Paul Stanley recalled the impact of Van Halen’s 1978 debut album and how Eddie Van Halen influenced the KISS sound in the decade that followed on the Jeremy White Podcast.
“They took the world by storm. They were an amazing, amazing band,” Stanley told host Jeremy White when asked about Van Halen’s first album, which was released 43 years ago this month (2/10/78). “Dave [Roth] was THE guy, just phenomenal on stage. The whole band was like a steamroller.
“[Van Halen] sounded great on the radio,” he continued. “‘Runnin’ With The Devil’ sounded ridiculous. Look, it was undeniable. There are certain things that come along that are undeniable and it’s just a matter of watching the momentum as it goes along. When that album came out it was, ‘OK, here’s a game changer.’ Every band that they played with suffered the consequences of having them opening because they were just a force to be reckoned with. You didn’t wanna follow that.”
When Stanley was asked if the addition of gun slinging guitarist Vinnie Vincent to KISS in 1982 (he replaced original guitarist Ace Frehley) came as a result of Eddie’s influential approach to the guitar, he responded, “Totally…totally.”
“[Eddie’s guitar style] really became what people expected,” Stanley added. “A few people stuck to their guns and stayed within the context of what they’d been doing but for the most part, yeah, it was the time of guys [who sounded like Eddie]. I have to say most of ’em were just pale imitations. There was Edward and there was Randy [Rhoads] and a couple of other people and then there were just a lot of people knocking it off but, yeah, we were conscious of what was going on and because we had members changing and the band was in kind of like a state of transition, we adapted.”
You can watch the entire segment above. To watch more episodes of The Jeremy White Podcast, check out his YouTube page HERE.