The “magic” 1963 song that set Eddie Van Halen on course to rock stardom
Before being in one of the biggest rock bands of the 20th century, Eddie Van Halen and his brother, Alex, self-taught themselves drums and electric guitar before forming their first high school band.
During these years, Eddie studied names like Eric Clapton closely, learning their craft as meticulously as possible, simply to prove he could. He absorbed the talents of many others like a sponge. But what exactly he was aiming for remained a mystery even to the boy himself. Then came a song that changed all of that, and made the would-be hair rock icon realise he could become a legendary musician in his own right.
Van Halen never learned how to read music; he studied by ear, starting with listening to classical recitals by Bach and Mozart to understand the more complicated nuances of music convention. From there, he entered the realm of rock pretty quickly after he and his brother found themselves glued to their respective instruments before forming The Broken Combs at their school in Pasadena.
Van Halen was in fourth grade at the time, but even as a young and impressional nine year old, the future musician knew that the energy and excitement generated from The Broken Combs’ lunchtime performances was enough for him to know exactly what he wanted to do. However, the intent was there, but he still had a lot to learn. Thankfully, the playing field offered plenty of legends to choose from.
Growing up in the mid-1960s was a dream for someone like Van Halen, who was presented with a smörgåsbord of talent from The Beatles, Cream, and The Rolling Stones to The Beach Boys and The Who. During his school years, it’s easy to imagine the sounds of and hype surrounding the Fab Four were at every corner, inspiring countless others to venture to the music department and see if they secretly had a hidden rhythmic talent.
Of course, many didn’t, and resigned their interest to merely that, but Van Halen and his brother kept at it, working and studying with an energy driven by their unwavering commitment to one day forming the next best thing. While Alex became more tempted by those crucial Beatles spaces, observing how the Liverpudlian quartet created resonant music and held themselves on stage, Van Halen was preoccupied with another assembly—the Dave Clark Five.
In fourth grade, Van Halen gravitated more towards Clark’s group because of his interest in percussionist rhythms, having initially started to learn to play music in his own drum kit before venturing over into the realm of electric guitar. Discovering them aligned with his passion for rock energy, and so he became more endeared to the thumping beats of Clark than the simplicity of Ringo Starr, like his brother.
“Alex and I went to the local theatre to see A Hard Day’s Night, and the girls were screaming,” he recalled during an interview with Rolling Stone. “Alex loved that. For me it was [Clark’s] ‘Glad All Over’. To this day I listen to some of those old recordings, and they have a magic to them. They were badass.”
With great pride, he continued, “Every kid goes through the phase of building model cars and stuff. I would take boxes and paper and make something like a snare drum, and I’d play along with the Dave Clark Five stuff.”
In truth, they were far more of an influence on the world, let alone the Van Halen family, than many people care to remember. As Andrew Loog Oldham once said, “If The Beatles ever looked over their shoulders, it was not The Stones they saw. They saw the Dave Clark Five.” The classic ‘Glad All Over’ even displaced ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ once it roared into the charts in 1964.
The song became the second best-selling single in 1964 following its release in November in ‘63 (late December in the US), and it helped launch the group that would go on to have countless top 40 hits as an edgy alternative to the Fab Four. With slick-back hair and the shimmer of musical innovation, EVH was enamoured by the cool Brit icons.
One of the most crucial rock ‘n’ roll songs in history, it’s no wonder Van Halen’s core entry to the real rock music world was ‘Glad All Over’. Driven heavily by its rhythm from the opening notes, the song possesses the same kind of raw energy and enthusiasm later revolutionised by his own band but in a completely distinctive style that would redefine guitar music of the 1970s and beyond.
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