10 Greatest Guitarists From The '80s - The Guys Who Rewrote The Book
1. Eddie Van Halen
For all anybody needs to know about the complete rewriting of the guitar rule book there is only one thing you need to do: check out Eddie Van Halen's classic 'Eruption' solo from the debut Van Halen album, released in 1978. But wait, you may say, that isn't the '80s. And you would be right, but that sub-two minute explosion of unaccompanied guitar pyrotechnics was only the appetiser for what was to follow on the band's '80s albums.
The high point for most will be 1984, the final album with frontman David Lee Roth in his original run with VH. Besides the shred-tastic EVH chops on display on Panama and Hot For Teacher, tracks like Drop Dead Legs and the brief solo in Jump show why there is no-one close to Eddie.
Besides Hendrix, no guitarist has been more influential; every other guitarist on this list has confessed to the EVH influence on their own playing. Eddie wrote the book, re-wrote it and then set it on fire. He is the undisputed, all-time, all-conquering king of the hill. Incidentally, without his devastatingly brilliant solo on Beat It, Michael Jackson would have probably never even got on to the rock dominated MTV at the time, the exposure he received turned him into the mega star he became.