Video: Eddie Van Halen accepts Spike TV’s “Guitar God” award
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Robert Downey, Jr presents the Guitar God award to Eddie Van Halen during Spike TV’s “Guy’s Choice” awards, which aired June 21st.
Thanks to MATT2productions for uploading this video to youtube.
Filed under: Eddie Van Halen, Van Halen
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June 23rd, 2009 at 5:58 pm
another example of how eddie is always very sincere.
June 23rd, 2009 at 6:13 pm
The clip was fantastic.Ok, now here it comes…i get the whole sobriety thing and so on and so on, hate to admit it, but that drinking Dutch boy made some amazing music..something to say for the ol’ fire water-But from the man i thought he was, especially watching those clips, when he himself takes the podium he seems real weak in the fact that all these mentioned people had to save him from himself..BAH!!!!
June 23rd, 2009 at 6:38 pm
I thought it was great.
June 23rd, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Ed as always is a class act.
June 23rd, 2009 at 7:23 pm
I thought Ed’s speech was as real as it gets. It’s good to see him well.
June 23rd, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Long live EVH!! Rock On!!
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Wow. I can be hard on the guy.
But that was awesome.
Genuine article there. Looked healthy and doing well.
Keep it going EVH! We luv ya!
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:30 pm
No mention of DLR? Not a good sign for the future.
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:45 pm
A humbled God!!! King Edward Van Halen…I bow to you!!! Someone once asked me “Is that Eddie Van Halen playing the guitar? To which I responded, “Nah that’s God…he thinks he’s Eddie Van Halen!!!”
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Long Live King Edward The Great!
June 23rd, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Way To Go Ed!!! Sounds like DLR wan’t mentioned in your thank you speech, Props to you on that since DLR may be an entertainer but even more so……………… the BIGGEST BULLSHIT ARTIST IN ROCK HISTORY!!!!!
June 23rd, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Eddie, truly, is the greatest guitar player of all time. He’s looking pretty healthy; let’s just hope he sounds real mean on the upcoming record!
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:13 pm
It was great to see Edward out in a public appearance. He looks so healthy now. You can tell the speech came from the bottom of his big heart. One thing kinda…KINDA bothered me though. No mention on Diamond Dave. I mean, it’s really no big deal because the people Ed mentioned are the ones that have helped him the past few years. I just kinda thought that he might have mentioned Dave. However, backstage interviews from the Spike awards with various news outlets, Ed spoke highly of Dave. So it’s not really that big of deal that Dave wasn’t mentioned on TV.
June 24th, 2009 at 12:45 am
ed rules. he deserves this. i really can’t wait for new VH music. van halen forever !!!
June 24th, 2009 at 1:47 am
Eddie is the greatest of all time !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 24th, 2009 at 2:56 am
Eddie is a class act … here’s hoping he conquered the alcohol demons that have dominated his life for so long.
June 24th, 2009 at 4:13 am
Amazing!when he was drunk he would never do this type of thing. He deserves this. No mention of Valerie that put up with his shit for over 20 yrs. You rock Ed. 8/12/08 I have a year. Thanks for the influence A) for jacking me up at age 12 and B) Getting sober at age 42. Chikenfoot!
June 24th, 2009 at 4:45 am
No doubt it is good to see Edie looking healthier than he has in a long time but seriously, talking about your alcho problem in the middle of a speech accepting a guitar hero award? Ed’s wife/publicist need to tell him that there’s a time and a place. And this was neither the time nor place.
June 24th, 2009 at 4:57 am
now that was WICKED SINCERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD BLESS U EDDIE.
June 24th, 2009 at 5:00 am
Karl, I think him bringing that up was just him letting us know that it IS in the past and I felt that it fit well into his speech. JMO
June 24th, 2009 at 5:10 am
Ya I concur Ed looks good and it came across as sincere.
June 24th, 2009 at 6:04 am
So what if he didnt mention DRL? This wasnt about him, it was about eddie and his contribution to the guitar world. I think it took balls for him to get up there and address his drinking problem like he did. Hopefully this is a good sign.
June 24th, 2009 at 6:39 am
Thank you eddie for STILL giving me goosebumps when I hear you play! I hope nothing but the best for this cat.
June 24th, 2009 at 7:09 am
“Tonight’s about me, not your F@*%ing Hip” DLR “96″
It took 13 years but humbly King Edward got his revenge!
I wish he had shown for the RRHF Intuction but Spike did a great tribute for an amazing career, keep rock’n Ed!!
June 24th, 2009 at 8:06 am
Great speech. Short…. To the point…. Hopefully inspires other alcoholics to realize they can kick their demons. Hopefully Dave won’t get all PO’d and quit the band because he wasn’t given his props.
