Eddie Van Halen Remembered at RRHOF Virtual Ceremony

The late Eddie Van Halen led the “In Memoriam’ section of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Saturday night on HBO with touching reflections by Slash,  Metallica‘s Kirk Hammett, and Tom Morello.

“He had a massive impact on guitar playing,” said Slash of Van Halen, who passed away in October.

Added Morello: “Eddie Van Halen was the Mozart of our generation. He had the kind of talent that, maybe, comes around once a century. Eddie Van Halen inspired me to practice 20,000 hours to try and get 100 miles of his mastery of the electric guitar.”

The 2020 Rock Hall Induction was broadcast on HBO, with the Hall welcoming the Doobie Brothers, T. Rex, Whitney Houston, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, and the Notorious B.I.G.

Jon Landau — Bruce Springsteen‘s manager and producer, along with music mogul and Eagles manager Irving Azoff, both received the Ahmet Ertegun Award.

“There was an innate, sort of intellectualism that was always part of the music we were working on,” Springsteen said. “Thinking about what rock n’ roll meant; its place in society — our place in maturing. As a writer, Jon was in the forefront. As a producer — critical. And he created a management style based around not just a business, but nurturing the highest artistic goals — along with personal growth. No one did that before Jon Landau and I don’t think any one’s done it as well since.”

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