Eddie Van Halen? An untouchable musician, a revolutionary of the instrument, a pioneer who opened a new phase of the electric guitar. Not everyone thinks this way. Interviewed by StereogumWilliam Reid of the Jesus and Mary Chain said he was convinced that the Van Halen guitarist “ruined rock guitar in the '80s and '90s.”
In the interview, brother Jim Reid explains that «not having a lot of equipment forces you to be creative. I can play the guitar, but at a basic level. It's almost a deliberate choice. I play the guitar at the level I need. And sometimes knowing too much about how to make music can get in the way and you end up going back to Eddie Van Halen again.”
At this point William Reid intervenes: «In my opinion guitarists shouldn't learn to play scales. The worst guitarists in the world are those like Eddie Van Halen. I can't stand Eddie Van Halen's playing. He ruined rock guitar in the 80s and 90s because so many people copied him. I just couldn't understand that way of playing as fast as possible, jamming in as many notes as possible in one second. I listen to Peter Hook's bass riffs and I think they're a thousand times better than anything Eddie Van Halen ever came up with.”
In the same interview, Jim Reid explains that «shoegaze never existed». The musical subgenre with which the Jesus and Mary Chain have been associated «was invented by some clown of the NME».