June 24th, 2009 at 8:36 am
He seemed sober though. He’s got to stop chewing gravel.
June 24th, 2009 at 8:40 am
if drinks again
it may kill him
how selfish
i am happy he has stopped
its not easy
sobriety is beautiful
June 24th, 2009 at 8:42 am
1) Interesting that the audio and bulk of the video intro was from Ed’s solo on LWAN. It always seemed the strongest and most complete, even if it was stretched a bit far and played out to the hilt.
2) Does getting an award from a show like this (where other catagories are questionable at best, down right juvenile and inane at worst) really mean anything? I would think an accolade from a guitar publication or organization would be more legit.
3) Yeah, yeah, yeah, Ed, we know you’re a drunk. It’s OK ’cause I’m one too and there are plenty others out there struggling every day. However, middle of this speech is an awkward moment to bare your soul about the bottle. How about a little focus on the honor at hand?
June 24th, 2009 at 8:54 am
^ Exactly. If the award had been for Recovering Alcoholic Of The Year, then spot on. Otherwise say something about guitars.
June 24th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Too much hate going on in the world. Give the guy his due, there will never be another Eddie Van Halen, or VAN HALEN for that matter. Whether in good times or bad, Van Halen will always be a link to GREAT ROCK MUSIC, ELECTRIC GUITAR, THE BROWN SOUND, TWO FINGER TAPPING, ERUPTION, UNCHAINED, and the list goes on. And yeah, stand up, give him your acknowledgement, cause “the king of ten fingers and six strings..” will continue to be around making DAMN GREAT FREAKIN ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC which you can bang your head to, pump your fist to, air guitar to, jump up and down to, and dance to…for many, many years to come. GUARANTEED.
June 24th, 2009 at 9:19 am
Regarding the alcohol statement - it was a good tie-in to his guitar award. He said:
* His family came to America, poor, when he was 7 years old; “Anything is achievable”.
* He drank for 42 years and has been sober for a full year; “Anything is achievable”.
Great speech! Great to see Eddie looking good, happy, sober!
June 24th, 2009 at 9:54 am
eddie is such a sincere person really a real person love it cant wait for your new inventions kind edward!
June 24th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Eddie deserves this kind of award for what he has done.
Sad that this event sees him looking for sympathy for growing up poor and being an alcoholic.
I guess he’s looking for a way to not look like the “bad guy” as he says.
If you want people to feel better about you, then don’t forget the step where you apologize for your wrongs. You don’t have to go into detail, but you have to make peace with your past. You also can’t pretend you’re 100% right all the time and that everyone else was always wrong.
I’m sure if Eddie admitted that he was a prick to Dave, Sam, and now Mike that he might be surprised with the reaction he’d get. Everyone is a jerk sometime. He just has never acknowledged his part in anything and people find this hard to relate to.
I hope he mans up, acknowledges that everyone just did the best they could, apologizes, and then dedicates himself to moving forward with his son or whatever. And then, he just has to stop being such a bitter angry guy.
I hope the man does this and finds himself some peace. I feel bad for him.
June 24th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Myron Philpot, you couldn’t be more right in one instance about the Spike award not meaning much but I don’t think Eddie could possibly win another award from a guitar publication, he has won them all over and over again!!
I also thought talking about his sobriety was excellent. That is the only path now that will keep him achieving the honors he was being celebrated for at this event.
Ed, you looked great and lay off the smokes brother and get to recordin’ already!!
June 24th, 2009 at 10:37 am
I wish I could say it’s unbelievable that some people are nitpicking Eddie’s award speech, but sadly, it’s not.
This was a completely genuine, from-the-heart speech. He even mentioned that he had no idea what he was going to say on the drive over. Sorry if some of you found it a little awkward that he mentioned his problem with alcoholism. You know what, if he wanted to address the issue, then it was perfectly apropos to do so. It is something that has posed the biggest threat to derailing his career — and his life. What better forum for him to humbly say, in effect, I have my weaknesses, but I am working to overcome them with the help of those who are closest to me, and if I can do it, then anything is achievable.
Say something about guitars??? Yeah, then this thread would be fired up with comments about Ed plugging his equipment. What can he say about guitar playing that he hasn’t said a million times already? His fingers have done all the talking about guitar playing the world needs to know. Let Robert Downey Jr. talk about Ed’s guitar playing. Instead, Ed saw the elephant in the room, and addressed it head on.
This just shows, once again, that no matter what Eddie says, there’s always going to some faction of the Van Halen fanbase that will be complaining about some aspect of it. Instead, I choose to enjoy the moment — a well-deserved honor for the greatest guitarist of our generation. I say that gives him the right to deliver whatever message he wants.
