EVH talking about Randy

[Kapo_Polenton]

Lately Youtube is linking anything EVH to my suggestion list so this popped up this morning. This clip was a part of a larger interview but it is interesting to see how EVH views himself and others who were his peers or breaking around the time he did. No question he had an influence on both Randy and Lynch but I don't know how you can't give those guys more credit than just saying "yeah they were good". Yes Ed was a pioneer with his sound, the way he used FX, his tapping / lead techniques and those unbelievable rythms but he seems sort of fixated on this notion of the "technical" over the actual music that was written. He mentions Randy not doing anything different than he had already done. Technically? Maybe not but musically? Totally different riff writer and I am pretty sure Ed wasn't as deep into the classical as Randy was. Would he ever have written anything like Diary of a Madman?

Also let's take Lynch... again maybe a technical link but in terms of how he played his solos and his vibe, he's a diff guy. He also has one of these very unique styles that very few can cop.

Malmsteen is another one. He borrowed a a bit of the tapping but he didn't learn to shred like that in 1978 after the debut of VH, that guy was already ripping. Also, I've never heard EVH sweep pick arpeggios like Malmsteen did when he hit the scene. So to be "first" is an incredible feat but to sort of scoff at those who came after you and paint them all with the same brush? I find that interesting and maybe showing a bit of insecurity. Doesn't diminish his contributions or playing in the slightest, nobody will ever have that swing or timing and he wrote incredible tunes, but it does show the ego you need to be great. Most of those guys have it. Probably the driving force behind what makes them so damn good.

Anyway it is an interesting listen. He's also right about Randy in the plane, the pilot at least was def. blitzed to go up and pull that shit but we all know that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95M9cNlunYc&t=6s

 

[SFW]

In a lot of the early EVH interviews, he knocked just about everyone but Clapton and Holdsworth.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

In a lot of the early EVH interviews, he knocked just about everyone but Clapton and Holdsworth.

Which is interesting because Clapton never did anything for me and neither did Holdsworth. Wonder if Ed borrowed any Schenker? One guy he never ripped on to my knowledge.

 

[Racerxrated]

Quiet Riot and VH were 'adversaries' back before VH hit it big...Chris Holmes mentions this in that "Mean Man" preview that's out there. Maybe that's a bit of the 'diss' from EVH.

 

[ElectricVoodoo]

The only similarity between them that I hear is the tapping. Other than that, completely different.
One is trained by the book and the other just reaches out and grabs with his instincts. Both of them are my favorite players, but to say that Randy got everything from him is a stretch.

That being said l, this is a young 27 year old Eddie, so I give him a pass. As stated above, they were competing so I agree with the mud slinging.

 

[Samhain]

Randy is Randy & Ed is Ed.
Apples & Oranges.
Always preferred Rhoads' note for note articulation to Ed's "wingin-it".
Grew up on both and like both.
Not sure the purpose of the video or this thread.
They're both gone like forever.

 

[311boogieman]

Cool thread. I always love this stuff and hearing other people's opinions. I had NOT heard this interview before. Thanks for posting.

As mentioned it was a super competitive time back then and Ed was known for not exactly telling the truth on things so none of this really surprises me. Also, 'best' is relative and subjective as we all know.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Randy is Randy & Ed is Ed.
Apples & Oranges.
Always preferred Rhoads' note for note articulation to Ed's "wingin-it".
Grew up on both and like both.
Not sure the purpose of the video or this thread.
They're both gone like forever.

No point really, just interesting. But yes, thanks for pointing out the obvious.... on a guitar forum...where people come to talk about musicians and guitar related things.

I didn't know QR and VH were competing back then..doesn't seem like much competition to me, QR always came off as candy cane rock and it is no secret that Ozzy's band brought out the best in Randy. Anyway, he isn't exactly ragging on RR here, I just found it interesting that he seemed a bit defensive.

 

[paulyc]

Ed got the cold shoulder from the established guys when he broke on the scene, he said once he didn’t like Joe Perry because he felt Joe didn’t like him, that Tom Scholz stole his live solo, that Blackmore had dissed him at the Rainbow before they were signed, etc. Later on he ripped Clapton when Clapton said Ed didn’t have the blues, he said Clapton must have been a lousy teacher if he (Ed) had no soul.

