Extreme

Wrathchild

Wrathchild

Miserable Bastard
Apr 16, 2001
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Take a few vintage Van Halen twiddly diddly solos, add a handful of truly cringeworthy 80s haircuts, then mix in a dash of Queen style pomp and circumstance. Cook for 45 minutes and you have Extreme's first self titled album from 1989. No wonder Gary Cherone got the (rather short-lived) job in VH, his old band sounded just like them :lol:.

I'll have to hear the rest of their stuff now, even Waiting For The Punchline. Is Nuno Bettencourt still married to whatshername who used to sing for the Baby Animals but has now joined INXS?

W
 
I think Eddie Van Halen is amazing. Sure he might not have the level of technique that Steve Vai, Malmsteen, Vinnie Vincent or Michael Angelo do.... but he was doing that stuff in 1978. Nobody else was. He pretty much single handedly invented the whole '80s flash guitar thing. In 1978, nobody had ever played anything like that before...

So I don't see how he can overrated. He's only one of the most innovative, original and influencial guitarists of all time (probably THE most as far as hard rock and metal is concerned) and even when every guitarist in the '80s picked up on his style and made it the trademark of that type of music, he still sounded entirely unique because nobody had the same touch (although Vito from White Lion sounds pretty similar at times!).
 
The Trooper said:
I think Eddie Van Halen is amazing. Sure he might not have the level of technique that Steve Vai, Malmsteen, Vinnie Vincent or Michael Angelo do.... but he was doing that stuff in 1978. Nobody else was. He pretty much single handedly invented the whole '80s flash guitar thing. In 1978, nobody had ever played anything like that before...

So I don't see how he can overrated. He's only one of the most innovative, original and influencial guitarists of all time (probably THE most as far as hard rock and metal is concerned) and even when every guitarist in the '80s picked up on his style and made it the trademark of that type of music, he still sounded entirely unique because nobody had the same touch (although Vito from White Lion sounds pretty similar at times!).
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exactly troops! He was doing this stuff before anyone, he was an innovator, so how can he be over-rated?

he is a true guitar legend. innovator, idol, icon
 
He can be overrated because he's not as good as people say he is. I don't care if he was innovative and doing stuff before everyone else was.

Oh, and Haupy, remember when you said that the Beatles were talentless hacks? Please think of that when you say someone isn't overrated because they're innovative.
 
Hendrix was doing stuff before anyone else too, and innovating etc. So how can he be over rated if Eddie isnt?
 
Now see here you lot, I've had quite enough of the Hendrix bashing on this forum. Ten years ago I might have agreed with you. It took me a long time to learn to appreciate Jimi's music and influence on almost every guitarist who came after him. He was a brilliant musician who wasn't limited by the rules of theory and so could reinvent his instrument in ways that most formally taught players wouldn't even consider.

Yes his songs were a product of their time and were inspired by all manner of illegal substances, but so what? I'd rather live in the 60s than now any day. Life seemed so much more colourful in that era :).

EVH is in many ways the late 70s equivalent of Hendrix. As Troops said, he was almost single-handedly responsible for most of the techniques that 80s metal guitarists copied (but never mastered) for the next ten years. He can be neither overrated nor underestimated.

The other thing that Eddie and Jimi have in common is that they're both great players who can also write great songs. Most technical musos can't come up with a decent riff or melody to save themselves because they're too busy fret wanking and showing off. That's one of many reasons why I can't stand Malmsteen or people like him. All style and no substance.

Here endeth the lesson,

W
 
Firstly Spawny, just because one guitarist is innovative and not overrated doesn't mean another one isn't.... Eddie Van Halen is a much better guitarist than Jimi Hendrix.

And in my opinion, Hendrix isn't really all that overrated himself anyway. He was definitely an innovator. Playing guitar is about alot more than technical precision, that's only one aspect of being skilled at it.

And Eddie Van Halen has very very high technical skill anyway, combined with a totally unique sound, lots of character/personality in his playing, originality, melody, good songwriting and the fact that he invented a whole genre of guitar playing on his own. So how is he overrated?
 
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