June 24th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Jake says: “Ed, you looked great and lay off the smokes brother and get to recordin’ already!!”
Exactly what I was thinking Jake… I mean, he lost part of his tounge for Cripes Sake.
Anyhow.
Don’t see a problem with his talking about the bottle. Isn’t that one step in the program: Acceptance?
Ed looks good. That’s the clearest I’ve ever heard him speak (see aforementioned missing part of tounge.)
I’m getting excited again!!
(But I’m STILL diggin’ the Chickenfoot.)
Peace to all my VH worshipping brothers… we all share a passion for good music, so let’s fight no more!!
June 24th, 2009 at 11:14 am
those who are dissing the award, its better that he comes out for an award voted for by people all over than one decided by the heads of a company or industry people. This would mean more to him probably (It definitely would to me) because it came from the opinion of many people just like you and me.
and lol Ed almost sounds like the Joker from Dark Knight
June 24th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Absolutely no problem at all with Eddie trying to inspire people to achieve their goals and get sober. A truly positive, poignant message from someone who has had some “not so great” public appearances in recent years.
Just quit those cigarettes.
June 24th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Well said, Aftershock.
June 24th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Dit is een dikverdiende prijs, Ed.
Je hebt duidelijk laten zien wat je kan bereiken met slechts een paar honderd gulden op zak, een koffer met kleding en een piano.
Als mede Nederlander ben ik trots op jouw en Alex’ prestaties, hoop dat ik er nog lang van kan genieten.
Frank, NL
June 24th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
^ Don’t know why, but there’s something quite cool about him being Dutch.
June 24th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
now that’s the eddie i remembered….humble and genuine.
June 24th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
What no thanks Dave ????
June 24th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Yeah, I know what you mean, Jake. How many times can Guitar World spray their shorts over Ed and have it mean anything anymore? Same to a lesser extent with Guitar Player. To me, GFTPM was the most credible though that mag was a cover-to-cover advertisement too. Bah! Just gimme the tabs, that’s all I ever wanted out of a guitar mag.
On second thought, Ed can talk about his boozin’ and loozin’ all he wants. Alcoholism is rough and its victims generally experience the absolute worst forms of humiliation at some point. Ed’s been very lucky his drunken mistakes have been relatively quiet and out of the public eye (the 2004 tour not included). Somewhat ironic that RD, Jr. would introduce Ed when Bobby’s had so many problems with drugs himself.
June 24th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
I think everyone of us at some point of our lives interest more the family than all the rest.
And currently Ed’s family is Wolf, Alex and the new wife.
Dave isn’t part of his family, currently he is a collegue.
I know that many years ago when I saw at pictures of Van Halen, expecially with Sam, they looks like a big family, and I was happy for them and I was thinking “Wow how lucky I am to be the fan of these guys!”.
It’s sad but today even with Dave or Sammy or Mike never will be the same, it’s life!
We must be happy that Ed now seems to be healty, I’m happy also for Robert Downey JR, for me is a great actor.
We can like or criticize the musician but we must respect the man.
June 24th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Aftershock hit the nail on the head!
June 24th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
ALLinALL,-it`s nice to see ED get out of the house isn`t it?
I`ll admit, the show had the same approach as your average crappy “Mtv” awards.But it had it`s “moments”(ClintEastwood,-BradPitt calling MelGibson”sugartits”Triumph the insult dog”)
ED was a true gentlemen, no sh*t slingin“bout sam&mike,(fellow bloggers take note-)& just talked from the heart.
After being a fan these last 31yrs I`ve seen every sh$t talking comment EVERYONE of them has made about each other,
some of`m offended even me.-&that`s hard to do-believe me;/
But after following my fav bands over the years I`ve noticed they`ve ALL talked sh$t `bout each other(WHO,ZEP,SABBOTH,STONES,Kiss,etc)
& every time i hear some new news`bout`m i get that same feeling i did when i was a “young shaver”.-giddy(Xcept4Kiss).the feeling that you`re a part of “something bigger”, a secret club like the “stone masons”,where everyone shares the same secret.”DISCIPLES” of “ROCK” we are, touched by the hand of greatness. don`t forget it&don`t forsake it.
June 24th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Well….Gotta say after just seeing the award video…Eddie comes off sincere and working his sobriety…Way to go Ed! Now if you would Mr. Van Halen…Give us some traveling music to get out of this economy funk we’re in….Alright Boys!!!
June 24th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
That was good to see, Ed has finally figured out what is important in his life, what really matters. I hope Ed can stay sober, a new album would be icing on the cake.
