1953; Amsterdam, Netherlands and Bassist: Michael Anthony (Sobolewski) 20 June 1954; Chicago, ILL.
Vocalist: David Lee Roth 10 October 1954; Bloomington, IN.

 

Of course there are many other great guitar players out there but, these are the 3 groundbreakers in the Rock World, in my opinion.

 

How I 1st heard of Van Halen, I was living back in Iowa by 1978 my friend Greg A. saw Van Halen open for Journey in July 1978 in Jackson, MS. and he had bought the records “Infinity” and “VH 1” he put them on a Cassette for me and mailed them to me with a Journey Concert Program. I got the package and was curious, I played Journey first because that side was cued up, and thought “Wow, that was good” and turned it over and was blown away! “VH 1” well there was nothing like it. I went out and purchased my own copies of the records because I loved them so much I saw a photo of Eddie’s Black and White striped “Strat” and thought “That’s so cool, I want a guitar like that” later I started to think I wanted a Hot Pink one, alas this has never come to pass. and so I bought each of their albums after this when it was brand new, “VH II” (Mar 1979) I remember I was dating a girl named Donna, my girlfriend of the time Sheila bought me “Women And Children First” (Mar 1980) I was living in Phoenix when “Fair Warning” (Apr 1981) was released, and my friend Eric got me a copy of “Diver Down” (Apr 1982) and I was dating one of the great loves of my life Cathy when “1984” was released (Jan 1984).

 

Now I was informed by my friend Zach (yes, same one) that one of Eddie’s big influences was Allan Holdsworth: 6 August 1946: Bradford, Eng. – 15 April 2017, releasing over 26 Albums and a Guest on over 48 other releases. As well as Steve Hackett: (Stephen Richard Hackett; 12 February 1950; London, ENG. who is acknowledged with inventing “Finger Tapping” releasing  25 Albums and appearing on 39 other releases. However it has come to light in the past decade that another guitarist had influence on Eddie, my Hometown Hero Tommy R. Bolin (I have written many articles on Tommy and have done almost as many radio shows on Tommy. There is a recording of Van Halen performing “The Grind” at Gazzarri’s at 9039 Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California from late 1975 or early 1976 as the song was released in Nov 1975. Eddie is well known for his Charvel Guitars, there is now photographic evidence that Tommy Bolin  was one of Wayne Charvel’s 1st Customers, there is a photo from about mid 1976 of Tommy receiving his “Wayne Guitar” from Wayne Charvel, himself.

 

In the Summer of 1977 I was living in Jackson, MS. and a card carrying member of the KISS Army, when the “KISS Army Newsletter Vol.2 Spring Edition” came out announcing the new songs for the upcoming new KISS Album, tentatively titled “Love Gods” with the songs “Christine 16” “Have Love Will Travel” “Tunnel Of Love” & “Sincerely” well as of Nov 2017 the recordings have been released and confirmed that these first 3 songs were recorded with Eddie and Alex Van Halen.

 

I remember one of the earliest “Pop Clips” or “MTV” videos I saw was “Oh, Pretty Woman” by Van Halen, I remember thinking at the time, I was missing out on a whole lot not having this cable channel. I really liked the 3 KINKS covers Van Halen did “You Really Got Me” “Where Have All The Good Times Gone” & “Dancing In The Streets” so much so I went out and bought more KINKS records.

 

When I was on tour with “High Fever” from late 1982 to late 1983 (before the booze and drugs took me down) I met a guy in Moorehead, MN. at Marguerite’s  Music. I needed a Gibson truss rod wrench, I went in to get one, and this Rock Star looking guy was behind the counter. He was the Lead Guitarist in the band “Patriot” that man was Kenny Rardin (Rardin Guitars in St. Paul, 55104. call: 651. 230. 3160) So like we did back then I asked “So, who’s your guy?” He responded by pulling out a photo and saying “Oh, one of my students” and proceeded to show me a photo of Kenny, himself sitting knees to knees with Edward and Kenny is playing Eddie’s famous “Franken-Strat” I was floored “He was one of your students?” Laughing Kenny says “No, we did an in-store with him in Oct 1980” I then asked “So, how is it (the guitar)?” Kenny responds “Awful, there are gouges in the neck from doing his own fret replacement, the neck pickup and switch are not even connected, the string action is very high, and the paint job was done with a spray can as there are carpet fibers in the paint on the back of the body where he just set it on the floor to dry, believe me when I tell you it is the man not his instrument”  Unrelated Kenny is also the man who sold Paul Stanley his Gibson Reverse Firebird on the cover of “Alive!” and once owned Paul Stanley’s Doc Petillo White Flying V, which Kenny gave me the strap that came with the Petillo, Kenny also introduced me to Jay Barth the Soundman for the KISS “Destroyer Tour” ironically I searched for Kenny for years and turns out his Guitar shop is only about 3 miles from my RecordStore Mr. Zer0’s 55113. How we reconnected a man Scott W. was repainting my guitars I use in my KISS Tribute Band, and he knew Kenny, I have since had Kenny make me a White Flying V for my band KISSin Time.

 

While I was on the road back then in 1983 I remember reading stories about guitar players modifying the Marshall Amp heads from 110 to 220 volts trying to recreate Eddie’s sound, and blowing themselves up, no one died that I recall but they were getting hurt and ruining a lot of gear. My drummer friend Pat C. showed me that Eddie did a release with Brian May of “QUEEN” titled “Starfleet in Oct 1983.

A few years ago I met a lady Shannon who lived in California for a time, she worked at a Grocery store and one time got to wait on Eddie, he bought some cough drops.

 

I like all guitar players back then, want to be like Eddie, so I bought an Ibanez Strat from my buddy Eric (I eventually sold it to Butch D.) I got an MXR “Distortion+” and an MXR “Phase 90” and busted my hump trying to play lead guitar, I just didn’t have it in me … however it did push me to try new techniques. I saw Van Halen, albeit with Sammy Hagar, 18 Apr 1992 in Ames, Iowa and again with Roth, 19 May 2012 in St. Paul. I saw Roth solo in Nov 2004 and again in Mar 2020, and I saw Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony in Aug 2013. I cannot deny how great of an influence Eddie was so I made a WDGY Radi0 Show on Van Halen in Nov 2019 and a WFNU Radi0 Show in Feb 2020. Which I will detail here:

 

 

WDGY Show Nov 2019 (hear at www.MrZeroS.Com -Podcast: Episode #115) w/ DJ Nater

“Atomic Punk” 1978 Feb

“D.O.A.” 1979 Mar

“Everybody Wants Some” 1980 Mar

“Unchained” 1981 Apr

“The Full Bug” 1982 Apr

“I’ll Wait” 1984 Jan

“Yankee Rose” 1986 July

 

WFNU Show Feb 2020 (Hear at MixCloud.Com under MrZeros Evolation Show: Program #26)

“Everybody Wants Some” Van Halen 1980 March

“Donut City” Edward Van Halen: 194 Sept

“Yankee Rose” David Lee Roth: 1986 July (#16 Charts)

“There’s Only One Way To Rock” Sammy Hagar: 1982 Jan

“Hear About It Later” Van Halen: 1981 Apr

“Damn Good” David Lee Roth: 1988 Jan

“Hole Hearted” Extreme: 1990 Aug (#4 Charts)

“Respect The Wind” Van Halen Bros. 1996 May

“The Grind” Tommy Bolin: 1975 Nov

“I’ll Wait” Van Halen: 1984 Jan (#13 Charts) 

 

And so those are my stories of Van Halen, Until the next time …. Hear Me In The Starz: MrZerr0

Mr. Zer0’s 

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