10 Greatest Hard Rock Songs (Without Vocals)

The death of Eddie Van Halen this past year was nothing short of a gut punch to everyone who heard his music. When Van Halen first burst onto the scene in the late '70s, their signature brand of rock and roll was unlike anything that the public had ever heard before, with a guitar attack that was as much fun as it was heavy. However, all you really need to know about Eddie's talent is distilled into just 2 minutes on Eruption.

Not so much written as it was improvised, the core of this song was just a little guitar interlude that Eddie would fool around with during their live shows to get the audience in a frenzy.

When you look at what he's playing though, the technical skills are off the charts, as he incorporates tremolo picking and fast hammer ons and pull offs with amazing dexterity. That's before you get to the tapping section though, as Eddie creates a virtual symphony with his one guitar, laying the groundwork for all the guitar virtuosos of the '80s that were piggy-backing off of this one technique.

While other instrumentals exist for the sole purpose of giving the instrumentalists some love, this kind of amazing energy made Eddie the second frontman of the group next to David Lee Roth. In case you need one more rock fan to tell you that this kicks all of the ass, here's your daily reminder.