Jane's Addiction Guitarist Dave Navarro Names - Talks about Eddie VH

[James in New York]

As part of SiriusXM Guitar Greats, Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro talked about the late guitar great Eddie Van Halen.

"You can't have a show about great guitar players without mentioning, without playing, without paying homage to Mr. Edward Van Halen - huge, massive influence on me.

I remember buying [1978's] 'Van Halen I' when I was 11 years old, and it changed everything for me. But right now, I want to focus on a track that I think is one of my favorite records that Van Halen ever put out.

This is [1981's] 'Fair Warning' album and this is a track called 'Mean Street.'

One of the things I learned recently is that I got a hold of some 1976-1977 demos that Van Halen recorded with Gene Simmons way back in the day when they were trying to put together the material for their first album.

And if you can get your hands on it it's definitely worth a listen. I know it's floating around YouTube.

But there are songs that they discarded for one reason or another but you will hear moments of songs that you do recognize in those demos.

So, years after 'Van Halen I,' 'Fair Warning' came out with the song 'Mean Street' on it, which by the way has an impeccable intro with this finger-tapping muting situation going on which I still can't wrap my head around.

But the bridge to 'Mean Street' is from another song entirely. It was written in 1977 and they having another song with this bridge in it that just got scrapped.

So it sounds to me that when they came around to recording 'Fair Warning,' they kind of went through the archives of parts and said, 'Hey what about that bridge that we used to have?

Let's throw that in there, that works.'

And so it's kind of interesting to think about their songs pieced together like that.

You know Edward was famous for having the Frankenstein guitar, which is the one that he put together from a bunch of different parts.

And in a lot of ways, you could say the same thing about some of their songwriting techniques.

They literally Frankenstein songs together, and 'Mean Street' is one of them, and thank god they did.

It's one of their best, I think it's my favorite Van Halen album and it's certainly my favorite Edward Van Halen tone on any album, that they've ever done."

According to the press release, from April 5 at 12 PM ET through April 19 at 3 AM ET, SiriusXM Guitar Greats will spotlight music from the world’s most innovative and influential guitarists, including Les Paul. Robert Johnson, Chuck Berry, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, and many more.

Throughout the channel's run, listeners will also hear exclusive guest DJ specials featuring famous artists playing their favorite guitarists.

The guests include Dave Navarro, Nancy Wilson, and more.

[T.B.]

Navarro is a huge Roth era Van Halen fan. I've read in interviews he's said to have seen a few 80-84 Roth era VH arena shows in LA. He went so far as to have a custom replica made of the Frankenstrat which he often played during Jane's Addiction's 2001 tour.

[Destructo2]

Yeah, I remember when he was married to Carmen Electra years ago she bought him a bumble bee replica for Christmas that came across one of the entertainment channels. Very cool

[James in New York]

Had no idea he was a fan!
Awesome!

[James in New York]

Dave tells how Eddie and Mean Street blew him away...

[ziggysmalls]

I know in the post grunge world, Eddie is often attributed as the guy who spawned a million imitators. Was attached to hair metal. Had no feel. All show and nothing else, etc and in reality that all came about because when grunge took over, every guitarist wanted to distance themselves from anything to do with technique. Even before that with bands such as Anthrax and Metallica. In reality there were a ton of alternative guitarists who were very inspired by Eddie as they were learning their craft. Dave here. The Pearl Jam guys. Billy Corgan, Scott Ian, Jerry Cantral, Tom Morello, Rivers Cuomo, Dimebag, etc all bowed to Eddie but some kept it hidden. Therefore his legacy kind of took a bit of a hit for a decade or so.

Heck so many of them probably learned drop D tuning from Fair Warning

[chain]

I know in the post grunge world, Eddie is often attributed as the guy who spawned a million imitators. Was attached to hair metal. Had no feel. All show and nothing else, etc and in reality that all came about because when grunge took over, every guitarist wanted to distance themselves from anything to do with technique. Even before that with bands such as Anthrax and Metallica. In reality there were a ton of alternative guitarists who were very inspired by Eddie as they were learning their craft. Dave here. The Pearl Jam guys. Billy Corgan, Scott Ian, Jerry Cantral, Tom Morello, Rivers Cuomo, Dimebag, etc all bowed to Eddie but some kept it hidden. Therefore his legacy kind of took a bit of a hit for a decade or so.

Heck so many of them probably learned drop D tuning from Fair Warning

I’ve never understood why any guitarist would hide the fact that they were a fan and/or influenced by EVH....Or any great guitarist/musician for that matter. I get VH were a bit passé during the grunge era when mediocre musicianship was on full display by many otherwise popular grunge acts. But to deny the virtuosity, innovation, and influence of a one of a kind player is strange. Or maybe just insecurity....

[VHrox12]

My favorite Jane's Addiction song is "Been Caught Stealing". Love the guitar playing on it. One of those songs I could listen to 10 times straight and never get sick of it. Dave is a great guitarist.

[DJ Work'in Hard]

Dave Say's