The Van Halen song Gene Simmons said is his favorite one

Gene Simmons helped to form Kiss in 1973 and in the following years they became one of the most successful bands in the world, selling millions of records worldwide. He had the chance to see Rock and Roll music evolve at the time and even was able to help a few new bands during that time, including Van Halen.

He saw the band playing in a club one night and then helped them to get into a studio and record their first demo. It wasn’t enough for them to get a record deal at the time, but sometime later they finally signed their first deal. Then obvisouly recorded their groundbreaking debut album which was released in 1978. Simmons remained a good friend of the late legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen and obviously, he is a big fan of the band. He even revealed once which is his favorite song from their discography.

The Van Halen song Gene Simmons said is his favorite one

Well, Simmons’ favorite Van Halen song is one of the tracks the band recorded during the sessions that became their first demo. At the time, Simmons managed to get them studio time in New York. So it was at the historical Electric Ladyland Studios where they recorded their first songs. One of them was “House of Pain”, which Simmons told Guitar World in 2021 that was his favorite one from them.

“My favorite Van Halen song of all time is that unreleased ‘House of Pain’. There’s nothing better, and that includes ‘Eruption’. That thing is like a locomotive that’s going down the track without being able to stop,” Gene Simmons said.

He also praised that track in an interview with the Jeremy White Podcast in 2020 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). “The original version of ‘House Of Pain’ is like a locomotive that doesn’t stop and your jaw would drop. The ‘House Of Pain’ that was recorded by them (On the ‘1984’ album) is tame compared to what this is. You will be shocked and mostly is live in the studio,” Gene Simmons said.

As Simmons noted, the song was actually released many years later, in 1984. But as the musician said, in his opinion, the demo version is much better.

For Simmons, Eddie was the finest guitarist since Hendrix

Van Halen was active from 1973 to 2020 until the death of the legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen at the age of 65. The guitarist caused a real revolution in Rock and Roll in the late 70s with his guitar playing. He was an inspiration for countless musicians over the decades.

After Eddie’s passing he told Rolling Stone that the late musician was the finest guitarist since Jimi Hendrix. “This is a heartbreaking day for me. Eddie was a beautiful soul; a sweetheart of a guy.”

He continued:

“You can say he’s the finest guitarist on two legs since Hendrix. All those superlatives, which of course are true. But for me the most memorable image when I heard he passed today was Eddie smiling from ear to ear.”

The group also was one of the few ones that were able to remain successful without their classic vocalist. Because after David Lee Roth decided to leave the band in the mid-80s, he was replaced by Sammy Hagar. Even with that big change, they continued to be quite successful and praised. The band released 12 studio albums and sold an estimated amount of more than 80 million records worldwide.

Their final release was “A Different Kind of Truth”, released in 2012. Besides the brothers, at the time the band also had Wolfgang on bass and David Lee Roth on vocals.