Eruption Conversations with Eddie Van Halen

Brad Tolinski

Book - 2021

The life of the late groundbreaking musician is recalled through over fifty hours of interviews and delves both into his musical legacy as well as his lifelong issues with social anxiety and substance abuse.

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Subjects
Genres
Biographies
Interviews
Published
New York : Hachette Books 2021.
Language
English
Main Author
Brad Tolinski (author)
Other Authors
Chris (Music journalist) Gill (author), Eddie Van Halen, 1955-2020 (interviewee)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
xiv, 322 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 311-312) and index.
ISBN
9780306826658
  • Overture
  • 1. California Dreaming "We were like a kid freak show."
  • 2. Riot on the Sunset Strip "Stop! I hired you to play Top 40. What is this shit?!"
  • Musical Interlude A conversation with Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, Part I
  • 3. On Fire "I wasn't trying to show off ... it was just fun!"
  • Musical Interlude A conversation with Eddie Van Halen and Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi
  • 4. Warning Signs "What do you got, Eddie?"
  • 5. 1984 "I wasn't going to allow them to control me anymore!"
  • Musical Interlude A conversation with Toto guitarist Steve Lukather
  • 6. A Tale of Two Singers "Dave used to say I wasn't happy unless I was unhappy. That was a crock."
  • Musical Interlude A conversation with former David Lee Roth guitarist Steve Vai
  • 7. In and Out "I just started thinking, hey man, let's write something real."
  • Musical Interlude A conversation with Van Halen manager Ray Danniels
  • 8. Who the Fuck is Eddie Van Halen? "Everything comes to me when I'm sitting on the pot"
  • Musical Interlude A conversation with Van Halen III vocalist Gary Cherone
  • 9. The Lost Years "I came home and on the six o'clock news Dan Rather was saying, 'Up next, Eddie Van Halen has cancer!'"
  • Musical Interlude A conversation with Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, Part II
  • 10. The Whole Truth "[Dave's] lyrics are hilarious ... I think he's brilliant."
  • Musical Interlude A conversation with Edward and Wolfgang Van Halen
  • 11. The Art of Guitar "We never once said, 'Yeah, that will do.' It has to he right because my name is on it."
  • Musical Interlude The SoCal Guitar Triangle: Edward, Les, and Leo
  • 12. Can't Get This Stuff No More "Those truly magical fingers opened a door to a new kind of playing."
  • Thank You
  • Notes
  • Index
Review by Library Journal Review

Music writers Tolinski (Light & Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page) and Gill (Guitar Legends: The Definitive Guide to the World's Greatest Guitar Players) combed through hours of their previously unpublished interviews with Eddie Van Halen for a revealing biography of the guitar god, who died in 2020. Most chapters have a substantial introduction, an interview with Van Halen, and sometimes a page devoted to the guitarist's gear. The authors also work in their interviews with insiders: Van Halen's bandmates Michael Anthony, Gary Cherone, and Wolfgang Van Halen (the guitarist's son); manager Ray Danniels; and fellow guitarists Tony Iommi, Steve Lukather, and Steve Vai. Tolinski and Gill illuminate Van Halen's difficult childhood in California as a Dutch immigrant who spoke no English; his rise to fame on the Los Angeles club circuit; and his achievement of stardom, with millions of albums sold. There's particular focus on Van Halen's guitar tapping technique; his heavily modified guitars, including the Frankenstrat; and his persistent health problems and untimely death from cancer. VERDICT Fans and guitar enthusiasts will appreciate this fresh look at the legendary Van Halen, with an emphasis on his technical wizardry; their work will supplement other books about the Van Halen legacy.--David P. Szatmary, formerly at Univ. of Washington, Seattle

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Extended interviews with Eddie Van Halen (1955-2020), conducted across the hard-rock guitar virtuoso's idiosyncratic career. Tolinski and Gill are both veteran guitar-magazine journalists, so, inevitably, they consider their subject through a gearhead's lens. Casual fans might drowse at Van Halen's longueurs about Marshall amp voltage, and a late chapter is dedicated to his name-brand guitar and amp company, implying it was his final triumph before his death from a brain tumor. Still, the conversations make a reasonable case that Van Halen is perhaps best understood as an inveterate tinkerer. Beneath the band's hard-partying reputation, the guitarist was obsessed with guitar modifications, innovative playing techniques (most notably, finger-tapping), and tweaking his home studio to his perfectionistic standards, all of which he discusses in depth here. In that light, it's also easier to understand why his band was so often in disarray. His insecurities, he explains here, drove wedges between him and frontmen David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar and led to serious substance-abuse issues. While working on Fair Warning (1981), "he kept himself awake and inspired by ingesting copious amounts of alcohol and cocaine but barely any food." The negative critical reaction to Van Halen III, the band's 1998 album with frontman Gary Cherone (of Extreme fame), prompted a 20-plus-year self-exile from recording. Van Halen could be blunt about band mates (he dismisses Michael Anthony's bass playing) and a touch arrogant about his legacy (competitors "don't play like me--they just try to"). However, it's clear the band's success (and failure) was largely dependent on the guitarist's vision and focus. The book is filled out with sidebars on some of his quirkier guitars and interviews with others in Van Halen's orbit, including Anthony and Van Halen's son (later VH bassist), Wolfgang. Conspicuously absent, though, are Roth and Hagar, whose input might've given the book a less hagiographic feel. A respectful and detailed, if slightly distorted, tribute to a guitar legend. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.