The legendary guitarists Eddie Van Halen accused of copying him: “He does my solo again”
Eddie Van Halen wasn’t a global superstar by 1979. He and Van Halen only released two albums – Van Halen and Van Halen II – but were already becoming the hottest new band in the rock world.
Dominating a scene is no easy feat. To become a giant group is to achieve a perfect balance of bravado, ego and genuine talent to command respect, excite fans and deliver the goods. Van Halen had only just begun their ascension to the top, but they had a nuclear weapon in their arsenal in the form of Eddie Van Halen.
The 1960s and ’70s had been all about guitarists. They were the icons of the bands, able to convert entire audiences with a six-note run and a bent string. Countless artists seemed to be inspired by the blues. Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and, to some extent, Jimi Hendrix, all found inspiration in the blues. But Van Halen was different. He was inspired by himself.
It was Eddie’s guitar style that made the band stand out, with his mastery of tapping and distortion becoming the band’s signature sound. It was so distinctive that, even in the band’s earliest days, Van Halen could hear other guitarists copying his approach.
“Rick Derringer opened for us last year, and he did my exact solo,” Van Halen told Jas Obrecht in a 1979 interview with Guitar Player magazine. “After the show, we’re sitting in the bar, and I just said, ‘Hey, Rick. I grew up on your ass. How can you do this? I don’t care if you use the technique – don’t play my melody.’ And he’s drunk and stupid and going, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’”
“The next night he does my solo again. He (also) ends the set with ‘You Really Got Me,’ which is exactly what we do,” he added. “So I hate to say it, but I just told him, ‘Hey, if you’re going to continue doing that, you ain’t opening for us.’ So I kicked him off. (…) It’s fucked, you know. Because I’ve seen him plenty of times. I’ve even copied his chops way back then.”
Derringer was a certified rock and roll legend by the end of the 1970s. Having led 1960s garage rockers The McCoys straight to the top of the pop charts with the 1965 single ‘Hang on Sloopy’, Derringer had re-established himself as the guitarist for The Edgar Winter Group and even scored his own solo hit, ‘Rock and Roll, Hoochie Too’ in 1973. Why he felt the need to copy Van Halen is anyone’s guess, but Derringer wasn’t alone in copying some of Van Halen’s licks.
“Tom Scholtz from Boston, too. We played right before them – I forget where – and I do my solo. And then all of a sudden he does my solo,” Van Halen also claimed. These are some serious claims from a guitarist towards another. “And it was real weird, because it was a daytime thing. I was standing onstage, and the whole crowd was looking at me like, ‘What’s this guy doing?’ I was drunk. I got pissed.”
“Tom Scholtz is a real dick. He’s unsociable. I guess he just thinks he’s God or something. He never comes around, he doesn’t say hi,” Van Halen revealed. “He doesn’t do anything. Just kind of hides out, runs onstage and plays, and disappears afterwards. So I started talking to the other guitarist (in Boston), and I told him, ‘Hey. Tell him I think he’s fucked!’ I was real pissed, you know. I don’t know. Now I’m just raggin’ (laughs).”
Check out Van Halen’s version of ‘You Really Got Me’ down below.