 

[sytharnia1560]

Jesus Eddie was full of shit in the snippet ... Randy NEVER EVER said "he learnt everything from Eddie" Randy did say he copped Eddie licks in his live solo because it is what kids were impressed by and that he hated the fact he did it

There was.is a rumour that the reason "Fair Warning" was "darker" for VH because Eddie heard Randy's work with Ozzy and it lit a fire under his ass to out do him

 

[Samhain]

I feel both guys enhanced Rock guitar & raised the bar.
Ed no question changed the direction of Rock guitar forever.
And Randy with just 2 albums with Oz his music has stood the test of time.
Both were game changers.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

When I was young 20s I talked sh*t on most guitarists (as did most players I knew) even though in reality I pretty much sucked.
So if I was actually accomplished I could imagine....Eddie was actually not too bad all things considered lol

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

When I was young 20s I talked sh*t on most guitarists (as did most players I knew) even though in reality I pretty much sucked.
So if I was actually accomplished I could imagine....Eddie was actually not too bad all things considered lol

Agreed. I also get that he would have been annoyed with guys like Blackmore and Perry if they ignored him after the way he blazed in to the scene. I remember reading a guitarworld column where Yngwie was asked to provide his opinion of 10 songs from 10 different bands. Lol, I think you can imagine what he said about everyone. He was especially hard on Pearl Jam from what I remember. I think the thing that is lost in all this when you focus on the technical alone.. , is the music. I guess that's my point. Brian May wasn't blowing anyone away but the notes he chose and the songs he wrote, incredible.

Also as a side note, although he wasn't playing with as much gain, Uli Roth was already shredding in the mid 70's. He had some pretty sick chops if you listen back. Ultimately, I am thankful for all these guys. Def. way more personality and uniqueness back in the 80's than there is now. They all sound very similar now and cop the same feel and licks.

 

[DrewJD82]

When I was young 20s I talked sh*t on most guitarists (as did most players I knew) even though in reality I pretty much sucked.
So if I was actually accomplished I could imagine....Eddie was actually not too bad all things considered lol

Oh man, I was bad with this. I started playing in ‘94 and all my idols for the remainder of the decade were Gilmour, Eric Johnson, Vai and Petrucci. I started high school in ‘97 and Korn was pretty much the biggest guitar band at the time, them and Limp Bizkit. I could play fast, but had no clue what I was playing and I had ripped off like every Vai trick I could with a whammy bar or whammy pedal, so it all looked really fucking cool and if you didn’t know any better, it sounded really cool. I ended up sitting in regularly with a couple older guys who were doing covers locally and I’d be out all night playing in the shitty, Lewiston, Maine bars until 2am, then roll into school smelling like stale beer and cigarettes and I’d totally use that as a “Well I’m so good that my parents let me gig on school nights in bars I’m legally not allowed to enter!”, I’d trash talk everyone. Meanwhile, all those other guitar players my age were actually nailing chicks.

Then my senior year I ended up jamming with a college-age dude who knew his theory and he started calling me Eddie Van Tone-deaf. That helped put me in my place enough to shut my mouth.

 

[thiswaythatway]

Ive read plenty of interviews of Eddie and while he never came out and directly trashed anyone he never really said anything positive about anyone else either, besides Clapton, Holdsworth, and Luke. Yngwie back in the 80's made no mistake about it, he flat our ripped everyone. He claims Eddie always avoided him but both Eddie and Yngwie claimed they never listened to any other rock players. These pro guys seemed to be in a world all their own maybe, I get the fact that they were probably busy 24/7 doing band related activities and drugs, booze, and women with any free time.

But I still get a bit peeved by the opinions of these pro's, for example I was reading an interview with Page and Joe Perry and they didn't like anyone unless it was an older guy like George Harrison. They'll dismiss a guy like John Sykes claiming he ripped off Led Zep, yet all they did was rip off old black players from the South, but do backflips over the old British guys from the 60's. zzzzzzzzzz

 

[SpiderWars]

I just read this and realized what a fickle bitch I was back then.
Prior to VH1 I was a Trower guy. Then...
No! EVH! Then...
No! Randy! Then...
No! Yngwie!

I went SRV then EJ after that but you get the idea.

 

[Mr. Willy]

Setting aside their abilities as guitarists and viewing them solely as people, the more I read about both Eddie and Randy, the more I think that Eddie just wasn’t a very nice dude at all. Seems he was “polite” and had that boyish smile on whenever he was in the spotlight, but a lot of things he did to the people he played with were just...bad. On the other hand, Randy seems to have been a genuinely nice and humble person. I’ve never read anyone say otherwise. Closest I’ve seen in his bassist from QR when he said they used to get into fist fights with each other. But even then, that doesn’t come close to malicious, mean, or dirty, like some of the things I’ve read about Eddie.

All of that is totally aside from their abilities as guitarists. Comparing them to each other is just futile. Totally different players, totally different vibes, both both trailblazers and immutable, timeless. We were so fortunate to have them both.

