EVH, I don't get it...

[bionicmark]

I see in here several times Ed being a innovator ???
I can not think of anything Ed did that others did not do before Ed.
Can anyone name anything Ed did that someone before him did not do ? Anything ?

Perhaps you should investigate the meaning of innovation:

"Innovation comes from the Latin innovationem, noun of action from innovare. The Etymology Dictionary further explains innovare as dating back to 1540 and stemming from the Latin innovatus, pp. of innovare "to renew or change," from in- "into" + novus "new".

Innovation can therefore be seen as the process that renews or improves something that exists and not, as is commonly assumed, the introduction of something better...

The central meaning of innovation thus relates to renewal or improvement. Novelty is just a consequence of improvement."

By this definition, he was certainly an innovator.

Steve

Best answer ....

I do not disagree with any of the rest of you. I was a big fan of VH up to about the time 1984 came out. Strange enough that album has my favorite VH songs ~ Panama and I'll Wait.

Personally I would never put Ed in the same group with Hendrix .... but I know many would. The reason being I do not think Ed is much of a song writer and feel a lot of Ed's playing does not have a lot of emotion. As far as I am concerned expressing emotion is the only thing that matters at all when it comes to any art.YMMV

Lets put it this way ~ if I was asked if EVH was a better guitar player than Pete Townshend ? I would say yes EVH is. But I do not think EVH is near as good a musician(artist) as Pete. As Pete's music is filled with emotion. This is my perspective .... and I really do not expect other to see the same.

I guess I should have asked did Ed do anything that someone else did not do before him ? I am not aware of anything myself.

I have heard the bulk of Ed's work and listening to any of it again is not going to make me a believer..... I am a much bigger fan of bands like the Cure and KISS, etc.

there are few people in the music world who have contributed so much....ed was one of them. it is UNDENIABLE...facts are facts. you don't have to like him , just as you don't have to like a certain color. i'm not sure what your contribution to music is or was...and after reading your posts , i'm still not sure why you've spent so much effort in shit talking an artist who's done so much for a style of music that you like. when you have accomplished a 10th of what he has , i might listen to what you have to say....then again..

 

[stephen sawall]

^^^
with the lights out, were contagious, here we are now, entertain us...

Exactly .... even if he did steal the riff from Tom Scholz.

Confused. Kurt Cobain stole a riff from Tom Scholz?

More Than A Feeling and Teen Spirit.

These songs sound nothing alike?

The guitar riff is very similar. Use your ears. Kurt said he stole it from this song if I remember correct.

In this video where (Song Break) appears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm_-sW4Vktw

In this one pretty much right at the beginning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg

 

[stephen sawall]

I see in here several times Ed being a innovator ???
I can not think of anything Ed did that others did not do before Ed.
Can anyone name anything Ed did that someone before him did not do ? Anything ?

Perhaps you should investigate the meaning of innovation:

"Innovation comes from the Latin innovationem, noun of action from innovare. The Etymology Dictionary further explains innovare as dating back to 1540 and stemming from the Latin innovatus, pp. of innovare "to renew or change," from in- "into" + novus "new".

Innovation can therefore be seen as the process that renews or improves something that exists and not, as is commonly assumed, the introduction of something better...

The central meaning of innovation thus relates to renewal or improvement. Novelty is just a consequence of improvement."

By this definition, he was certainly an innovator.

Steve

Best answer ....

I do not disagree with any of the rest of you. I was a big fan of VH up to about the time 1984 came out. Strange enough that album has my favorite VH songs ~ Panama and I'll Wait.

Personally I would never put Ed in the same group with Hendrix .... but I know many would. The reason being I do not think Ed is much of a song writer and feel a lot of Ed's playing does not have a lot of emotion. As far as I am concerned expressing emotion is the only thing that matters at all when it comes to any art.YMMV

Lets put it this way ~ if I was asked if EVH was a better guitar player than Pete Townshend ? I would say yes EVH is. But I do not think EVH is near as good a musician(artist) as Pete. As Pete's music is filled with emotion. This is my perspective .... and I really do not expect other to see the same.

I guess I should have asked did Ed do anything that someone else did not do before him ? I am not aware of anything myself.

I have heard the bulk of Ed's work and listening to any of it again is not going to make me a believer..... I am a much bigger fan of bands like the Cure and KISS, etc.

there are few people in the music world who have contributed so much....ed was one of them. it is UNDENIABLE...facts are facts. you don't have to like him , just as you don't have to like a certain color. i'm not sure what your contribution to music is or was...and after reading your posts , i'm still not sure why you've spent so much effort in shit talking an artist who's done so much for a style of music that you like. when you have accomplished a 10th of what he has , i might listen to what you have to say....then again..

Your interpretation of "shit talking" and "effort" is different mine I would guess ? I like Ed, VH and much of the early stuff. Nothing I have said is anything Ed has not said about himself. None of my statements about Ed really came from me ....they came from him. Other than where I stated it was my view.

 

[degenaro]

It was the combination of things- not any one technique or whatever.

He was the first supercharged superstrat playing killer rhythm writing two hand tapping supersaturated-but-dynamic-tone-wielding guitar hero. And no one else ever came close really, in the genre. Van Halen (the guitarist and he band) was peerless.

