“No more fucking guitar solos”: The song David Lee Roth didn’t want Van Halen to record
The beauty of Eddie Van Halen’s guitar playing isn’t just what he can do. There is no doubt that his guitar tapping technique is impressive; in fact, when he first started doing it, it was unprecedented, but he couldn’t have made a career going around the world playing fast solos over and over again; there is something much more intriguing about his guitar style that made him the sensation he is today.
Look at it this way: We all love the song ‘Eruption’. It’s an example of guitar-playing mastery and showcases why Eddie Van Halen is so good at what he does. However, if every single song that Van Halen ever released sounded like ‘Eruption’, you wouldn’t be able to listen to his album. It would be too intense, and despite how impressive it is, it would become repetitive and, eventually, boring.
What really made Eddie a standout guitarist was his ability to take his technical ability and expand upon it to create something truly remarkable. He kept melody close to everything he did, and good songwriting lies at the heart of every single track. While people are still blown away by his guitar solos, they come laced with songs that are accessible and fun to listen to.
This combination of great guitar playing and great songwriting meant that Van Halen was always destined to be a success. Of course, like any band, it didn’t come without its problems. In Van Halen’s case, they could never find a lead singer who worked in unison with the music. Their first frontman, David Lee Roth, was one of the best, but there was always friction present.
Gene Simmons, arguably one of the most exciting performers on the planet, once said that David Lee Roth made every other artist in the industry look like an amateur. “Dave completely [took] the frontman to the nth level… I mean, at that time, Dave was the king,” he said, “There’s nobody. If Jagger stood next to him, it would be like, you know, a sixth grader. He really took it all the way, the whole band, the musicianship, the songwriting.”
Although Van Halen was armed with the best guitarists and vocalists on the planet, they were unable to make it work. There was too much friction, and their creative mindsets clashed when it came to working out how the band should sound. Things were taken one step too far when Lee Roth suggested removing the one thing that made Van Halen a stand rock band in a world of good rock bands: The guitar solo. The thing that Eddie had worked so hard to incorporate into their sound in a way that didn’t diminish the value of the song.
“’Cathedral’ I’ve been doing for over a year and I wanted to put it on a record,” said Eddie Van Halen, talking about a new song they had released. All seemed well and good until he told the interviewer, “Okay, what I’m about to tell you, don’t print.” The interview remained underground until recent years when the comments Eddie wanted to be kept secret finally surfaced, and they highlight pretty well why David Lee Roth had to eventually leave the band.
“It’s just that Dave said, ‘No more fucking guitar solos’,” said Eddie, “You know, he’s on an ego trip. He has always been. Whatever. And if you print this, I’m gonna fucking come up to your house and blow your ass away.”