 

[jabps]

Setting aside their abilities as guitarists and viewing them solely as people, the more I read about both Eddie and Randy, the more I think that Eddie just wasn’t a very nice dude at all. Seems he was “polite” and had that boyish smile on whenever he was in the spotlight, but a lot of things he did to the people he played with were just...bad. On the other hand, Randy seems to have been a genuinely nice and humble person. I’ve never read anyone say otherwise. Closest I’ve seen in his bassist from QR when he said they used to get into fist fights with each other. But even then, that doesn’t come close to malicious, mean, or dirty, like some of the things I’ve read about Eddie.

All of that is totally aside from their abilities as guitarists. Comparing them to each other is just futile. Totally different players, totally different vibes, both both trailblazers and immutable, timeless. We were so fortunate to have them both.

No doubt Ed didn't particularly have great things to say about new guys on the scene, sorta the same way guys had treated Ed when he broke. I remember reading where Ed tried to speak with Blackmore and he walked off. Years later Richie clarified what happened by openly admitting he was so intimidated by Ed, he didn't know what to say so he just left.

As was pointed out above, alot of guitarists talk crap or talk down, Malmsteen being a great example for a time. And really it's basis is the insecurities of most musicians. Guitarists specifically.

The thing with Randy though - IMO that had alot to do with the fact that those two guys were cutting heads with each other on the LA scene, they were the two biggest players on the local circuit. And not just as players but their bands. To me it's amazing that they were there at the same time, then you throw in Lynch who was sorta the third guy in the pecking order, it's just amazing if you think about it.

But there is no doubt that Randy was truly humble about it. Almost to the point where you could tell it bothered him just to "tap" because of the association with Ed.

EVH for me is right there with Hendrix. For me they are 1A and 1B and it could even be argued that EVH's influence is even bigger than Jimi's. From the pin stripes, the quest for his tone, the amp industry it's created...EVH's influence runs beyond just playing. As a young player though at the time when Van Halen broke, I really couldn't comprehend what he was doing and thus I was more influenced by the band as a whole. What EVH did for me as a player was make me want to practice, just to get better overall.

But when I heard Randy for the first time, it was everything I wanted to hear in a player - it clicked immediately i.e that's how I want to play. The rhythm's, the structure of his solo's, the little fills, the classical feeling. I immersed myself in Rhoads, then Campbell, then Lynch to the point that it would be 25 years before I would play onstage with another guitar player.

As I always say, it was an incredible time to be a guitar player.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Nobody can question EVH's status or contributions. I was just watching some live 78' footage on youtube and that guy was on another level. The clean shredding, choice of notes, phrasing, presence. Just the total an complete package. Amazing. I think his best years were up until 5150 though. Then it was more about the songs which is cool and all, but the leads no longer had the fire. Maybe the rig change did that or he grew. Still a fantastic song writer though. I'm reading the Running with the Devil book written by their former manager who they screwed over and no question, their upbringing was all about booze and with an alcoholic father, the apples don't fall far from the tree. Ed definitely knew he was the shit and he wanted to be acknowledged by his peers for being the king. Ego and insecurity mixed I guess. Also, people forget this but it is a cultural thing with the dutch. They are outspoken and blunt. Nothing is glossed over. I know this because half my fam is dutch and my mom is brutally outspoken. As such, I am too and my wife just loves that lol.

Ripped off licks or not, RR is an icon. He also had an incredible stage presence. Malmsteen from the moment he hit the scene was also untouchable. Watch those old Alcatrazz live shows. That guy sold his soul to the devil, Effortless.

 

[stanz]

Setting aside their abilities as guitarists and viewing them solely as people, the more I read about both Eddie and Randy, the more I think that Eddie just wasn’t a very nice dude at all. Seems he was “polite” and had that boyish smile on whenever he was in the spotlight, but a lot of things he did to the people he played with were just...bad. On the other hand, Randy seems to have been a genuinely nice and humble person. I’ve never read anyone say otherwise. Closest I’ve seen in his bassist from QR when he said they used to get into fist fights with each other. But even then, that doesn’t come close to malicious, mean, or dirty, like some of the things I’ve read about Eddie.

All of that is totally aside from their abilities as guitarists. Comparing them to each other is just futile. Totally different players, totally different vibes, both both trailblazers and immutable, timeless. We were so fortunate to have them both.

Except that Randy enjoyed playing a particular joke on women. He enjoyed peeing into a drink, and then asking women to taste it... Does this taste okay to you? He also liked peeing on people (as they walked-by) from the balcony of his hotel room. I have mixed feelings, obviously.