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Sun 2 August 2026 20:30, UK
When we consider Eddie Van Halen, we think of one of the greatest guitar players in the world, and rightly so.
I mean, there really aren’t enough words to convey just how special a musician Eddie was. It’s one thing to be good at playing the guitar; it’s something else entirely to opt to completely reinvent it, and that’s what Eddie did. He came across a new way of playing, with an intense tapping technique that gave his solos speed other people previously thought was impossible. He was also handy with an amplifier, as he would come up with different, exciting guitar tones without using over-the-top effect pedals.
It was for all of these reasons that Tony Iommi would often refer to Eddie as “the inventor.” The two were good friends, and Black Sabbath took Van Halen on one of their first big world tours when they invited the band to hit the road and support them. That was the first time a lot of people got to see Van Halen, and they knew they were going to be something special.
“We used to have such a great time together. We really spilt our hearts out with each other,” said Iommi. “What I like about Eddie, he was always an inventor. He’d always want to come up with something new. He worked hard to develop his own amplifiers. And he’d work on his own guitars as best he could to make them feel comfortable to him. He was always very much an innovator with a bunch of things.”
Of course, the band Van Halen wasn’t solely a success because of the fact that Eddie was a great guitarist, but the entire band were quintessential in creating their iconic sound. You needed a good drummer who could provide a sound rhythm to the chaotic musical styles that Eddie was putting forward, and who could have been better than his own brother. Eddie and Alex Van Halen were a force to be reckoned with, as they linked up in a unique way to produce music that was accessible to the public but also incredibly original.
Eddie had a respect for drummers across the board because he had first-hand experience of how important they were. He knew that his successful band simply wouldn’t have been as much were it not for Alex on the ones and twos. As such, he was always happy to meet different drummers and talk about their musical influences with them, especially if he was a fan of their band.
One band who have been met with controversy in the past but whose unique approach to music is also pretty undeniable is Pantera. Eddie was a fan of their sound and so wanted to meet their drummer, Vinnie Paul. As such, when Eddie went for a night out in a strip club that Paul owned, he asked the manager if the drummer would be coming down. When he eventually did, the two swapped stories about touring, music, and everything in between.
Further reading: From The Vault
“So I dropped what I was doing and went straight to the club,” recalled Paul, “I meet Eddie and we start talking about music right away. After about 5 minutes into the conversation, he says to me, ‘Man, I feel like I’ve known you for a lifetime. We have so much in common!’ I couldn’t believe it.”
Great musicians always have respect for one another, and it creates an unspeakable bond that means they feel close even if they’ve never met. That’s something Vinnie Paul and Eddie Van Halen experienced one night in the early hours of a strip club.
