Eddie van Halen
He didn’t just rewrite the six-string rulebook — he shredded it, changing the sound, style and look of the instrument like no artist before or since.
IN ALMOST ANY other case, it would be outrageous to say that rock and roll would sound entirely different were it not for one artist. But when the artist in question is Eddie Van Halen, who passed away in October 2020 at age 65 after a long battle with cancer, it’s the stonecold truth.