The drummer Eddie Van Halen called “one of the best in the world”
The late Eddie Van Halen delivered many fascinating insights into some of the best in the music industry. From being highly self-critical to providing divergent accounts of icons, the Amsterdam native liked to keep fans on their toes.
The Van Halen guitarist was well within his rights to provide such a mass of opinions as, after all, he was one of the most impactful figures to have ever picked up the six-string. The key to most of his band’s success, Eddie Van Halen blew fans away with his blistering skill. He popularised now-ubiquitous features of guitar-playing, such as string-tapping and dive bombs on his whammy bar, with many recordings displaying his might.
Van Halen was so incredible at his craft that even Pink Floyd’s resident guitar hero, David Gilmour, named him as the one guitarist he wished he could play like. The British musician explained: “I can’t play like Eddie Van Halen. I wish I could. I sat down to try some of those ideas, and I can’t do it. I don’t know if I could ever get any of that stuff together. Sometimes I think I should work at the guitar more. I play every day but I don’t consciously practice scales or anything in particular.”
There’s no wonder, then, that Eddie Van Halen felt comfortable sharing his thoughts with the world. He was so at ease with himself that he even had the audacity to describe Jimi Hendrix – perhaps the most significant guitarist in rock music history – as “sloppy”. Not only does this go against the grain, but it’s also a highly contested account, as, for the most part, Hendrix is praised for his technical prowess and precision.
Whilst Van Halen was no stranger to controversy, his statements were mostly agreeable. They displayed the insight that only the true greats have, owing to a natural understanding of music and the rare experience of being at the top of your game. One of his arguments most people can get behind is that he described the late Jeff Porcaro as “one of the best drummers in the world”. Tragically, Porcaro passed away aged 38 from a heart attack in August 1992, but he had already established a tremendous legacy at such a young age.
Porcaro is most well-known for being a co-founding member of the celebrated Los Angeles outfit Toto, and one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on hundreds of albums in thousands of sessions. Famously, Porcaro confirmed himself as one of the greatest session drummers in the 1970s, with his efforts on Steely Dan’s 1975 offering, Katy Lied, hailed as one of his crowning achievements. Later in 1980, despite the odds, his work on the same band’s track ‘Gaucho’ became arguably his finest moment.
“He was one of the best drummers in the world,” Eddie Van Halen said of Porcaro at a tribute held for him in late 1992. “Definitely the groove master. He was just so heavy.”
Watch Jeff Porcaro in action below.
