Rob Halford’s opinion on Eddie Van Halen

When the first Van Halen album was released, people were mesmerized not only by the music but also by Eddie Van Halen’s incredible technique and creativity as a guitar player. He impressed not only his peers but also singers and musicians who played other instruments. Over the decades, many legendary Rock stars have given their opinions on him, including Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford.

What is Rob Halford’s opinion on Eddie Van Halen

“Wow, I didn’t know (“Stained Class” and Van Halen’s first album were released on the same day – Feb. 10, 1978). That’s just beautiful, isn’t? I was gobsmacked (after listening to Van Halen’s debut album). I just didn’t know what to think, it was so profound. Everything, the way David was singing, just the whole performance from Michael and Alex. We never heard anything like that before, but particularly the guitar playing. It was shocking, Eddie was a game changer, like Hendrix and all those other greats,” Rob Halford said in an interview with Streaming For Vengeance in 2021 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

He has been a Van Halen fan from day one and the first time he heard their debut album was in his manager’s car. A few years later he had the chance to meet the band when Judas opened for them. “Two great stories (about Van Halen and Eddie). When Van Halen’s first album came out, I remember I was still living at home, Beechdale estate (Midlands, England). Judas Priest‘s manager at the time, Dave Cork, comes over to my place. (He) bangs the door and go ‘You’ve got to come and listen to this band.”

“I’ve just been sent this cassette, this band called Van Halen!’ I haven’t got a cassette player at home. I’d got a record player but not a cassette player. So I went, sat in his car and we put the cassette on the very first Van Halen album. I was just stunned. I was stunned firstly by the guitar virtuosity of Eddie, but just the whole expression of this band Van Halen. Then we sat there in the dark, in his car and we listened to the whole record.”

Rob Halford continued:

“So that was my introduction to the great Eddie Van Halen. Fast forward some years and Judas Priest opens for Van Halen at Santa Monica Civic. (They were) beautiful gracious guys, I’m just hanging out with David Lee Roth for the first time, so that’s the second great memory. Eddie would come to pre-shows, I believe Eddie and Glenn (Tipton) were very strong friends. So there is that connection on a personal level.”

“It’s absolutely horrible that we lost another incredibly talented musician. I’m still trying to process it, you know. Because I’ve been a Van Halen fan since day one. Again, all we can do is pray for the family, band members, fans and everybody as we process the grief. And like we always do, like I did when I lost Ronnie (James Dio), Lemmy (Kilmister), put the music on, turn the music up. Because that’s the greatest way you can celebrate these incredible musicians and in this case the legendary Eddie Van Halen.”

“(My picks to honor Eddie would be) probably two. Either ‘Jump’, because I love what ‘Jump’ is about and they’re great tribute to Roy Orbison with ‘Pretty Woman’. What about his signature ‘Eruption’ guitar bit. There’s too many to hone down to one track, but there’s a few,” he said in an interview with Sirius XM in 2021 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

Rob Halford said that Eddie was a fan of Judas Priest

Curiously, according to Rob Halford, the members of Van Halen were fans of Judas Priest. They found out that when they had the chance to be their opening act and Eddie admired Glenn and KK’s guitar playing. “It was just a thrill (to play with them), because we were all fans of them and turns out they were too fans of Priest, especially Eddie with what Glenn and K.K. were doing at the time. So we became friends and kept that friendship going.”

“Because I know that Eddie came to Priest shows, because afterwards I would find out that he had been with Glenn, talking about guitars and guitar playing like guitar players do. (…) I was blasting Van Halen all day yesterday to get me through the loss of this incredible player,” Rob Halford said in an interview with Metal Injection in 2020.” (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

Although many music fans believe that great bands like Van Halen and Judas Priest will never emerge again, Halford actually thinks another Eddie might appear one day. “I’d like to think there will be another Eddie Van Halen, because that’s what this giant leaves. It’s like with Priest, I get these young Metalheads popping up on my Instagram saying ‘oh my God! I just discovered your band and it’s the greatest thing I’ve heard in Metal.'”

He continued:

“And I think that happens to many other bands from what’s left of this generation of metal, as well as some of the newer experiences that are out there. It’s been very interesting to watch it grow because I was there from the start. Priest and Sabbath were there from the beginning. So we’ve gone through fifty-odd years to see how Metal has become a global experience now. There are many many different types of genres of metal in every part of the planet.”

“So the life of metal is still strong and powerful. But the way that we enjoy it and see it in shows, and the way it’s out there today, is to a certain extent is a lot different than how it was in, perhaps, the biggest decade for metal, the 80s. But if you look at the early 90s, some of the greatest Heavy Metal albums ever made were in the early 90s,” he said in the same interview with Metal Injection.

Although Rob Halford is not a guitarist, he was curiously called by Slayer’s Kerry King, the Eddie Van Halen of vocals. “It’s like Eddie Van Halen playing guitar; that’s Rob Halford singing,” he told Rolling Stone in 2022.