# Eddie Van Halen - RIP



## boyscout (Feb 14, 2009)

Died today at 65 after a long fight with throat cancer. Jump and Eruption will live on forever.


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

....just dunno what to say....


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

Wow !!! RIP Eddie


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## Gimper (Jan 14, 2016)

RIP EVH


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I guess we knew he wasn't a healthy boy over the past couple of decades, but my first reaction was no fucking way.....

RIP


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Milkman said:


> I guess we knew he wasn't a healthy boy over the past couple of decades, but my first reaction was no fucking way.....
> 
> RIP


Same exactly, shocked.

RIP, and thanks for thousands of hours of enjoyment of the music.


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## TimH (Feb 4, 2006)

Guitar rock legend Eddie Van Halen dies of cancer at 65


Eddie Van Halen, the guitar virtuoso whose blinding speed, control and innovation propelled his band Van Halen into one of hard rock's biggest groups and became elevated to the status of rock god, has died. He was 65.



www.ctvnews.ca





One of a handful of men who truly changed the instrument.

The list is pretty short when you stop and think about it. A tortured soul for sure but sad to see him pass.


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## db62 (Sep 18, 2007)

Eddie Van Halen, grinning guitar god for a rock generation, dies at 65


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## bigboki (Apr 16, 2015)

I just learnt as well  
it is so sad


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## Chitmo (Sep 2, 2013)




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## Markus 1 (Feb 1, 2019)

This is devastating news

My very first vinyl album was Van Halen Diver Down

RIP. This is too much


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## zerorez (Jul 4, 2008)

RIP! Edward


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## Mikev7305 (Jan 6, 2020)

Well I know what I'm listening to all night now. RIP EVH


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

RIP EVH


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## db62 (Sep 18, 2007)

Yes, VH1 was game changer...


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## zztomato (Nov 19, 2010)

Very sad news. There are few guitarists who you could clearly call unique but EVH was definitely one.


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## Johnny Spune (Sep 15, 2014)

His guitar playing and music were huge in my life. RIP EVH.


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## SG-Rocker (Dec 30, 2007)

One of (if not the) greatest to ever pick up the instrument.

Eddie once said he missed playing with his dad more than anything....



Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk


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## Grab n Go (May 1, 2013)

Surreal. This is a really hard one to take.

I'm even getting messages about Eddie from people I haven't seen in ages.


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

This is beyond sad!! He was one of my guitar idols! Rip Eddie and thx for everything.


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## slag banal (May 4, 2020)

I started playing when I heard Hendrix. I kept playing after hearing Di Miola. (Who really cares if a fusion guy is that good?) But a few years later I ripped up my union card and quit playing for ten+ years when I heard EVH. After him, professional rock guitar seemed out of reach for me.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

RIP

I wasn't really a Van Halen fan, but he was one of the last major innovators of rock guitar. 

I had heard a year ago that he was travelling to Germany for experimental cancer treatment, and then lately things got very quiet on news from him, so I've been expecting the worst. 

RIP


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## gtrguy (Jul 6, 2006)

My original guitar hero and the reason I picked up the guitar. My range of inspirations grew but he was the beginning. RIP Eddie, thanks for everything.


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## Business (Jul 30, 2013)

His tone was the most sought-after in history and still is, I reckon

Don't smoke kids


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## CDWaterloo (Jul 18, 2008)

RIP....


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

RIP Eddie. It was time to take a rest having to fight the big C. One of the most innovative and influential guitar player ever. Thanks for the music.


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## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

This one got me down, I must admit.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)




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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Wow I didn't expect EVH to take his final bow so young.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

id heard stories lately that suggested his health was failing and he wasn’t long for this world.
he was pretty hard on his body with his lifestyle.
Sammy told a story of a time he went to see him at this house and he was living like a squatter.

musically, one of the greats.
maybe the biggest influence on my generation of guitarists.


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## Sketchy Jeff (Jan 12, 2019)

for me VH is the sound of sitting around a fire on the tailgate of a pickup truck talking big about what we were gonna do when we got outta here
j


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

first Ruth goes and now Eddie. pretty sad but I bet theyre rocking out together. I'm gonna listen to A Different Kind of Truth right now


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

RIP.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)




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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)




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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

A great guitar player in a great party band that still released serious albums, and good ones at that.

Go with angels.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

The news just interviewed a rock reporter guy. He said Eddie had cancer of the mouth and throat. At one time 1/3 of his tongue was removed. Eddie thought it was the metal guitar picks he always put in his mouth. Funny how he wouldn't think having a smoke burning in every shot could be the issue...


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## Rollin Hand (Jul 12, 2012)

This hurts. A lot. Still processing it.