There was two game changers in rock guitar- Hendrix and Van Halen. Lots of other great guitarists but none that turned the world upside down like those two.

The last sentence is really all there needs to be said...

 

[67Mopar]

1978 Senior year in high school..9:25AM Art class...Somebody put on an album they just got....from the first song out of the gate my instant reply from across the room was....Who the fuck is that!!!..The tone...the licks, the swagger...was and is still awesome......Michael Schenker is my fave player but that first album of Van Halens did change the course of guitar playing as we knew it then..
I did see them earlier when they were called Mammoth but....Wasn't the same at all...mainly a cover band at that time

Michael Schenker would "bitch-slap" EVH all the way to Memphis...

EVH = grossly overrated.

 

[mixohoytian]

they say the gun is real easy...in this desperate part of town...

 

[67Mopar]

they say the gun is real easy...in this desperate part of town...

Is it "the gun" - or "a gun"?

 

[bigdaddyd]

here,this sums it up...EVH created the song "Eruption" from Van Halen 1 album...with that "single" song in mind,EVH did more in 1 minute and 42 seconds than 99.9% of guys out there will EVER do in their ENTIRE LIFE



the REAL Van Halen......the DLR era 1978-1984...period!!!

You do realize "Eruption" wasn't created as a single? It was EVH's practice routine and Don Landee heard it and had him record it. That's all there was to it. That's what he practiced to get loose before a gig. It was never meant to be a song, or even be on an album. Unless, you are just saying he created all of those techniques... even that is debatable. What is not debatable is how he put it all together and his influence on an entire universe of guitar players.

 

[Rogue]

.....What is not debatable is how he put it all together and his influence on an entire universe of guitar players.

I would agree, but after 5 pages, it must not be true.

 

[bigdaddyd]

.....What is not debatable is how he put it all together and his influence on an entire universe of guitar players.

I would agree, but after 5 pages, it must not be true.

I said his influence. You may be influenced by someone and not even realize it or even like them. You might not have even heard them, but be a fan of someone that is a huge fan of them themselves. If you worship someone like Nuno, who grew up on EVH, but never listened to EVH...you are still influenced by EVH.

 

[rokker]

He introduced us to over the top gain which is the foundation of the amps on this forum for the most part.
Also made popular the Floyd Rose. His rhythms are songs within songs.....not just someone chopping on bar chords.
And the tapping thing. I can still remember the day first hearing eruption....in 78 it definitely sounded different than anything I had heard and made we want to play a guitar. Still to this day sounds incredible to me. He played with a reckless abandon that had not been seen before his time except by Hendrix...He and Jimi are the best two ever in my book...always will be.

 

[twenty4_7spy]

hmm, deep into page 6 and there's still a whole lotta talkin' going on. EVH and his influence on the history of modern rock guitar? The length of this thread answers this question, I think . . .

Any bets we get to 10 pages? 15?

I listened to the core of VHII (Somebody Get Me a Doctor, Outta Love Again, Bottoms Up, Light Up the Sky, DOA, Beautiful Girls) this morning on the way to work and all I have to say is - Rock will never Die. Nor will the debate over the greatness of a Great Musician.

 

[Anonymous]

I listened to the core of VHII (Somebody Get Me a Doctor, Outta Love Again, Bottoms Up, Light Up the Sky, DOA, Beautiful Girls) this morning on the way to work and all I have to say is - Rock will never Die.

I hate to break this to you, but it's already been dead for awhile...

Steve

 

[Badronald]

Yeah, there are only a few bands, and some old classic bands with decades worth of fans, that are killing it out there with straight up rock.

 

[twenty4_7spy]

I hate to break this to you, but it's already been dead for awhile...

Yeah, I tend to agree in my typical state of pessimism, but forums like this is where the idea lives on - we are keepers of The Flame, so to speak. Maybe.

I am counting on the cycle of musical history to repeat itself, once again. I remember a particular period in the 70s (1977-78), it was the Summer of Donna Summer, ensconced between the event we came to know as a manifestation of The Twilight of the Gods (the '77 Zeppelin tour) and the rise of VH. We were sure Rock was Deader than Elvis (btw, Elvis is still dead). But we of little faith were proved wrong. The Punks were coming - Atomic and otherwise - on a Pale Horse, and they brought (Richard) Hell with them.

I hope it happens again.

 

[mixohoytian]

with posts like EVH, I don't get it... rock n roll is not in good shape

 

[67Mopar]

I'm sick of hearing "Pixies" song writing formula used in nearly every new release. It's been going on since the 90's... Enough already! If rock isn't dead, then why does it smell so bad? "Teen Spirit" maybe?

 

[Mailman1971]

Thats why I only listen to Satellite in the car. Radio stations that are strictly Old School Metal.
Just cant dig anything modern.
Anything on the MP3 player....same deal.

 

[67Mopar]

It's too depressing to talk about.

 

[twenty4_7spy]

If the Lesson of VH has any truth embedded in it, it is that One Great Band - or even One Great Musician - can change the course of musical history. We have witnessed this effect time and time again. That's what this thread is all about, and in the end what people think is irrelevant. Stuff happens.

I predict that the artist who will become The Next Big Thing in Rock is an impressionable 10 year-old who just discovered his Mom's Mötorhead CDs/albums: