Eddie Van Halen's reputation as one of the best guitarists in the world was well established by the early 1980s
Nevertheless, the virtuoso was reportedly intimidated by a newcomer on the scene: Yngwie Malmsteen.
The Swedish shredder's star rose after he was introduced to the guitar scene by Guitar Player in its February 1983 issue. His stock went higher as he networked in L.A. and earned his stripes, first with Steeler and then with Graham Bonnett’s Alcatrazz, having turned down a spot in UFO.
By that point, Van Halen were five albums deep into their career, having turned the guitar world on its head with “Eruption” and Eddie’s superlative tapping exploits in 1978.
But just as Eddie’s tapping had astonished guitarists five years prior, Malmsteen’s hyperspeed, classically infused playing began earning raves and injecting a fresh and superhuman element into the guitar scene.
According to Malmsteen, this had EVH running scared.
“I never said a bad word about him, because I think he was amazing,” the guitarist says in the new issue of Classic Rock. “But I used to know a guy that worked in the grocery store where Eddie would shop, and the guy would ask him, 'Hey, what do you think about Yngwie Malmsteen, the new Swedish kid?'
"And Eddie would say 'I don't know what that is.'"
Malmsteen claims he knew better, citing a source who was very familiar with Eddie: former Van Halen singer David Lee Roth.
“Dave Roth told me that Eddie would have his ghetto blaster, playing my shit on it all day long!”
Roth’s account is suspect, considering his reputation for questionable statements, and the second-hand statement from a grocery store clerk isn't exactly damning evidence.
But Malmsteen says he saw the effect he had on his fellow shredder with his own eyes.
“There's one time I remember when I was nominated for a Grammy [in 1986],” he recollects. Van Halen’s “Jump” had been nominated for Best Rock Performance two years earlier, only to lose out to Prince's “Purple Rain.” Now it was Malmsteen’s turn in the limelight, with his second album, Rising Force, up for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
“I go to the show — I had my tux on and everything — and I see Eddie there," Yngwie recalls. "I’m waving at him, trying to get his attention, he sees me, and he runs away. He literally ran away!”
“And I have an even more incredible story,” he continues. “I was doing a concert festival in Holland, and Van Halen was headlining. I'm like, ‘Great, I finally get to meet Eddie and give him my concerto.’ Because I'm proud of my concerto, you know?”
But his chance to finally meet the guitar superstar was scuppered when Van Halen pulled out of the show.
“They said Alex Van Halen had broken his little finger or something,” Malmsteen says, skeptically. “Then I hear that the promoter got a phone call from Eddie himself, who said, ‘Just to let you know, if Yngwie Malmsteen is playing, I'm not playing. And I will never fucking play the same stage as Yngwie Malmsteen.’
“He obviously felt threatened. Which is crazy to me. You're fucking Eddie Van Halen! Nobody could threaten you!”
To Malmsteen, it felt like a strange turn of events considering that Van Halen’s “attitude” had completely changed his own approach to recording only a few years earlier. He says he first discovered Van Halen through his then-drummer, who brought Van Halen's debut album to the studio.
“It was like somebody had dropped a fucking bomb. It was so good,” he says.
“But the funny thing is, it wasn't the 'Eruption' solo that really knocked me out. It was their attitude to go into the studio and record live. That was such an inspiration. So I decided I was going to record everything live from then on.”
Expanding on that moment during an interview with Guitar World in 2021, he said, “Overall it was the whole ‘Turn your fucking shit up and go for it’ thing that really got to me about Eddie. The impact he had on me was unbelievable. On all of us. It’s just crazy.”
Meanwhile, Eddie’s spirit continues in several ways, with Wolfgang Van Halen using his iconic Frankenstein guitar to record his new single, “The End” and Sammy Hagar, who has just begun his Best of All Worlds residency at the Las Vegas Sphere, says he wrote his new song with the guitarist in a dream.
Hagar also believes that his time with Van Halen helped Eddie become a better songwriter.
“George started freaking out. He said, ‘I feel like I’m dying.’ And then, Peter Fonda said, ‘Oh, I know what it’s like to be dead.’” Byrd’s founder Roger McGuinn on the origins of John Lennon’s trippiest track
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