The album that changed guitar playing, according to Slash
In today’s world, musical phenomena are much less commonplace than they once were. With Taylor Swift now the most significant artist on the planet, pop stars have replaced rock icons in terms of cultural relevance and global pull. Due to the proliferation of the internet, gone are the days of eagerly waiting for a favourite act to debut their new single on MTV, as are those of watching new cultural heroes explode onto the scene in real-time. With so much ground already covered, not much qualifies as mind-blowing anymore. This is something Slash knows all too well.
The Guns N’ Roses guitarist grew up in an era when rock and popular music were still evolving into the diverse and multifaceted forms we know today. This meant there was still much to explore and new realms to tap into. The advent of affordable televisions and the cultural explosion of the 1970s and 1980s exposed consumers to more music than ever before, connecting individuals who might have otherwise remained isolated and fostering the creation of new genres that bridged previously distinct styles.
While there were many innovators during the transition from the 1970s to the following decade, ranging from post-punk and industrial to pop and nascent electronic music, one man who stands as one of the most transformative is the late Eddie Van Halen. The definitive metal virtuoso, he took the dive-bombs of Ritchie Blackmore and string-tapping of Steve Hackett and Jimmy Page and fused them with his experimental proclivities to create a signature sound. He changed guitar playing forever, popularising techniques like the above and gave metal players some of their most lauded samples today.
Slash himself is also a virtuoso who has mastered almost every trick in the book, but because of his fusion of punk with bluesy classic rock, his technical proficiency isn’t all he’s known for, with feel also a crucial part of his craft. Yet, despite this slight discrepancy in approach, he was blown away by Van Halen the first time he heard his band’s 1978 self-titled debut, and was at the time, and is to this day, in no doubt that he “changed guitar playing” forever on the record.
Featuring the Eddie Van Halen highlight ‘Eruption’, an instrumental tour de force showcasing his extensive technical prowess, and the choppy ‘Runnin’ with the Devil’, it’s undeniable that there was no one like Van Halen when the band first broke out. He heralded the arrival of the delay-drenched, bombastic guitar sound that would define the 1980s. While this opened the doors to bands like Mötley Crüe—a development some might view as a negative—it also proved enormously inspiring for guitarists like Slash and thrash metal pioneers such as Metallica and Slayer. Every cultural hero inevitably produces both genuine disciples and cheap imitations.
Speaking to WGN News just after Van Halen passed away in October 2020, Slash reflected on his sound. He started by stating categorically: “Eddie changed guitar playing”. The Guns N’ Rose legend then recalled him and his band’s former drummer Steven Adler, regularly bunking school as kids, hanging out at the pizza place, and listening to records back home. One of the most consequential albums that they listened to was Van Halen.
Slash explained: “And we used to listen to that first Van Halen record. It was just insane. It was like, ‘What the fuck?’ Anyway, and he just, he changed guitar playing. But he was such an amazing musician, amazing guitar player, amazinginnovator, and just a hell of a guy. And, you know, we really lost a major contributor to rock and roll today.”
Although his music wasn’t for everyone, there’s no doubt that Eddie Van Halen significantly changed guitar playing. Not only did he give metal and hard-rock playing some of its most cherished moments and set the scene for all that followed, but he also pierced culture so deeply that even the day’s biggest star, Michael Jackson, would come knocking, looking to pilfer some of his style on the edgy ‘Beat It’.
