When Van Halen released their groundbreaking self-titled debut album in 1978, the Rock world was shocked by the abilities of the band’s guitarist, Eddie Van Halen.
At the time, Rock music was being challenged by Punk bands, which aimed to take the genre back to basics and show that anyone could start a band if they had something to say, without needing to be a trained musician. Throughout his career, Eddie Van Halen spoke about Punk and about bands from the genre, such as the Ramones and the Sex Pistols.
What was Eddie Van Halen’s opinion on Punk Rock
Van Halen’s music had the energy of Punk, but it was not simple, especially because it featured Eddie Van Halen on guitar. During his career, the musician spoke a few times about the genre, mentioning the Ramones and the Sex Pistols and saying that Punk was what he used to play when he was still playing in a garage. According to the drummer Marky Ramone, Eddie once said: “‘Try playing The Ramones for an hour, and your hand will fall off,” because the American group played really fast, especially the band’s guitarist Johnny Ramone.
When Van Halen was Black Sabbath’s opening act in 1978, the Ramones joined them for a few shows, becoming the opening act for both bands. It was around the time when Punk was becoming a big thing and bands that played other kinds of music were losing the spotlight. However, Eddie believed that Punk actually helped them achieve fame, because he felt they were the “only real band out” at the time.
“The reason why I think we’re (Van Halen) happening is because we’re the only real band out there. We’re not Punk, we don’t dress weird, we play good music, or at least I think so. (Although) the critics think we are bullshit.”
Eddie Van Halen continued:
“I mean, they labeled us a Heavy Metal band. It sounds like I’m bragging but I don’t mean it that way. I’m not saying all the riffs I come up are genius brand new riffs but neither’s Punk. I mean, Punk is what I used to do in a garage,” he told Jas Obrecht in 1980.
Besides the Ramones, Eddie also had the chance to meet the legendary Sex Pistols vocalist John Lydon, who once said: “Van Halen’s guitarist is good. Eddie Van Halen is good. You can’t deny this. But I just hate the whole end result, that’s all”. A photo of him with Eddie and Alex Van Halen in 1980 at the Grammy Awards can be seen in the article.
Eddie Van Halen said Ramones and Sex Pistols’ music had melody
When Punk Rock shook the Rock and Roll scene in the late 1970s, many music critics said that the bands didn’t know how to play their instruments or lacked melody. They were right about some of the bands, but according to Eddie, groups like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols did have melody.
In 1995, Dweezil Zappa interview Eddie for Guitar World, and he commented that there were many bad guitar solos in songs from the 1990s and said that he felt people should be more creative with their instruments. Eddie replied, saying: “It all broke down to the lowest common denominator and it’s just gonna build right back up. It’s almost like every ten years it happens. This is phase two of disco and punk. We survived the first one, and we’re going to survive this one too.”
Dweezil then said that Punk this time had melody, but Van Halen didn’t agree
“It did back then too. I see what you mean (saying it is more calculated this time), but the Ramones had melody. Even the Sex Pistols had melody. (These days) it’s slick Punk. (Laughs.) So they call it grunge.”
During the same conversation he explained why having a raw sound doesn’t mean you can’t play your instrument properly. “Because we play live. No bullshit about it. We just set up and play like we do live, and only sometimes, if it needs it, I do overdubs. The songs on our new record are really raw. But sometimes they don’t seem as raw because we know how to play our instruments.”
“I think a lot of people get ‘raw’ confused with [a lack of] musical ability. If you can’t play, then it’s raw. But that’s not true. The energy is what I mean by raw, just three people blowing, making music. And if you can play well, it doesn’t sound ‘raw’ in one sense. But it has a raw energy to it because there’s not a bunch of other crap in there, like synth pads and shit,” Eddie Van Halen said.
He said that “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” was meant to make fun of Punk
Although Van Halen’s 1978 debut album had the track “Atomic Punk”, it was actually “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love’ a song that Eddie revealed he originally wrote to make fun of Punk. He explained that in an interview with Forbes in 2009, when asked which songs he would choose to introduce people to Van Halen’s music.
“You know what I was doing? I was cartooning off Punk. Cause ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,’ we were jumping around in Dave’s father’s basement joking around, that song was a joke. But now actually when I listen to it, it sticks in your head and it’s very basic and simple. But I was actually making fun of Punk. Because sometimes I have a tendency to get overly complicated and it goes right over people’s heads.”
He continued:
“So I gotta catch myself sometimes and keep stuff almost simpler than I do. But I don’t know, like then the opening to ‘Mean Streets.’ I don’t know what possessed me to start doing that too. Crazy stuff, I don’t know where it comes from. But to pick songs I can only go by really what the audience response is, like say ‘Running With The Devil.'”
“I don’t know what you’d call a career song, but to the day I die we’ll have to play that because that’s what people want to hear. ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,’ but ‘Unchained,’ “Jump,’ there’s all kinds of stuff. I love ‘Girl Gone Bad,’ one of my favorite songs of ours is ‘Drop Dead Legs,’ whether it’s a hit or not, to me I love that song,” Eddie Van Halen said.
Eddie said that Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong understood him
Besides meeting the first generation of Punk rockers, Eddie also had the chance to be in touch with a newer one, since he met with Green Day‘s frontman and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong. The first show Billie ever went in his life was back in 1984, at the age of 12, when Van Halen played in town. A few decades later he had the chance to finally meet one of his idols, during their final reunion.
He continued:
“He is back there and he’s got his guitar plugged in. It was like he was talking to me and shredding at the same time. I was just like ‘Oh my God’. I don’t know if anybody knows this but the size of his hands were gigantic. (Then) I grabbed his hands and I looked at them, I was like ‘Dude, your hands are so (big). He said: ‘Oh, I got arthritis now, blah, blah, blah’. Then this really insane thing happened where he kind of started crying. He looked at me and he put his hand behind my neck and he goes ‘You are the only one that understands me’.”
“He just had tears coming down his eyes and I didn’t really know what to say. It was like: ‘Man, you have no idea like how much you’ve meant to me as a musician and songwriter’. He was like: ‘People think I am an alien because of the way I play’. And (I said): ‘It’s all about your songs’ and he says: ‘Exactly!’”
Billie Joe Armstrong continued:
“It was like really heavy kind of experience. Then the crazy thing, it was this really sweet thing that happened was that Wolfie came in and Eddie’s shredding. He’s going: ‘Dad! Dad! We have to tune’.”
“So they both had their guitar and bass, and they weren’t using a tuner. Eddie said the coolest thing, it was like a father and son moment. He goes: ‘You want to tune to me? Or you want me to tune to you?’ That kind of bond that a father and son had as musicians. It always stuck with me as this beautiful thing. Then we went back out and watched (the show) in the crowd. It was like just a phenomenal show,” Billie Joe Armstrong said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).