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## Farmboyjo (Aug 26, 2016)

Damn it! Yes hurts a lot right now. His music was there for most of the big moments in my life - Good and Bad. Reached out ~24 years ago and actually got an email back from Valerie. 

RIP EVH


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

It’s all been said already. I’m shocked and saddened, RIP Eddie


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

RIP Eddie. Thanks for the gift.


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

Business said:


> His tone was the most sought-after in history and still is, I reckon
> 
> Don't smoke kids


It was not only the cigarettes but the booze, meth, cocaine. His lifestyle was a huge contributing factor to his early demise.

I remembered when I first heard Jump that was it. Eddie you were the best guitar player ever. A virtuoso in your own right! You and Hendrix changed my world forever!


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## teleboli (Aug 19, 2009)

All of the Good Ones Are ( getting ) Taken


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## Grab n Go (May 1, 2013)

I never got to see VH in their heyday, but I did see them in 1998 in Toronto.

I happened to be at Sam the Record Man when they made an autograph appearance. Lots of people constantly interrupting with "EDDIE, EDDIE, EDDIE!!!" Eddie would just smile and give "hang loose" signs.

Later that year, they played at the Molson Amphitheater. I remember the lights going down and hearing the opening riff to Unchained. Just epic. I get chills thinking about it. Eddie was on fire during that tour. He sounded so inspired.


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## GuitarT (Nov 23, 2010)

Back in 1978 I was a 15 year old kid who was trying to learn a few chords on my older sister's acoustic guitar. One Saturday my older brother came home with a brand new stereo system and the shop he bought it from included two free albums with it. One of them was the newly released debut album from Van Halen. Neither my brother or I ever heard of them before but it can still remember playing that album for the first time and being totally blown away. That was it, I found my calling. I convinced my father I needed an electric guitar and life hasn't been the same since. If I remember correctly my brother wasn't nearly as impressed as I was. "Too much guitar playing". He ended up giving the album to me.


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

A stunning loss for the music world.


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## SaucyJack (Mar 8, 2017)

Lifestyle certainly didn't do him any favours and all the money in the world couldn't save him.

Always have been, and always will be a huge Eddie fan. RIP...

Sad day...


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## white buffalo (Jan 31, 2016)

Celeb deaths seldom if ever leave me gutted, but this one has done just that, and in a _very_ big way. He and SRV were the very reason(s) I picked up the six string when I was 15. I'm not unique in that regard, because Ed was the impetus for _millions_ of us spanning several generations to do the exact same. Maybe it's cliche to say, but hearing Eruption for the first time was absolutely revelatory for me. But cliches are cliches for a reason... That track is and always will be revelatory. Play eruption to the aliens when they make first contact. Not one bit of that initial enchantment I experienced the first time I heard it has been lost 15+ years and thousands of plays later. Of course then proceeding to do a deep-dive on the bands catalogue left me on cloud nine. Ed was (damn, hurts to refer to him in the past tense) that once-in-a-lifetime force that anyone and everyone else could only ever dream of coming close to imitating. Nobody else like Ed out there... A rare mix of being an emotive and yet absolutely badass player. He wrote some of the most beautifully evocative and yet wicked sounding music ever to adorn sound waves. All while maintaining his effortless cool guy swagger. And of course it'd be remiss of me to utter his name on a gear forum without mentioning his impeccable and truly inimitable tone... imo the _greatest ever _recorded guitar tone, period- you don't have to be into rock in order to be able to admit that. This one really stings, and will for a good long while... There's no recovering from this. I recall watching vids of him within the last year or two absolutely murdering his axe, thinking he's sounding and looking better than ever. Fuck, man. RIP, legend of legends. The originator.


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## TheYanChamp (Mar 6, 2009)

I remembered cranking VH1 on my dads huge system when he wasn't home. I didn't know anything about music besides the country and blues my parents always had on, so it was a mind blowing experience for sure. 

I mostly forgot about his music until a few years ago when I revisited it and was again blown away. Even after all the prog, metal, hard rock I came to know and love it was still a game changer to my playing when I started learning the tunes.

The rawness, the energy, his god damn smile were all inspirations to me. Hell, I even use his gear as it just seems to be tuned 'right' for the sounds I want to hear.


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## TheYanChamp (Mar 6, 2009)

delete


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## Grainslayer (Sep 26, 2016)

First album I bought with my own money from my first job when I was a kid was 1984.I’m trying to look at this in the most positive way I can.He was and always will be a guitar legend.RIP


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## TheYanChamp (Mar 6, 2009)

TimH said:


> Guitar rock legend Eddie Van Halen dies of cancer at 65
> 
> 
> Eddie Van Halen, the guitar virtuoso whose blinding speed, control and innovation propelled his band Van Halen into one of hard rock's biggest groups and became elevated to the status of rock god, has died. He was 65.
> ...



