Eddie Van Halen: The Complete 1980 Interview - Tape 3 (HD Audio)

Eddie Talks About Solos, Guitars, Other Guitarists, and More

This Talking Guitar podcast features the third tape of my day-long 1980 interview with Eddie Van Halen. If you haven’t already heard them, check out the first two hours, which are already posted here on Substack and on YouTube.

A bit of background: Just before the Tape 3 segment of our interview begins, Eddie played me a song called “Could This Be Magic?,” from Van Halen’s upcoming album, Women and Children First. Eddie mentions that this is the first time he ever attempted to play slide. He then talks about his favorite tracks on the album and how Van Halen albums have been doing in the charts. He explains why there is no guitar solo on Women and Children First, and how he hopes to play something classical as his next recorded guitar solo. He reveals that he’s been listening to a lot of classical music – especially Bach and Debussy – and laments that too many guitarists play what’s already been played.

This interview took place in Neil Zlozower’s photo studio in Hollywood, and Neil joins in from time to time, especially as we shoot the breeze about other guitarists, such as Randy Hansen, Ritchie Blackmore, Rick Nielsen, Rick Derringer, Jeff Beck, Leslie West, and several others. In other highlights, Eddie speculates about what he’d do if he ever goes solo and, in one of my favorite parts, he confesses that he and Alex, who were still living together, “duke it out all the time.” He makes the case that rock and roll magazines hate the band Van Halen and says he does not like doing interviews. He then talks at length about his guitar collection and offers advice for those who want to build their own guitars. At various points in Tape 3 Eddie plays his unplugged Frankenstrat.

A final note: This podcast is shorter than the ones for Tapes 1 and 2. This is due to Eddie’s having spent about 25 minutes popping in cassettes and playing me finished tracks from Women and Children First. This section has been edited out for copyright reasons and because the songs can be heard in far better fidelity on the actual CD and vinyl releases. Here’s Tape 3. I hope you enjoy it!

Portions of this conversation were originally published in the April 1980 issue of Guitar Player. This was Eddie’s very first nationally published cover story.

Thanks to engineer and producer Nik Hunt for improving the sound of this 43-year-old tape. I also want to express my gratitude to Neil Zlozower for his kind permission to include the sections where he’s speaking. Stay tuned for Tape 4!

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ⓒ Jas Obrecht 2023. All rights reserved.