MENTAL NOTE #89, RESPECT THE WIND, CANCER TAKES ANOTHER GUITAR LEGEND
MENTAL NOTE #89: In Honour of the Legend, Master Guitarist, EDDIE VAN HALEN, who died on 6 Oct 2020.
VAN HALEN, the band founded in 1972, exploded onto the hard rock scene with their debut, self-titled album, VAN HALEN in 1978. I credit VAN HALEN (and so do most critics) for being the driving force in changing the sound waves, to a more Heavy Rock style of music, especially with Eddie Van Halen’s virtuoso guitar playing, and pioneering new playing techniques (taking tapping to new levels) and experimenting with unusual sounds, that inspired so many guitar players.
Edward Lodewijk Van Halen (Dutch: [ˈɛdʋart ˈloːdəˌʋɛi̯k fɑn ˈɦaːlə(n)], /væn ˈheɪlɛn/van HAY-len; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician, songwriter, producer, and inventor. He was the main songwriter and lead guitarist of the American rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded in 1972 with his brother, drummer Alex Van Halen, bassist Mark Stone, and singer David Lee Roth. He was well known for popularizing the tapping guitar solo technique, allowing rapid arpeggios to be played with two hands on the fretboard. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Van_Halen)
Of all the VAN HALEN songs, my favourite isn’t a VAN HALEN song … It is an Eddie Van Halen composition called, RESPECT THE WIND, and is featured in the 1986 movie, TWISTER. Eddie Van Halen, you are a Legend!
Charles Michael “Chuck” Schuldiner (May 13, 1967 – December 13, 2001)
A little more than a decade after VAN HALEN (1972) had emerged, a much heavier style of music, Death Metal, was busting loose in America … many crediting Chuck Schuldiner, founder of the band, DEATH, as the Grandfather (GodFather) of American death metal, but it is debated (important influences on the genre’s creation included Possessed, Death, Necrophagia, Obituary, Autopsy, and Morbid Angel).
Chuck was very humble and never cared for the honorific, as he just wanted to make good music. DEATH was founded in 1983 by the late guitarist and vocalist Chuck Schuldiner, who died of brain cancer (and complications thereof), at the very young age of 34.
Behind the Lens 