He's one that I'm not sure was tortured. He sought inspiration like many artists, and that can have its dark corners for sure.

He's been quoted several times explaining that it wasn't really about the 'party' it was about holing himself up with booze coke and a recording setup and coming up with new shit. 

Depending on Wolf and his estate, I wouldn't be surprised if there are days/years worth of tape that might still see the light of day. The guy always had a studio in his house.


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## pickslide (May 9, 2006)

Very sad about this. Eddie is and will always be my favorite player. He also looked like he was always having a good time. That smile was infectious. There will never be another one like him.


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

I’ve always loved his rhythm work more than his solos. He is incredibly funky at times and can swing like a mofo. Sure the solos are nuts, but what set him apart from all the 80s ‘guitar gods’ that followed was that he could actually write a song and hook. RIP


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Any death leaves a hole and feelings of loss and more.
Some celebrity deaths will mean more to some than others, but this is a big one for guitar players, and many other musicians-and Van Halen fans, as well as for his family & friends.

Condolences to them all.


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

Now I am home from work with no distractions, totally depressed. Eddie bought me so much joy and happiness. I can remember going on a Van Halen bender for a couple of months, playing and listening.

Decided I need to play Unchained right now. Such a great song. Those fingers, I can hear them dancing on the strings already.


white buffalo said:


> Celeb deaths seldom if ever leave me gutted, but this one has done just that, and in a _very_ big way. He and SRV were the very reason(s) I picked up the six string when I was 15. I'm not unique in that regard, because Ed was the impetus for _millions_ of us spanning several generations to do the exact same. Maybe it's cliche to say, but hearing Eruption for the first time was absolutely revelatory for me. But cliches are cliches for a reason... That track is and always will be revelatory. Play eruption to the aliens when they make first contact. Not one bit of that initial enchantment I experienced the first time I heard it has been lost 15+ years and thousands of plays later. Of course then proceeding to do a deep-dive on the bands catalogue left me on cloud nine. Ed was (damn, hurts to refer to him in the past tense) that once-in-a-lifetime force that anyone and everyone else could only ever dream of coming close to imitating. Nobody else like Ed out there... A rare mix of being an emotive and yet absolutely badass player. He wrote some of the most beautifully evocative and yet wicked sounding music ever to adorn sound waves. All while maintaining his effortless cool guy swagger. And of course it'd be remiss of me to utter his name on a gear forum without mentioning his impeccable and truly inimitable tone... imo the _greatest ever _recorded guitar tone, period- you don't have to be into rock in order to be able to admit that. This one really stings, and will for a good long while... There's no recovering from this. I recall watching vids of him within the last year or two absolutely murdering his axe, thinking he's sounding and looking better than ever. Fuck, man. RIP, legend of legends. The originator.


That was very poignant! I can relate to everything your saying. One of a kind he was!


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

I remember this concert so well! They were awesome! Eddie blew my mind! Eruption! I saved the ticket as it never got ripped.


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## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

I was shocked when I read about this earlier today. 65 is way too young. From around 1984 to 1986 I went through my own phase of trying to play like Eddie, along with probably about 10,000 other guitarists, until I started to develop my own style. Even though my two favourite guitarists are George Harrison and Elliot Easton (of The Cars), there's no denying that Eddie was an innovator on guitar. Artificial harmonics, distorted guitar, finger tapping and whammy bars have been used by guitarists prior to him but Eddie took those techniques and made them his own. Let's not forgot about his red, white and black painted "Frankenstein" guitar which looked like it was a Ferrari that had taken one too many turns on the race track. He played the daylights out of that iconic guitar and from what I've read in the past, Eddie was also a pretty good luthier as well. If his guitars needed repairs or adjusting he could do it himself. No guitar tech was necessary. And even though most people remember him for his solos, he was also a darn good rhythm player as well. He'll be greatly missed. R.I.P. Mr. Van Halen.


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## Frenchy99 (Oct 15, 2016)

I`m floored ...

