“It’s kind of a dicey title. You never liked it”: Alex Van Halen says that Eddie Van Halen didn’t like being called “the greatest guitarist”
Alex Van Halen says in his new book that his late brother Eddie “never liked” being described as “the greatest guitarist”.
Just days after the fourth anniversary of Eddie’s death, an excerpt from the audiobook version of the Van Halen drummer’s forthcoming book Brothers was released on Spotify. Read by Alex himself, the four-and-a-half minute extract is as emotional as you’d expect.
READ MORE: “I did everything you could imagine to that guitar to ruin it”: Hear Eddie Van Halen tell the story of his early guitar modding experiments
“The world’s greatest guitarist is what everyone says. It’s kind of a dicey title. You never liked it,” he reads. “I can tell you this much, saying you’re the greatest implies there are many more like you. But there is only one, Edward Van Halen. You could play just a single note and it sounded different, distinct. Miles Davis said it’s not the notes, it’s the intent. It’s that intangible essence that makes the difference between one sound and another.
“From the first time you picked up a guitar – my guitar, actually – the resonance and intonation were unique,” he continues. “Long before people were going crazy for your finger tapping, the talent was already there. Even when you just played a chord, you always said you didn’t know where it came from.
“People tell me, you’ll always have the music and the best tribute anyone can give you is to listen to our songs. I’m listening to Loss Of Control as I write this. It’s the stuff in between the licks that gets me. It’s so particular, such a distinctive way of playing you had. And then within seconds you’ve already changed the lick. You’ve let it evolve ever so slightly in the most interesting way, and you weren’t even aware of it half the time. Music just came through you.”
Alex later discusses the depth of his grief over losing his younger brother. “I watched you take your last breath. In that moment, all the stuff you did or made in this world, you can’t take it with you,” he says.
“Since you’ve been gone, I catch myself talking to you, yelling at you, in my head or sometimes out loud. I still have trouble believing you’re gone, and probably for me, you never will be. Outliving my little brother, this just wasn’t the plan. As the older brother, I was supposed to die first. Same as always, Ed, butting in line.
“I’ve watched, sometimes with anger, sometimes with grief and other times with pride as the world has mourned your passing and other people have claimed to tell your story. But I was with you from day one. We shared the experience of coming to this country and figuring out how to fit in. We shared a record player, an 800-square-foot house, a mom and a dad, and a work ethic. Later, we shared the back of a tour bus, the experience of becoming successful, of becoming fathers and uncles, of alcoholism and spending more hours in the studio than I’ve spent doing anything else in this life.
“We shared a depth of understanding that most people could only hope to achieve. We shared a last name. And we shared a band, and here’s what I have to say.”
Brothers will arrive on 22 October. It promises to be “intimate and open account” of Alex’s life, in which he “shares his personal story of family, friendship, music, and brotherly love in a remarkable tribute to his beloved brother and bandmate”.
To pre-order, head to HarperCollins.
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