“He sometimes gets overshadowed by his own brilliant lead playing”: What was underrated about Eddie Van Halen, according to Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick

Eddie Van Halen in 2015 and Alex Skolnick in 2024 — (Image credit: Daniel Knighton/Getty Images | Daniel Knighton/Getty Images)

Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick has explained in what way he thinks Eddie Van Halen is underrated.

Talking exclusively to Metal Hammer, the thrash metal player says that Eddie is so famous for his ground-breaking style of shredding that other abilities, like his riffs and timing, are overlooked.

He makes the argument while naming the guitar part in Van Halen’s 1981 track Mean Street as one of his favourite riffs of all time.

“To me, it just captures everything that’s great about a riff,” Skolnick says. “It’s angry, more than was expected from a band like Van Halen, who had a lot of very pop melodies, especially in the vocal tune. That whole tune captures some aggression and intensity, and I can’t think of any metal players that weren’t influenced by that riff in one way or the other.”

Moving on to Eddie himself, he continues: “I think Van Halen sometimes gets overshadowed by his own brilliant lead playing and shredding, or whatever you want to call it. There’s so much more to him: timing, swing, tone and especially riffs. Mean Street really captures the best of the riffs.”

Eddie co-founded Van Halen with his drummer brother Alex in 1973. The pair were the band’s sole constant members during their 47-year career. The guitarist – famed for his revolutionary tone, tapping technique and flashy performances – died in October 2020, aged 65, due to complications from throat cancer.

As for Testament, the band formed in Berkeley, California, in 1983 and are one of the most popular and long-serving thrash metal acts. They released Titans Of Creation, their 13th and latest album, in April 2020 and are currently working on a follow-up.

In November, co-guitarist Eric Peterson said that fans will start hearing new Testament songs in early 2025. “Definitely for singles [it will be early 2025], yes,” he told KNAC.com (via Blabbermouth). “Release-wise [for the full album], I would say maybe more in the summer. I mean, I guess we could push it and put it out in May, but we’ll see what the record company wants to do.”

See what other riffs Skolnick hails as among his all-time favourites in the video below.

Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick names the five greatest riffs ever | Metal Hammer - YouTube

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Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.