With no official word from Activision on the track list for the upcoming ‘Guitar Hero: Van Halen’ game, the Web is buzzing with rumors. While Spinner can’t confirm any of them, we’re pretty sure tracks like ‘Spanish Fly,’ ‘Eruption’ and ‘Runnin’ With The Devil’ will be included. What makes us so confident? We heard it from the guitar hero himself, Eddie Van Halen.
When Spinner spoke with Eddie earlier this year, we asked him to pick some of the essential Van Halen tunes, the ones he would suggest to budding VH fans. “I think ‘Eruption’ is one. ‘Spanish Fly,’ just because it’s the same thing except it sounds like Segovia doing something, it’s on a Flamenco guitar. I wish somebody would take that technique and do something with it,” he says laughing. “I had no idea it would trip people out to the point that it did.”
As one would imagine of a guy who’s written some of the most memorable riffs in all of rock over, narrowing the list down was tough, so he turned to the audience to help with the selection process. “To pick songs, I can only go by what the audience response is, like say ‘Runnin’ With the Devil.’ To the day I die, we’ll have to play that because that’s what people want to hear, and ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,’ ‘Unchained’ and ‘Jump.’ There’s all kinds of stuff.”
These are all songs that of course almost have to be on a game celebrating the VH legacy, but what about some dark horses that could make it? “I love ‘Girl Gone Bad,'” he says. “One of my favorite songs of ours is ‘Drop Dead Legs.’ Whether it’s a hit or not, I love that song. Probably the more obscure stuff, like Wolfie [his son/bassist Wolfgang Van Halen] loves ‘Romeo Delight.’ I do too.”
So there you have it, kids. The best of Van Halen from the man himself.