He was one of my guitar heroes when I was growing up. Probably THE most influential one on my own playing. The band used to practice in my hometown at David Lee Roth’s father’s house. I worked at the hospital Roth’s father, a doctor, practiced at. When Dr. Roth died, I was invited to the funeral.
I have memories of being lucky enough to go to one Edward’s houses when I was playing in my own band in Hollywood during the ’80s. The singer in my band had a girlfriend who was friends with Valerie Bertinelli, Van Halen’s wife at the time. She was living with them in a guest bedroom at the time. The Van Halens had gone out of town so she invited her boyfriend and myself to check out his Coldwater Canyon home which also housed his famed “5150” studio.
After sitting in Valerie’s director’s chair, I wondered through the house. There was a piano in the living room. On it rested the completely gutted yellow and black striped guitar he is pictured with on their second album. He had removed the neck, taken out all the pickups and decided to use it as an ashtray. On the wall behind the piano he had a platinum record for the work he did on Michael Jackson’s song, “Beat It.”
So I wandered some more, thrilled to be in the house of my hero.
Into the bathroom.
I stopped, stunned. There next to the toilet was one of his trademark red white and black “Frankenstein” guitars. I put the lid down on the toilet seat and with trembling hands, picked up said guitar and played VH songs on it. “Runnin’ With the Devil,” “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love,” and “Unchained.” I put it down because our host said we had to go. So I got up, pulled a hair out of my head and placed it in an indoor built in planter near the piano. So I’d always be a part of that house. Yeah, it’s silly. But I did it. Hey, I was like 20 at the time.
On the way out I looked at his refrigerator. Inside it was sparse, save for a few cans of Colt 45 malt liquor. But ON it was a flyer for an upcoming show at Gazzarri’s. It was a flyer for my band. No doubt, my singer’s girlfriend had posted it there, but there it remained in one of my heroes houses. How cool is that? I think it was a version of this template we often used. I say, “houses” because he also had one in Malibu that I saw. A mansion. We dropped said girlfriend off there once but weren’t allowed inside. 😉
I mean, here was a musician I respected so much that two years ago, as a 51 year-old man, I bought one of his “EVH Striped Series” guitars.
I respected him for his songwriting, live performances, and guitar virtuosity.
But in life, he had many struggles with cocaine, and alcoholism, and could be a real self-centered asshole. In fact he admitted in an article somewhere that the way he would write songs in the earlier days of Van Halen would be to lock himself in a room with a pile of cocaine and a bottle of vodka, turn on a tape recorder and see what came out if it.
In the end, it would be my educated guess that it was his constant cigarette smoking that befell him as it started as throat cancer which had “moved to his brain and other organs.” He argued that it was because of a metal guitar pick he would routinely hold in his mouth. I’m no doctor, but I seriously doubt that was the cause.
I hate it when after someone passes how, “They never had a bad word to say about anyone.” So I’m not going to do that. He said plenty, and often behaved badly.
But he’s still one of my musical heroes and will always continue to be. He was a brilliant innovator.
I don’t cry when most of my favorite musicians die . . . after all, I didn’t know them personally. I didn’t really know Ed Van Halen personally either, but pretty close. I’m saddened, but still won’t shed a tear. Well, maybe one.
But what a loss to the musical world this is.
I will miss you. One of at least a million other people.
This was always one my favorites of his:
And this is a song he wrote which would be fitting right now. He wasn’t all about “shredding” as some people will tell you.
R.I.P. Mr. Van Halen.
