Eddie Van Halen is once again about to be on the cover of Rolling Stone.
Eddie is listed as the #8 greatest guitarist of all time in a new Rolling Stone poll. The last time the list was done in 2007, he ranked at #70.
The voting panel for the list featured Trey Anastasio, Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys), Brian Bell (Weezer), Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple), Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket), James Burton, Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains), Gary Clark Jr., Billy Corgan, Steve Cropper, Dave Davies (The Kinks), Anthony DeCurtis (Contributing editor, Rolling Stone), Tom DeLonge (Blink-182), Rick Derringer, Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), Elliot Easton (The Cars), Melissa Etheridge, Don Felder, David Fricke (Senior writer, Rolling Stone), Peter Guralnick (Author), Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes), Warren Haynes (The Allman Brothers Band), Brian Hiatt (Senior writer, Rolling Stone), David Hidalgo (Los Lobos), Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Lenny Kravitz, Robby Krieger (The Doors), Jon Landau (Manager), Alex Lifeson (Rush), Nils Lofgren (The E Street Band), Mick Mars (Mötley Crüe), Doug Martsch (Built to Spill), J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.), Brian May, Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), Roger McGuinn (The Byrds), Scotty Moore, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Tom Morello, Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), Brendan O’Brien (Producer), Joe Perry, Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Robbie Robertson, Rich Robinson (The Black Crowes), Carlos Santana, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Marnie Stern, Stephen Stills, Andy Summers, Mick Taylor, Susan Tedeschi, Vieux Farka Touré, Derek Trucks, Eddie Van Halen, Joe Walsh, Nancy Wilson (Heart).
This will be the 5th time Eddie has been a Rolling Stone cover model.
The first time was in edition 477 in 986 when Sammy Hagar first joined the band. The headline was ‘Hot & Happy Without David Lee Roth’.
Van Halen with Sammy Hagar featured again in the double summer edition 530/531 in July 1988. The headline ‘Van Halen Monsters On Tour’.
Next came issue 705 in 1995. Eddie was the featured interview and was on the cover with the quote “you’re either rock & roll or you’re not”.
Issue 1054 featured was a group shot for the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs Of All Time. The cover featured Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page, BB King, Kirk Hammit, Carlos Santana, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Buddy Guy.
For the December, 2011 issue, four different covers have been produced including ones featuring Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.
Meanwhile, expect new music from Van Halen in 2012. The yet-to-be named album has been recorded and will be released through Universal Music.
The last Van Halen studio album was VH3 with Gary Cherone on lead vocals in 1998. David Lee Roth’s last studio album with Van Halen was ‘1984’ in 1984. However he since released newer songs on ‘Best of Volume 1’ (‘Can’t Get This Stuff No More’ and ‘Me Wise Magic’ in 1996.
Sammy Hagar also fronted two three songs on ‘The Best of Both Worlds’ compilation in 2004. They were ‘It’s About Time’, ‘Up For Breakfast’ and ‘Learning To See’.
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