Why Eddie Van Halen is an Influential Musician Essay

There are certain musicians that come along that shift a culture, attitude, or future musicians. Another musician that went on influence future generations and considered one of the greatest guitar players in the world is Eddie Van Halen. Eddie Van Halen was born in Holland in 1955 and immigrated to Pasadena California. At the age of seven, Eddie was training as a classical pianist, although his love for Rock and Roll was developing. He started working a paper route and used the money to buy a drum set. His brother Alex, also musically inclined, bought a guitar. After months of practicing, Alex and Eddie switched instruments. Alex would spend hours on Eddies drums and loved to play them. Eddie, a little frustrated with the drums,†¦show more content†¦A little later, Eddie heard Michael Anthony on the bass and thought that he was perfect for their band. Still, something was missing; Alex thought they needed a front man. He suggested that they let David Lee Roth be the front m an, mainly to save the rent money on the PA system. David Lee came on board and thought the brother’s last name sounded cool, and the rock group Van Halen was born. On one particular show, Gene Simmons from Kiss caught Van Halen at the local gig. He offered to help them out. Gene Simmons flew Van Halen to New York to tape a demo and introduced them to the Kiss production management. They had no interest in Van Halen citing that there was no commercial value to Van Halen, so the band went back to their local gigs in California. During a show in Hollywood, Warner Brothers records representative Ted Templeman saw their act and signed them less than a week later for a record deal with the Warner brother’s label. They headed out on the road immediately and caught up with Warner Brothers headliners to open their shows. The other groups were not very pleased with the band, especially when Van Halen started getting better reviews. Van Halen was then off to England to open for another band that Eddie idolized, Black Sabbath. Ozzie was so impressed with the band that he admitted that Van Halen was outplaying Sabbath. At least that is what Ozzie said according to the Van Halen camp. Van Halen went on to record 26 albums in their career with