Lemmy Kilmister’s opinion on Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth

The brothers Alex and Eddie Van Halen, alongside David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony, changed the landscape of Hard Rock when Van Halen released their debut album in 1978. The entire scene was impressed by Eddie’s technique and eager to find out how he was able to achieve that sound on record.

Over the decades, many Heavy Rock legends, like the late Motörhead songwriter, vocalist and bassist Lemmy Kilmister, have given their opinion on Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth.

What was Lemmy Kilmister’s opinion on Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth

Lemmy was a big fan of Van Halen’s music and praised the band many times during his career. In his opinion Eddie Van Halen was an incredible guitar player and although he liked Sammy Hagar as a singer, he thought they were better with David Lee Roth as a frontman.

In the late 80s he was asked by Hit Parader magazine to rate some music videos. The first one they showed him was a live version of “Best of Both Worlds”. “Excellent band live, obviously Hagar sounds as inspired as when he was with Montrose.”

“Eddie Van Halen is magic as usual. But I still think David Lee Roth has the better hairstyle!” Right in the sequence, they showed him David Lee Roth’s cover of Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life” and he said: “And here’s the hairstyle. Old rubber mouth is back!”

He continued:

“The only reasons for covering Frank Sinatra I can think of are A) to ingratiate himself in preparation for future career in Vegas. B) cos he likes singing shit like this. Or C) a well  developed sense of humor. Any one of the last two will do. This song sucks, but the rest of the album is great! I am obviously missing something here,” he said.

The late Motörhead leader had the chance to see Van Halen live for the first time in London back in the late ’70s. Although he thought they were great, he said he felt they were not playing loud enough at that show. “I first saw Van Halen at the Rainbow (no, not the L.A one. The old London one, a big theater) back in 1970-something. I thought they could have been louder.”

Lemmy continued:

“Well, I always think it can be louder! Apart from that, they were excellent. An ultimately impressive frontman (athletic in spandex extremis), the mighty Ed burning the strings off his guitar and the rock of a rhythm section. Killer show and excellent songs too. People said ‘Aaargh, they got big hair!’ I said, ‘If they sound that good, I don’t care if they got five buttocks! Each!” he said in an interview featured in the book “Van Halen: A Visual Story, 1978 – 1984”. Eddie and Lemmy had the chance to hang out in the following decades. There are many photos of the two drinking together.

Lemmy thought Eddie was great but “nowhere near” Jimi Hendrix

Motörhead was formed by Lemmy Kilmister in 1975, but he had been part of many bands during the previous decade and also had the opportunity to be Jimi Hendrix’s roadie for a while. So he had the chance to see the guitarist many people consider the greatest of all time perform live multiple times. As someone who saw both him and Van Halen, whom many people consider the second best, he believed the latter was nowhere near Hendrix.

“In 1967, I was 21. The only guy I knew in London was Neville Chester, a roadie who worked with The Who. I rang him up and said, ‘Can I crash on your floor?’ He was sharing a flat with Noel Redding. So when Hendrix needed an extra guy, I was right there. To see Hendrix play was magic. The things he did with a guitar have not been equaled to this day.”

He continued:

“He played rhythm and lead at the same time, under his leg, behind his neck, behind his back, left and right, upside down. Fucking amazing. God bless Eddie Van Halen, he’s nowhere near. Hendrix did it all, and when he died, it stopped,” Lemmy Kilmister told Spin in 2009.

Lemmy was 10 years older than Eddie and passed away in 2015 at the age of 70. Although Motörhead didn’t sell as many records as Van Halen, they are one of the most influential bands in history. Their cult following only grew and Kilmister is considered a highly underrated lyricist.

The band was formed three years after Van Halen but had the chance to release their debut earlier, in 1977. The American band released their first record the following year. They were more prolific, having released 24 studio albums, while Eddie’s band recorded only 12. Lemmy passed away in 2015 at the age of 70 and five years later, in 2020, Eddie died at the age of 65. Both bands were essentially over after their deaths, as they were irreplaceable members of the groups.