https://bit.ly/3nYYRxA

Will there be guitar heroes again?

Sure, we can find teenagers online who can play the licks, copying the greatest hits of classic rock, but the raw innovation, that journey into the stratosphere, that originality, is that history?

Now I checked, this video is also on YouTube, posted thirteen years ago. But I’m not going to search for Van Halen playing the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” But based on TikTok clips I’ve watched, this video was just served up to me while I was doing my back stretches preparing to go out for dinner with Luke.

Now if you’re a baby boomer you know “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by heart. But you also know that intro and solo were done on synthesizer, somehow Eddie Van Halen manages to play them on the guitar. EFFORTLESSLY!

You watch him and he’s not even looking at the strings, at his fingers on the neck, it’s like Eddie knows it instinctively, AND HE PROBABLY DOES!

Now if you want to put your analyst hat on you can say that Alex’s drums are a bit loud and you can’t hear Michael Anthony’s bass, but Sammy sings as effortlessly as Roger Daltrey, hitting the notes no problem.

Then again, Sammy doesn’t have the sense of humor, the intelligence in lyrics that David Lee Roth has.

We can argue over which era of Van Halen we prefer, but one thing’s for sure, the essence is Eddie Van Halen.

Sammy’s tried, but he’s never been able to equal the success without Eddie. Ditto DLR, who had a big solo hit with his cover of “California Girls” right after the monstrous “Jump,” but then he ultimately faded away while Eddie carried on, unscathed.

Music touches you when you aren’t paying attention, when you don’t expect it, when you’re doing something different, when your mind is elsewhere. And then this sound enters your brain and it’s not intellectual, it’s more of a feeling, your whole mood changes, your whole attitude, you feel connected, powerful and optimistic. That’s the power of music, ultimately indefinable but something we’ve all experienced.

And not every song does it, not every performance. And sometimes what is great slides off us, even sounds bad when we’re not in the right mood, but if you’ve slowed down enough, are not distracted, and it all comes together, it’s one of life’s great feelings.

Just wanted to tell you.

P.S. If you want to watch the clip on YouTube: https://bit.ly/44TnRr0