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Eddie Van Halen was one of those rare artists who both heralded in a huge change in their art, and remained the best in the world at the new form. He ushered in the era of speed guitar and its thousand offhsoots, but no one else could play with his skill, emotion and humor. He took the guitar to new levels of virtuosity, but never got bogged down in technique. Yet Rolling Stone forgot about him in their "Best Guitarists" list (I think he was down in the 70s, which is downright absurd) and on this list they missed his indelible contribution to music history: the crossover hit "Beat It", on which his supple solos merged guitar worlds as surely as the "Walk This Way" collaboration.
Eddie deserves more love!
