The 1978 album Slash said changed rock music forever: “Signalled the end as we knew it”
Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash is widely deemed one of the greatest players of his generation, and for good reason. Whether it be his performances on hits such as ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’, ‘November Rain’ or the classic Terminator 2: Judgement Day anthem ‘You Could Be Mine’, fans don’t have to look far to find evidence of his brilliance.
A lifelong rock music lover, Slash has cited many players in his time as heroes. But honing in, one man he has regularly effused about is Eric Clapton. Going further, he even calls Cream’s psychedelic masterpiece ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ the song that made him pick up the guitar.
Further in detail, Slash told Music Radar: “This is the record I was listening to when I chose to play guitar. While he was talking to me, he was playing ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’, including the solo bit. When I heard that, I was like, ‘That’s what I wanna do!’ So that’s how I started playing guitar.”
Another figure that had a tremendous impact on Slash in forming his signature style was the late Eddie Van Halen. One of the definitive guitar-playing virtuosos who helped usher in the era of technical peacocking in the 1980s, he popularised string tapping, a technique that Slash and many of his peers would use as a decisive weapon in their arsenal. Songs like ‘Eruption’ remain his finest moments.
Although Slash never attempted to imitate Van Halen’s technical wizardry outright, he recognised that Eddie had permanently altered the language of rock guitar. After Van Halen arrived in 1978, every aspiring guitarist had to reckon with a new benchmark for creativity, speed and expression, whether they chose to follow that path or not.
When speaking to with Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones on his radio show Jonesy’s Jukebox in 2018, Slash reflected on Eddie Van Halen’s influence on him and went as far as to describe his playing as so excellent that “nobody else did it like him”.
Slash explained: “I’m a huge fan of Eddie as a person and as a player. And I loved [1978’s] Van Halen when it first came out. That style that he did, I’ve always thought that was something that he did and nobody else did it like him. And then it became a thing. I definitely didn’t go down that road when I picked up the guitar.”
He continued: “But at the same time, I was definitely influenced by him indirectly because he’s just such a great, fluid, feel player. And people don’t pick up on that part of him as much as they do all the pyrotechnic stuff that he does.”
For Slash, that distinction was crucial. While Eddie became synonymous with dazzling solos and revolutionary techniques, it was his phrasing and sense of melody that truly set him apart, qualities that often became overshadowed by the spectacle of his playing but ultimately made his performances so enduring.
The group’s powerhouse performing style wasn’t just held back for the stage; their studio sound also delivered a megawatt jolt of energy into the music world. And, for Slash, the group signified a mammoth change in how rock music was going to continue. “When Van Halen came out, as soon as I heard that record, I was like… 1978, so I was 13. And I hadn’t picked up the guitar yet. But that signalled the end of rock as we knew it. [Laughs],” he added.
The Guns N’ Roses guitarist concluded: “I’ll never forget that feeling, that sort of the ’60s and ’70s kind of thing that sort of developed and developed, sort of punk rock. And everything that was happening up to that point, it all sort of changed. And that totally brought on the hair metal thing that happened in Los Angeles, for sure.”
The 1980s would be dominated by bands trying to replicate the swagger and bravado that Van Halen possessed in buckets. Groups like Whitesnake, Poison, and countless others would take the blueprint laid down by Van Halen and become a huge success.
Despite taking very different musical paths, Slash and Van Halen remain linked by a shared commitment to personality over imitation. Slash forged his reputation through blues-infused swagger rather than technical excess, but he never underestimated the scale of Van Halen’s achievement. As he has repeatedly acknowledged, Eddie didn’t simply redefine guitar playing—he reset the expectations for an entire generation of rock musicians.
Watch the interview below.
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