Best Van Halen

The first Van Halen album broke some new ground. Eruption started a whole new phase of guitar playing. Even though two handed tapping was already a technique, Eddie Van Halen made it popular and opened doors, including touch style guitars like the Chapman Stick and Warr guitar. The tunes were heavy, catchy and got the babes to disrobe a lot quicker than VDGG ever did.  Rock On!

And...

Don't trash something simply because you don't like it.

NO contest here!

The debut is one of the wildest and most savage heavy metal album ever! Every song is a classic! Wish I could say that about three songs of every other album!

Will Veda wrote: Eddie Van Halen is the most over-rated guitarist in the history of music.  He did not start the two-hands-on-fingerboard playing that so many clueless fans assume.  Hell, Steve Hackett was doing that technique long before Eddie was even drooling over Valerie in the original "One Day at a Time" shows.  And, oh God, don't get me started on that freak, David Lee Froth.  It's a shame that Sammy Hagar ever wasted his time with these knuckleheads, Montrose was a great and short-lived band.  "Go ahead and jump"...right off a cliff.

If you can find any famous recording guitarist who thinks Eddie Van Halen is over-rated I'll eat my copy of the first Van Halen album.

Great debut album,but things went downhill rapidly after.

Pop singles? Jump-one of the finest pop singles of all time.

Will Veda wrote: Eddie Van Halen is the most over-rated guitarist in the history of music.  He did not start the two-hands-on-fingerboard playing that so many clueless fans assume.  Hell, Steve Hackett was doing that technique long before Eddie was even drooling over Valerie in the original "One Day at a Time" shows.  And, oh God, don't get me started on that freak, David Lee Froth.  It's a shame that Sammy Hagar ever wasted his time with these knuckleheads, Montrose was a great and short-lived band.  "Go ahead and jump"...right off a cliff.

As much as I grew up a major VH fan, your attitude towards EVH is not completely uncalled for, I must say. While Eddie DID make a huge mark on the rock guitar landscape, he hasn't done anything inventive or worthwhile in a long time. The last album he probably did some really cool stuff on was OU812.

Regardless, VH practically ruled the commercial rock landscape from '78-'85. I like Fair Warning  the best of the DLR years...Eddie's tone is to die for! Plus, "Mean Streets" is just a standout song. Songs like that one, "Top Jimmy" (love that outro jam/coda), "I'll Wait" and its great keyboard motif, "Ice Cream Man," and practically all the rest of Fair Warning are collectively more than reason enough to understand why VH became a rock juggernaut.

OTOH, 5150 is about as good as anything the DLR era turned out, and my fave "Van Hagar" album, along with Balance.

And of course, count me as a Montrose fan. Those two albums rock! And Sammy's career pre- and post-VH is quite the sizeable catalog, qualitywise. For a slice of primo Sammy, check out 1978's Musical Chairs. Fabulous! The Red Rocker was capable of much more than just uptempo anthems, and his incredible voice is far more versatile than DLR's, even if one counts DLR's as more "unique." But Sammy's pipes are something else. And he still sounds (and looks!) great, in his now-late fifties. Wow!

Re: tapping. No, EVH wasn't the first to do it. He's just the first "popular" guitarist to do it. Rik Emmett of Triumph did it before Ed. Rik is a monster guitarist, though (better than Ed). There were many guitarists who were "better," technically, than Ed, but his technique was very polished, his style flashy, and he sure could burn up the frets. And so Van Halen did!