R.I.P.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Cancer don't give a shit who you are or how old you are. RIP


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Electraglide said:


> Cancer don't give a shit who you are or how old you are. RIP


And this makes me think of how I heard about Eddie from a friend who is battling cancer.
If Eddie could battle for 20 years-give or take, I hope he can as well--at least.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Slow to respond due to an internet outage much of yesterday.
Never saw him/them, don't have any of their albums, and he probably came along too late in my own life to sink the kind of emotional roots into me that he clearly did for many here. But he was unique, influential, memorable, inspiring, enjoyable, and clearly dedicated. If the landscape was saturated with guitar players, Eddie was the Waldo with the dayglo sweater and spotlight that you could easily identify. I think it's telling that most of the pictures one ever saw of him had a big smile on his face.
Leaves a lasting impact on music, as well as the music gear industry. The number of amps, guitars, and pedals produced that were focused on _*sounding*_ like Eddie is huge. Of course, they provide no substitute for the woodshedding required, but we'll leave that aside.
Could we have expected anything "new" from him at this point? I doubt it. But that takes nothing away from the impact he had with what he did do. Who would have thought that "Diamond Dave" would outlive him?
RIP


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Lola said:


> It was not only the cigarettes but the booze, meth, cocaine. His lifestyle was a huge contributing factor to his early demise.


They can't all be "Keith".


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

My password at work has been [email protected] for 10 yrs now. I willl never change it!


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

While probably not that directly influential on my playing (that die was cast in the 70s by guys like Page and May, etc), I still clearly remember the first time I heard VH1. It blew my and everyone else's mind. The tone, the acrobatics, the swagger.

I was lucky enough to see the real Van Halen live in the early 80s, a couple of times. They were never better than that. RIP Eddie, but you will live on with your albums and your videos. You made playing great guitar look fun!


Fuck Cancer!


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## rearviewmirror2 (Mar 22, 2010)

Still sad this morning. Had my kids dancing to vh ii last night. He's the reason I learned guitar. And piano (I still love jump after all these years).

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk


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## Khorah (Apr 11, 2013)

Eddie was a true innovator. Playing aside, what he did with gear was amazing. Using the marshall, phase 90, a beat up super strat guitar and a variac to get a sound that many people have spent many thousands of hours and dollars trying to obtain. His tone pursuits still push me today.

Without Eddie I think most of us could throw most of our record collection in the garbage. His influence will never die. He pushed us all to be better on the 6 strings and always keep pushing to get better and find new sounds. 

First Neil Peart, Now Eddie. Fuck You 2020. It's a bummer when your heroes start to fade away.


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## King Loudness (May 3, 2010)

I'm fuckin' numb... don't really have the words to sum up how much he and his music; his lessons, have meant to me since I was a kid. He showed me that I could achieve my rock n' roll dreams more than any other musician on this planet.

This will have to do in explaining it...






Rest in Peace Ed -- I love you man.

W.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Just before Eddie died Rick Beato posted this video--I was going to post it before, but it slipped my mind.





Then Eddie died & he posted this:


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

I am still so gutted!


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)




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## Johnny Spune (Sep 15, 2014)

Lola said:


> I am still so gutted!


Me too Lola...


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

Not a happy feeling.
Truly an amazing guitarist.
Later Eddy. Thanks. RIP.


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)




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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)




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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

This pic is from 2019. You can see how dramatic the change of having cancer is. He looks ravaged. RIP Eddie. See you on the other side.


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)




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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)




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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)




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## Grab n Go (May 1, 2013)

Steve Vai talking about 
hanging out and jamming with Eddie back
 in the day.


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

My tribute wall.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Just saw this elsewhere online & had to share it here.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

Grainslayer said:


> First album I bought with my own money from my first job when I was a kid was 1984.


Me too!!! I had heard (and loved) Jump, but when they released Panama... I was hooked!!! I went to buy the tape, cause all I had was a "ghetto-blaster" but it was sold out. I had to had to had to have this, so I bought the vinyl. I used my sisters turntable to dub it to a blank tape. Vinyl sat untouched for years. Which turns out to be great... cause I still have it!!! 

I loved the whole thing, but the first time I heard the opening chords of Drop Dead Legs.... I was blown away! I could not believe the sound of that guitar! I almost forgot I was recording, I went to lift the needle to listen again!

RIP EVH!


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## Grainslayer (Sep 26, 2016)

SWLABR said:


> Me too!!! I had heard (and loved) Jump, but when they released Panama... I was hooked!!! I went to buy the tape, cause all I had was a "ghetto-blaster" but it was sold out. I had to had to had to have this, so I bought the vinyl. I used my sisters turntable to dub it to a blank tape. Vinyl sat untouched for years. Which turns out to be great... cause I still have it!!!
> 
> I loved the whole thing, but the first time I heard the opening chords of Drop Dead Legs.... I was blown away! I could not believe the sound of that guitar! I almost forgot I was recording, I went to lift the needle to listen again!
> 
> RIP EVH!


Lol,
.I bought the cassette and I agree,the opening of drop dead legs is just as awesome today as it was in 1984.Never gets old.👍


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

This is a cool story about EVH and a nice rendition of Eruption by Dweezil Zappa.


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