The album Eddie Van Halen was scared to release: “I was nervous”
Anyone who has ever picked up a guitar has secretly dreamed of being Eddie Van Halen at least once in their lives. Even if some people have taken a punk rock approach to the instrument and rely on strumming, any guitarist who claims to have never practised their moves in the mirror tapping along to a song like ‘Eruption’ is either lying to themselves or trying their best to look cool in front of their friends. There’s no question that Eddie was the gold standard for many people, but even the guitar maestro admitted that there were some projects that kept him on his toes.
Granted, Eddie was never the one to call himself the greatest in the world. He knew what he was doing was different from what he heard out of everyone else in the guitar community, but he was never going to be the arrogant guitarist who seemed to be breathing different air than every other mere mortal trying their best behind the fretboard.
In fact, most of what Eddie did was about trying to show other people what he could do. Despite being given instructions from David Lee Roth to turn away from the crowd in the early days, Eddie’s work with different guitar manufacturers throughout the years was proof that he wasn’t a guy looking to keep his secrets close to the chest. He had a gift for the rest of the world the same way Hendrix did, and he ensured everyone had a chance to study the model he built his career.
And no one else got a better first-hand account of what Eddie could do than his son, Wolfgang. Outside of being around the house as his old man started putting together the later projects with Sammy Hagar, Wolfgang was more than happy to try his own hand at playing guitar the minute he got some dexterity.
But by the time he started playing, the guitar community had spread out a bit more. Even for a band that had as much finesse as Van Halen, ‘Wolfie’ was interested in technical players of all kinds, normally listening to a lot of metal in his spare time and even finding time to jam with Alter Bridge’s Mark Tremonti when not working in the 5150 Studios.
“This was the first record that I’ve ever made being sober and I was nervous. I was nervous as a motherfucker.”
Eddie van halen
Once he was able to prod his dad into making a new album with A Different Kind of Truth, Eddie was a bit apprehensive about having to give up control of the mix, saying, “It was a relief in a lot of ways, especially since this was the first record that I’ve ever made being sober and I was nervous. I was nervous as a motherfucker. Why? God only knows. I still get nervous every night before I go out onstage.”
Despite those jitters, Eddie didn’t have anything to worry about. Is A Different Kind of Truth on the same level as 1984? No, but it was never supposed to be. In Eddie’s mind, he probably would have hung everything up after Van Halen III bottomed out, but once Wolfgang got new music out of him, this was a perfect way for the band to take a final bow with Roth as their frontman.
And now that Eddie is no longer with us, A Different Kind of Truth feels like a great way for everyone to remember him. He may have gone through all kinds of hell during the band’s wilderness period, but now that he had made it to the other side of the rock and roll lifestyle, he seemed to finally find some kind of peace.
