Pittsburgh DJ Sean McDowell ranks Eddie Van Halen among greatest guitarists
Longtime WDVE disc jockey Sean McDowell has no doubts about guitar virtuoso Eddie Van Halen’s place in rock history.
“I’ve always had him at number five on my list of the greatest rock guitarists ever,” said McDowell. “I’ve always had him there, at least since 1978, along with (Jimi) Hendrix, Jimmy Page, (Eric) Clapton and Jeff Beck.”
For the record, that’s higher than Rolling Stone magazine’s ranking, which had Van Halen at No. 8 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists.
McDowell was more than happy to share his memories of Van Halen, who died Tuesday of cancer at the age of 65. He remembered when the band Van Halen, named for Eddie and his brother Alex Van Halen, the group’s drummer, burst on the scene in 1978 with a self-titled album. It included songs like “Runnin’ with the Devil,” “Jamie’s Cryin’ ” and an explosive cover of the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me.”
RIP EVH. One Of Rock's Greatest Guitarists Ever. I had just started in Radio 1978 & EVERYONE called the request lines at WYDD whenever we played a Van Halen song from their debut album, which had just come out. "What was the name of that band you just played & who's on guitar??" pic.twitter.com/LRToJPKo5c
— Sean Mcdowell (@dvesean) October 6, 2020
All of those early hits, as well as the songs that followed, provided plenty of room for Eddie Van Halen to work in his outrageous, signature guitar solos sandwiched between David Lee Roth’s lead vocals. The album’s second song, “Eruption,” had no vocals and featured only 1:42 of screaming guitar, a solo in which Eddie Van Halen announced his arrival.
“Nobody had made a guitar sound like that,” said McDowell. “He was the new Jimi Hendrix. When you heard Eddie Van Halen play, you knew immediately whose guitar that was.”
McDowell recalled seeing Van Halen open for Black Sabbath at the Civic Arena in September 1978.
“They blew Black Sabbath off the stage,” said McDowell. “They did that on every night in every city. I was working at WYDD at the time. I had just gotten into radio in ’78 and they were this huge new band with this killer debut album. Every time we played it, either ‘Jamie’s Cryin’ or ‘You Really Got Me,’ we would get calls. People wanted to know, ‘Who is this band? Who’s on guitar?’ ”
McDowell had a chance to meet the band members when they headlined at the Civic Arena in 1979.
“After the show David Lee Roth didn’t say a word to anybody,” McDowell said. “He just stared at everybody and then he left. Alex didn’t say anything to anyone. But Eddie was a nice guy. He introduced himself and said ‘Hey man, how are you doing?’ ”
McDowell also interviewed Van Halen in the ‘90s on WDVE.
“He wasn’t particularly talkative. He wasn’t particularly chatty. But I loved his guitar work.”
Which is probably why Van Halen usually let his guitar do the talking.
— Valerie Bertinelli (@Wolfiesmom) October 6, 2020
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