A huge number of incredible guitar heroes emerged in the 1970s and Michael Schenker, the younger brother of Scorpions’ Rudolf Schenker, was one of them. He made his mark on Rock history through his work with Scorpions, UFO and his own band, Michael Schenker Group. The musician had the chance to see many of his peers achieve fame and has shared his opinions on some of them, including Eddie Van Halen.
What is Michael Schenker’s opinion on Eddie Van Halen
Michael Schenker is a huge fan of Eddie Van Halen and even said he is by far the best guitar player and his favorite one. “Well, you know, we played the Starwood (old nightclub in Hollywood nightclub), and apparently, Van Halen was opening up for UFO. I never knew that because it was a brand new band, it was five years before they broke through. And apparently, much later in life, I found out that Eddie Van Halen was a fan, and got influenced by me.”
“But that was remarkable, I never knew that. Because to me, it was another one of those support bands that nobody knew. But they were in the making of being big, you know, and so it’s quite remarkable. But I heard that people were saying that Eddie was doing some stuff (on which) you can hear my influence. I love Eddie’s playing, you know, he’s for me, by far the best guitar player. And even though I wasn’t listening to music, you could never get away (from) hearing (it) anywhere. So really, he was fascinating. I mean, he’s my favorite guitar player.”sc
He continued:
“From the old days, it’s just Beck and Eric Clapton, of course, all the people that they had an effect on me when I was (in early teens). But later… even though I don’t listen to music, I could never escape Yngwie Malmsteen. He was played everywhere, and also Metallica. I went to a boutique, trying on stage clothes, and there I heard the whole album. I went to (get tattooed), and I heard Iron Maiden.
“That’s how I got introduced to certain music that I could not get away from. That’s how I discovered the – what’s it called, Metallica song, it’s a slow song, really, really good. (‘The Unforgiven?’) Yeah, ‘The Unforgiven,'” Michael Schenker said in an interview with Jeremy White in 2022.
Curiously, one of the lucky fans who went to a UFO show in the early 70s in the USA and had the chance to see Van Halen as the opening act was the praised guitarist George Lynch, who later achieve fame as a member of Dokken. “It was somewhat dramatic, because I don’t know if UFO knew what they were in for. And I love UFO – we all love UFO – but they got their ass kicked. I mean, they came up, and I don’t think they were ready for that,” Lynch told Guitar in 2026.
What made Eddie so special according to Schenker
One of the most interesting things about Michael Schenker is that he has always said he doesn’t listen to music. The reason is because he doesn’t want other people’s playing to influence his songwriting. As a result, the music he has heard over the past few decades has mostly been incidental, playing in places he happened to visit. As he recalled in an interview with Masters of Shred, the first Van Halen album was impossible to avoid because it was playing everywhere at the time.
What impressed him the most about Eddie’s playing on that record was: “the sense of melody, the way he was tapping, when he was tapping, how he was using everything he was using was so balanced. That’s the beauty of being creative on a level that he just kind of rhythmically as well. You just look at all aspects,” he said in 2025 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
During a conversation with Metal Voice, Schenker explained why he believed Eddie was way ahead of everyone, even though countless guitarists copied him throughout the 1980s. “He had rhythm, style. By the way, Rudolf (Schenker) told me that he actually heard something that Eddie did earlier. (Something that) looked like Eddie was actually a bit influenced by me. There was a melody line or several things that sounded like me. People were actually saying ‘wow, it sounds like Michael Schenker’.”
Michael Schenker continued:
“But the thing is, he took it, in the next five years, he took it so far forward that I was blown away about what he did. His brother being a drummer, it’s in the family genes. His sense of rhythm, sense of melody, his sense of sound, tone quality. The way he actually entertained was so complete. He is the best!” Michael Schenker said in 2021 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
Michael’s older brother Rudolf, guitarist for Scorpions, was a good friend of Eddie Van Halen. They shared festival bills many times and had several opportunities to hang out together. Before fame, when they were still playing in clubs, Van Halen used to cover many bands, including Scorpions. Some of the tracks covered were “Speedy’s Coming” from “Fly to the Rainbow” (1974) and “Catch Your Train” from “Virgin Killer” (1976).