I do like Eddie Van Halen as a player. He gets it right quite often.
I think when you have a top-line superstar act, it's a big risk. For Van Halen it worked, but there was an adjustment period.
Eddie Van Halen was probably the most influential.
For a long time, when I was very young, I went to go see arena rock bands. I was 16, and it was all I could get in to see, legally. And I saw Led Zeppelin and Ted Nugent and Van Halen and all that.
My wife Melissa and daughters Deaven and Halen are the things I enjoy most, but I have some great friends and partners that are like blood as well.
Then at high school I got an electric guitar and a book with some photos of Eddie Van Halen in it and my grades went downhill.
Halen pinned all of his competitors in less than 30 seconds.