Eddie Van Halen’s opinion on Neil Young

Eddie Van Halen was one of a kind and truly changed the course of Hard Rock music, impacting virtually all Rock subgenres with his unique guitar playing style. He inspired and impressed many of his peers, including those whose styles were very different and never really incorporated his ideas into their own music.

One of them was Neil Young, who admired Eddie and was mesmerized by his technique, even though his own playing was quite the opposite in approach. Over the decades, Eddie had the opportunity to share his opinion on many musicians, including Young.

What was Eddie Van Halen’s opinion on Neil Young

Although Neil Young’s music is quite different from what Van Halen did, Eddie Van Halen was a fan of the Canadian music and his guitar playing. One of his favorite guitar solos was actually a very simple one, from the song “Cinnamon Girl”. “One of my favourite solos is in ‘Cinnamon Girl’ by Neil Young. It’s a one-note solo and it just fits the song. Anyone else would have gone woraaagh and it wouldn’t have made any sense. If I’ve changed over the years, it’s that I’ve got more in tune with the song.”

“You’ve gotta decide, are you making music for people or are you doing it for yourself? Anyone who says that they’re not making music for people can kiss my ass. I dunno, maybe they should just sit home in their closets and make music. Why bother making records and trying to sell them if you’re trying to make music for yourself? These guys who claim, ‘I’m an artist and I don’t care if I make records or not…’ Well, why even bother making them? I want to sell records; I want people to enjoy what I’m doing as much as I do. And if that means I’m selling out, then I’m selling out…” Eddie Van Halen said in an interview with Guitar World in 1993.

What Eddie said during that conversation is, curiously, something Neil has maintained throughout his entire career. He has always made the kind of music he wants, never caring whether it is commercial enough or not. “Cinnamon Girl” was one of the successful songs of his career, released as a single in 1970. It was also featured on his second studio album, “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”.

Neil Young and Eddie Van Halen participated in each other’s charity projects

Eddie had the chance to play with Neil when he was part of the Bridge School Benefit concert in 1993, which was organized by the Canadian musician. As Sammy Hagar recalled, it was him who invited Eddie to go with him. “You rarely hear people talking about Eddie Van Halen’s brilliant piano playing. This is one of my favorite ballads we wrote for 5150. In 1993, Neil Young invited me back to do another Bridge benefit and I brought Eddie. It was so special and unusual.”

“We had never done anything like this. Please enjoy this treasure,” he said. That night Eddie played with him the songs “Love Walks In”, “Right Now”, “Spanish Fly” and “Best of Both Worlds”. He returned to the stage with other special guests at the end of Neil’s show, playing “Rockin’ in the Free World”. Eight years before, in 1985 he and Sammy had already played at Farm Aid, another benefit concert which Neil is involved with, alongside Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp.

In 1994, Neil Young took part in a charity golf tournament organized by Eddie Van Halen in Los Angeles. Also present at the benefit event were Sammy Hagar, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dweezil Zappa, Rob Lowe, Tommy Lee and Joe Pesci. It was during the competition that Neil wrote the first lyrics of the song “Sleeps with Angels” on a matchbook, inspired by Kurt Cobain’s death.

Neil Young mentioned the guitarist when talking about “Cinammon Girl”

Curiously, once while talking about “Cinnamon Girl”, one of his most famous songs, Neil Young mentioned Eddie Van Halen calling him a genius. The Dutch guitarist had been the biggest name in guitar playing since the late 1970s and truly changed the entire landscape of the instrument in Rock and Roll. Solos became faster and more technically demanding, which was quite the opposite of what was featured in that song.

After being asked about people who go to school to learn how to play the guitar, Neil said: “It would give you a rather sad view of your future, wouldn’t it? First off, nobody cares if you know how to play scales. Nobody gives a shit if you have good technique or not. It’s whether you have feelings that you want to express with music, that’s what counts, really. When you are able to express yourself and feel good, then you know why you’re playing. The technical aspect is absolute hogwash as far as I’m concerned.”

He continued:

“It bores me to tears. I can’t play fast. I don’t even know my scales and I know that most of the notes I play aren’t where I play them. They’re simply not there. So you can play any note you like. I think about it on another level, I don’t care about that sort of shit. On the other hand, I appreciate really great guitarists. I’m very impressed by those Metal groups with their scale guitarists. When I see that, I go ‘holy shit, that’s really something’. Satriani and Eddie Van Halen are guitar geniuses. They are incredible musicians, at an amazing level. But it doesn’t really grab me. One note will do.”

“(Like Cinnamon Girl) That’s right: two chords. The same note on two chords. The vibrato makes each note sound different. People say it’s a one-note solo, but in my mind, every one of those notes is different. The further you go into it, the more you can hear the differences,” Neil Young said in an interview with Guitare & Claviers Magazine (France) in 1992.