It comes down to originality
Date: August 21, 2000 04:09AM
The truly great guitarists are ones that set the standards because they created something new that influenced so many after.
Robert Johnson
Chuck Berry
Keith Richards
Eric Clapton
Jimi Hendrix
Pete Townshend
Eddie Van Halen
Randy Rhoads
Just to name a few........
So for those of you who bash Eddie..... none of your hair bands would have existed without him. And for those of you who bash David Lee Roth, without him Eddie would have never been inspired to do better. Sammy didn't push Ed and that is why Van Hagar riffs became recycled to some extent.