The only band Eddie Van Halen was “really over into”
Is it possible to be too into a band? To love and care about their music too much? According to Eddie Van Halen, it is. But there was only ever one band that he came close to enjoying enough to even worth about that at all, and it wasn’t his own.
Musicians seem to separate into two camps. There are the ones that have clear and obvious idols that they spend their whole careers worshipping. Bob Dylan has spent his life honouring Woody Guthrie. Prince loved Joni Mitchell so much that he used to send her fan mail. Sam Fender will talk about his love for Bruce Springsteen at any chance. These are all examples of when music artists remind us that, at their core, they’re music fans just like the rest of us as they join the screaming masses cheering their heroes on.
On the other hand, there are some artists who seem happy to race alone down their own path, keeping themselves free from any one singular inspiration. Instead, they’re tunnel-visioned on their own creations, avoiding becoming too heavily influenced by the work of anyone else or at least discussing it. Some artists skip that question altogether, keeping their personal tastes more private.
Eddie Van Halen sits somewhere in between the two. In an interview with Forbes, he showed that perfectly with a selection of on-the-fence offerings about some artists he liked. “I love Tori Amos, not everything she does, I love Peter Gabriel, not everything he does, I don’t even like everything I do,” he said, with a prevailing middling attitude rather than an obsessive one.
As one of the most influential guitar players in history, no doubt there are generations of musicians who would cite him or his band Van Halen as their all-time favourite artist. For a lot of people, they would be the band that they’re “too” into, if that’s at all possible.
But for Van Halen himself, it was Cream. “The only band I was really over into was Cream,” he said of the 1960s rock troupe formed of bassist Jack Bruce, drummer Ginger Baker and guitarist Eric Clapton. Just as Van Halen’s playing has written him into history, Clapton is another iconic guitarist who is widely considered one of the finest, so it makes sense that the Van Halen player would look up to those who came before him.
It was specifically the band’s musicality that he liked. “The only thing I really liked about them was their live stuff cause they played two verses, then go off and jam for 20 minutes, come back and do a chorus and end,” he said. While some people might have when a band meanders off and away from the hit song the audience knows, Van Halen loved that. “I love the live jam stuff, the improvisation, cause it was nothing like the record, and that is why I loved Cream,” he added.
In particular, Van Halen recommended one song to be the ultimate gateway drug into his favourite band. He said, “Listen to ‘I’m So Glad’ on Goodbye Cream, if that doesn’t blow your fucking mind I don’t know what will.” Who are we to ignore his advice?
