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Van Halen
Van Halen · 1978 · Track 2
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The story behind
Eruption didn't start as a song, but as a warm-up exercise. In 1978, Eddie Van Halen improvised it in the studio with his Frankenstrat guitar, using techniques that still sound futuristic today: tapping —playing with both hands on the fretboard— and bends that intertwine like Baroque scales. Producer Ted Templeman heard it by chance and asked him to record it. In two takes, the track that would forever change how guitar solos are understood in rock was ready.
The song kicks off with a sharp drum hit by Alex Van Halen and the bass of Michael Anthony, but what follows is pure sonic exploration. Eddie tuned his Frankenstrat half a step down and ran it through a 60s Marshall with phaser, an Echoplex for echo, and a reverb plate that gave it that cavernous tone. The solo progresses through dizzying arpeggios, artificial harmonics, and a fade-out on an E♭ processed by the Univox, as if the guitar were breathing. In 2005, Q magazine ranked it 29th on its 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks, and Rolling Stone placed it sixth on its list of the best guitar songs of all time. But beyond the rankings, what makes Eruption special is how it condensed a technical revolution into 1:43—a revolution that guitarists still study.