Yngwie Malmsteen was born in rural Sweden, where he wasn’t exposed to the iconic rock stars until later on in his life. His love and talent for guitar developed uniquely without being inspired by the trending music. However, when he was exposed to such names as Sex Pistols, he didn’t stop listening to them.
According to Malmsteen, a true musician does not copy others and keeps his unique personal melody in the sound. Even though it’s hard not to copy something you heard and loved, the guitarist successfully preserved his originality until this day. Of course, this doesn’t mean he wasn’t inspired and in awe of other guitarists and bands like Van Halen.
Why Was Yngwie Malmsteen Impressed By Van Halen?
The guitarist talked about Eddie Van Halen and how unique he was in an interview last year. He recalled that Eddie had the tapping technique, which he made everyone aware of and popularized even though he didn’t invent it. In his opinion, no one did that technique as great as Eddie did.
However, the two things that the guitarist was in love with about the band were Van Halen’s energy and their unbothered attitude. He admitted that he loved it back then, and he is still in love with that until this day. In the age where everyone tried to set boundaries and rules for musicians, Van Halen broke them, and Malmsteen loved it.
Malmsteen’s comment about the attitude of Van Halen goes:
“You have to remember, in 1978, no one had heard this before. And even though Edward wasn’t the first person to tap it, he put it on the map. No one did it like him. But what really knocked me out was the energy and the ‘don’t give a f*ck’ attitude that the whole band had. They were essentially a power trio, and they were playing live.”
He continued by touching upon their ‘rebellious’ side:
“You’ve gotta remember, too. I lived in a socialist country, and it was basically, ‘You can’t do this,’ ‘You can’t do that.’ Everything was very ‘no no no no no.’ And when Van Halen came out, it was just, ‘F*ck you all!’ And I loved it. I f*cking loved it. I still love it to this day.“
Even though Malmsteen is not an artist to be influenced easily by other musicians’ sounds, he is not shy to express his opinions about Van Halen. For a long time, Van Halen has been a mind-blowing figure in the rock and roll world. Hence, it was devastating to see their disbandment after their iconic guitarist Eddie Van Halen’s death in 2020.
