It was late yesterday evening while I was watching an old Star Trek movie (Why does god need a starship anyway?), I glanced at my phone and a guitar playing friend (and massive VH fan) had posted the news that Eddie had passed away…

My earliest memory of Van Halen (not including the Darth Vader scene in Back To The Future) is from the 1990’s when the Balance album was released and Eddie had started contributing a monthly column to Guitarist Magazine – this was during his short spiky hair phase and, as it has turned out, not the happiest time for VH as a band.

In the late 90s I worked in music retail and we often had Van Halen CDs playing in the shop – I don’t think Eddie’s influence on music in the late 20th and early 21st centuries can be understated – and while I was more a fan of the ‘Van Hagar’ era, the early albums are brimming with Eddie’s passion and energy and now, knowing that Eddie in no longer here, the music world is a little darker today.