June 24th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
LOVED EVERY minute of this.
layers and layers of irony - RDJR , etc etc …
good for him . some growth .
June 24th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Eddie rules!
June 24th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
I wish Ed all the best! He deserves this award!
Long live the KING! And, the only reason rock why did not die in the late 70’s, 80’s, & 90’s…Eddie will be back with an incredible set of tunes in 2010.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:10 am
Long live the king indeed why criticize his acceptance speech, the guy has been through a lot. And there is no need to mention DLR, Sammy,Mike or Gary Cherone for that matter.The award was for his body of work as a guitarist, which in my opinion will hold up with anyone you attempt to compare him to.Like him or not try to put aside your opinion of the man and for one moment just respect the musician.
Play through Edward and thank you for all the great music !
June 25th, 2009 at 5:59 am
I saw the award ceremony on tv a coupe days ago, and I’ve gotta admit, seeing Ed up there was great. I dont care about all you who are whining about waiting too long for new music, or why he didnt show up for past preformances. Ed is a smart guy. Hes showing up on tv, winning awards, getting recognised. Hes building up his strength once again so when he does release his new stuff, it wont die out against the new music crap thats being produced.
I can tell that soon, very soon, Van Halen is going to explode full force. Im not one to complain about Sammy and Mike with what they are doing with Chickenfoot. I loved them both in Van Halen, and I think its great that they’re staying active. On the positive side, that makes TWO killer bands that I get to see in the future. I want the “Best of Both Worlds!!” Why complain?!?
Overall I think its great that Ed got this honor, cause there is no one else who deserves it. Simply put. I cant wait until the next step for him, but until then I’ll just have to keep playing the classic Gold that is Van Halen!!
-Chris Ivory
June 25th, 2009 at 9:53 am
I love Eddie and this was fun to watch, but it’s crazy to me that he will show up for a lame Spike TV award but not the Rock and Roll Hall of fame. I guess Eddie didn’t have to share the spotlight with any undesirables here.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Eddie looks great, has a genuine great attitude, which means HE IS BACK!!!!Reminds me of an older version of ‘78 Eddie”!!!
If there is a new album coming…….IT CAN’T BE ANYTHING OTHER THAN INCREDIBLE!!! I feel that the only reason that VHIII was not so great was because his life was in shambles (regardless of what he wanted us to believe) and he lost his focus. If he can channel that new positive energy that he is displaying, it can’t help but come out in the music!!
God bless you Eddie!!!! Stay sober and healthy!!
June 25th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
I agree with Greg, ignore Hall of Fame for this pop award show (Spike TV, really?). I know he was going through a hard time last year, but this thank you delivered by his brother or Wolfie would have been so much nicer last year.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
@Greg: I think Ed was in rehab at the time. If he wasn’t, i’m sure he would’ve showed. Maybe he felt to make amends…(am I saying this right?)
Frank, NL
June 25th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
some people consider the rock and roll hall of rap, er… r&b, er… fame to be lame.maybe ed felt spike was being sincere in their award.you won’t see another eddie in this lifetime.we’re all lucky he’s even alive to be able to make another album.rock on eddie.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Let’s just be grateful that Eddie Van Halen (the greatest guitarist of our time!!) has got the help he so desperately needed. It was kind of spooky the other day when I was driving. I was changing the radio station as you do when a shit song comes on! When I was searching the radio dial for something good to come on, at that moment I landed on one station at the exact beginning of the ‘Beat It’ guitar solo by Eddie. My thoughts were then “Thank god Eddie is still alive”. And the next morning I woke to the shocking & untimely death of Michael Jackson.
I know there would be some here that couldn’t care less about Michael Jackson, but you can’t deny Michael Jackson’s enthusiasm and insistence on having Eddie play on his Thriller album. It show’s how diverse and respect King Eddie has. Be grateful that a genius, icon and the greatest guitarist of our time is alive and doing well. It’s sad that Michael Jackson didn’t have the right people around him to help him like Eddie has.
June 26th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
eddie has never looked better, i have been sober for 8 months after 20 years, he is my hero and my kids are my inspiration, thanks ed
June 26th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
was that ancepptance speech or a clip from ahollywood 12 step meeting, hey evh , downey jr, hey i even thought i saw weiland in the crowd.sorry if i was mistaken,
Pity our hero and brother couldnt muster up the humility to attend the hall of fame awards to give the band the true kudos it deserved for ther past 30 years, but hey go to this bullshit no problems.
enough of the bs ed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 20th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
NO ONE has changed guitar playing since Edward Van Halen. We are living in an era that history will reflect back upon as monumental, as it was in the days of Beethoven.