New Jersey remembers Eddie Van Halen (Opinion)

I feel like a piece of my youth died withthe death of Eddie Van Halen. Eddie left us after only 65 years, losing a longtime battle with throat cancer.

Fortunately, his music will never leave us. His guitar had a distinctive sound that was both serious and fun at the same time. It set off the party led by the voice of David Lee Roth and the intense serious sound of Sammy Hagar. Eddie captured our hearts in a way that few other guitarists had. He was the serious Van Halen.

Old Bridge comedian Jim Florentine, former co-host of VH1's "That Metal Show," on the passing of Eddie Van Halen told me, "He was my Jimi Hendrix as a kid, My first concert was Van Halen in 1978 opening for Black Sabbath. To Me Van Halen is the greatest American rock band of all time."

Dave Hoeffel, owner of Sound Choice DJs, former WPST jock and currently on Sirius XM, said about Eddie's passing, "I believe that Rolling Stone ranked Eddie Van Halen No. 8 in the list of greatest guitarists (they did). That was probably a bit low. What other guitarist was as instantly recognizable as Eddie?"

Mark Weiss of Mark Weiss Photography came on my show to talk about his time taking pictures of Eddie on tour, and his new book "The Decade that Rocked: The Photography of Mark 'Weissguy' Weiss." Check out our talk up above or click here. He also has an exhibit up at the Monmouth Museum where he'll be signing his book on Friday, Oct. 9 from 2 to 5 p.m.

Here's how you reacted to his passing on my Facebook page.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Steve Trevelise. Any opinions expressed are Steve's own. Steve Trevelise is on New Jersey 101.5 Monday-Thursday from 7pm-11pm. Follow him on Twitter @realstevetrev.

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