Eddie Van Halen and his issues with The Allman Brothers Band: “I found their music too cluttered”
Rock and roll has been known to have a lot of different faces throughout its evolution. Even though it’s easy to put artists like The Beatles, Black Sabbath, and Nirvana all under one roof as rock bands, none of those three groups actually sound like each other throughout their careers. Part of the beauty of rock is how many different people have turned it into something else, but Eddie Van Halen admitted that he couldn’t see anything in The Allman Brothers Band.
When Van Halen first emerged on the scene, though, they seemed to be the antithesis of the jam bands like The Allmans, who were stretching their songs out into massive exercises. It was great that someone like Duane Allman could play a million notes over a massive solo, but Eddie was more interested in making songs that cut to the chase, with most of the songs on their debut barely scraping past the five-minute mark.
Then again, it’s not like Eddie was sacrificing anything by making the songs shorter. Even if the solo break only lasted a couple of seconds, he made every line count whenever he played, usually making bold innovations with every line that left people’s jaws on the floor when he was finished.
The Allman Brothers Band may have done the exact same thing, but Eddie wasn’t all that impressed when he heard them, saying, “The Allman Brothers’ feel is something I never got into. Duane was an excellent slide guitarist, but I never cared for Dickie Betts. I found their music too cluttered for my taste.” Then again, it’s strange to see Eddie be so down on Allman when his hero, Eric Clapton, was the biggest champion of their music.
While putting together Derek and the Dominos, Clapton was the one who took Allman under his wing and turned into the greatest guitar duel record of all time. Every guitar break was about making the song, but if you are even remotely interested in what a six-string could do, songs like ‘Layla’ and ‘Bell Bottom Blues’ contained the tastiest licks known to man.
For all the great licks they had under their belt, Eddie was a different animal. Instead of keeping the audience waiting for an extended period of time, some of the best Van Halen projects didn’t waste any time when making the biggest anthems of rock. As much as the band could grandstand when they wanted, they at least had the decency of keeping the track lists fairly punchy.
Regardless of what Eddie thought of the Allman Brothers Band as a group, Allman deserves a place in the rock and roll heavens for the way that he played slide guitar. Eddie created alien noises whenever he strapped on his guitar, but Allman was one of the few people who were able to make the guitar speak whenever he strapped on his guitar.
At Fillmore East might be considered a classic, but Eddie didn’t have as much patience for that playing style. That was reserved for the musician connoisseurs, and Van Halen was all about having and making the greatest musical party that the world had ever seen.
