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Saturday, June 20, 2015

Open Letter to Edward Van Halen

Back in 1986, I had the utmost respect for you.  Even during a time when  you were bashing David Lee Roth at every turn.  I guess I was blinded by your incredible music.

Most of that respect for you flew out the window in 1996 when you unceremoniously gave Sammy Hagar an ultimatum that ejected him from the band.

But, over the years, I started to forgive you.  After all, you were an addict, and oftentimes, that's the way addicts behave.  When you finally cleaned yourself up a few years ago, and put the band back together with DLR and your son, I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt.

As a guitar player, myself, I couldn't help but have been influenced by your playing, along with a plethora of other players.

But the way you feel the need to elevate yourself over other players that incorporated some of your techniques into their playing by bashing on them is, quite frankly, disappointing.  In your latest interview you make the claim that, because you grip the guitar neck when you tap, it somehow affects your sound.  Got any evidence to support that claim?

But, the final straw was the way you threw Michael Anthony under the bus in that interview.  Before I go on, I'm going to go on record and say that, yes, there are bassists out there that are better than Michael Anthony.  Flea. Les Claypool. Billy Sheehan.

But, let's get one thing clear.  I heard your bass playing on I Never Said Goodbye. You couldn't carry any one of those three guys' jock straps.  Your bass playing isn't anything special, mister.  So, you can go ahead and elevate yourself over other guitarists all you like. In some cases it's true that you're the better player.  In other cases, it's not.  For example, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Dweezil Zappa can all blow your sorry ass away.

But, I digress.  You had absolutely no right to say what you said about Michael Anthony.  I sincerely doubt the veracity of that claim.  If you're going to make claims like that, you better be ready to provide some evidence to back up that claim.  See, I've changed over the years.  I don't accept too many claims without evidence.  I'm a skeptic.

But, even if it's true, it's about the least classy thing I think you've ever done. And that says alot, considering that you fucking airbrushed Mike out of the album covers.

And you actually complain that Dave doesn't want to be your friend?  I wonder why, considering the way you treat your "friends".  Sammy Hagar called you friend at one time.  Michael Anthony called you friend at one time.  If that's how you treat your friends, I wouldn't want to be your friend either.  I am so done with you, I don't care if you never release another note of music again. Not interested.

Really, go fuck yourself, Ed.

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