David Lee Roth had the idea that if you covered a successful song, you were half way home. C'mon - Van Halen doing 'Dancing in the Streets'? It was stupid. I started feeling like I would rather bomb playing my own songs than be successful playing someone else's music.
I was trying to take the band in a direction that I thought was appropriate, and Roth was trying to take the band in more of a Las Vegas direction. And there he is.
It's always a Catch-22 situation. They hate you if you're the same, and they hate you if you're different.
Music is for people. The word 'pop' is simply short for popular. It means that people like it. I'm just a normal jerk who happens to make music. As long as my brain and fingers work, I'm cool.
There's a plaque on our wall that says we've sold over 65 million albums, and I don't feel I've accomplished anything. I feel like I'm just getting started.
In 2006, Eddie's son Wolfgang was reported to have replaced Michael Anthony as the bassist for Van Halen. The group is still without a lead singer as of January 2007.
He named his son Wolfgang in honor of his favorite composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Eddie has signed a deal to record two songs for the erotic movie, Sacred Sin. The songs selected are named Rise and Catherine.
After being separated from his wife, Valerie Bertinelli, for four years, they finally filed for divorce in December 2005.
He made a guest appearance playing the guitar solo in Michael Jackson's 1980's hit song, "Beat It." Eddie did not appear in the music video, however.
He usually tunes his guitars a half-step lower than is customary (i.e., the lowest string is E-flat).
He was diagnosed with cancer of the tongue in 1999 and had a portion of his tongue removed in 2000.
He is noted for his revolutionary use of the right-hand to tap on the fretboard of his guitar. Though the technique had been used before, no one had ever used it to the extent Eddie did. He incorporated it into almost all of his soloing.
After twenty years of marriage, on July 9, 2002, Eddie and Valerie (Bertinelli) announced that they had been separated since October 2001.
He grew up in Pasadena, California.
Eddie also plays the drums.
Eddie and his brother Alex formed the band Mammoth.
In 1962, he and his family moved to Pasadena, California.
He is a trained classical pianist.
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