Metal Family Tree

This is a project aimed at making it easy to see who inspired the bands you love or even hate. For this I try not to use any influences that the band don’t claim themselves. There will be a focus on predecessors but successors will be added as they site the band. These trees become more and more interactive as new bands are added, allowing you to click any band that has a tree and jump to it.

We want our lists to be better. If you know something that belongs on this list, let us know. When in doubt we will leave it out, so we need reliable sources.

Van Halen were revolutionary when they emerged. They have been on my list to do for a long time and with the recent passing of Eddie Van Halen I decided I can’t put it off any longer. As much as Jimi Hendrix brought forth a revolution for guitar players, a decade later Eddie would revolutionize guitar again. Besides guitar Eddie also played all keyboards in the band. Easily Eddie is one of the most influential guitar players there has ever been. The core lineup of Van Halen was consistent with Eddie and Alex at the heart of the band. Michael Anthony was on bass from the first album through 2006 at which time bass was taken over by Eddi’s son Wolfgang. The classic line up would be with David Lee Roth on vocals for the first six albums. He was replaced with vocalist/guitarist Sammy Hagar for the next four albums. This period is often referred to as Van Hagar. Gary Cherone would be the vocalist for one album. Dave would return for an album again in 2012. Writing in Van Halen has always been a collaborative effort with writing credits shared but Eddie was the one behind the riffs. Because Gary Cherone was only in the band for one album I will put his influences at the bottom instead of with the main list.

Showtunes

Broadway brought to the T.V., Dave’s earliest influences from from showtunes like West Side Story and Damn Yankees.

James Brown was Soul Brother No. 1. He was a big influence and Dave.

Major Lance

Marvin Gaye

Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

Dick Dale

Wilson Pickett

The Temptations

Lou Rawls

The Dave Clark Five were a rock / pop band very similar to the Beatles. After moving to the US, DC5 was the band that made Alex and Eddie want to play rock music.

The Yardbirds featured the most influential guitar players of their time including Eric Clapton. Sammy named them with Clapton as an influence.

The Who were rock band occasionally verging on progressive and hard rock. Eddie named Pete Townsend as a big influence on his rhythm playing. Michael is also a big fan of John Entwistle. They are also an influence on Gary.

Cream were a very influential psychedelic blues based band. Eddie named Eric Clapton as his biggest influence and said he use to learn his solos note for note. Particularly he was a fan of the live stuff. Michael named Jack Bruce as one of his bigge… — Cream were a very influential psychedelic blues based band. Eddie named Eric Clapton as his biggest influence and said he use to learn his solos note for note. Particularly he was a fan of the live stuff. Michael named Jack Bruce as one of his biggest influences. Like Eddie, Sammy said he tried to learn all of Clapton’s solos.

John Mayall had several guitar players notably Eric Clapton and Peter Green. Eddie said he prefers Clapton’s stuff with Cream but Sammy was into everything Clapton and was equally inspired by his time with John Mayall and also named Peter Green as … — John Mayall had several guitar players notably Eric Clapton and Peter Green. Eddie said he prefers Clapton’s stuff with Cream but Sammy was into everything Clapton and was equally inspired by his time with John Mayall and also named Peter Green as an influence.

The Electric Flag were a psychedelic blues rock / soul band. Michael named them as the first band that made him want to play bass and named Harvey Books as one of his biggest influences.

Led Zeppelin are one of the most influential and earliest hard rock bands. Michael named John Paul Jones as one of his biggest influences. They are also an influence on Gary.

Elton John

The Persuasions

Mother’s Finest is a Funk based rock band. They are an influence on Dave.

The hard rock band Montrose was where Sammy got his start. Sammy said that Ronnie Montrose was an influence on him and he still plays guitar like him.

Alex and Eddi’s dad was a musician who played saxophone and clarinet on live radio. They both started playing piano and taking lessons around 6 or 7 years old as their parents wanted them to be concert pianists. They played classical style. Originally Eddie played drums and Alex played guitar but Eddie says they switched when Alex got better at drums than him. They both studied music (theory) under Truman Fisher who also taught Frank Zappa. Eddie said he learned what not to do but Alex learned theory very well although Eddie writes most of the music.

In a interview with Eddie in 78, he said that Dave didn’t even own a stereo and listened to what ever was in the radio.

Although it might seem reasonable that Hendrix was an influence on Eddie, but in fact he said he liked him but never really got into him and never even bought any of his records. He said he was never really that inspired by Jimmy Page or Ritchie Blackmore either. He did however say he grew up with a lot of The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five, Cream, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix.

Eddie was also a fan of Allan Holdsworth.

The interesting thing about Eddie is that he’s questioned about influences and talks with respect about players like Tony Iommi, Ritchie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and Hendrix, but he doesn’t talk like he’s very influenced by anybody outside of Clapton and Townsend. He says his playing style isn’t like any of them. With as unique as Eddie is and what he has said in interviews, I’m led to the conclusion that his uniqueness comes from himself rather than being a combination of styles that influenced him. He was a very good piano player as well and I think some of his unique guitar style comes from playing piano first. That would also explain some of the classical sounding stuff in his playing. (On a side note him and Randy Rhoads both have a similar style and both started as piano players.)

Eddie said he never used to tune the guitar to anything and Michael would just tune to him.

In the early days of Van Halen playing clubs, Alex said they had like 300 covers they knew and played everything from James Brown and Ohio Players, to Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. At the time they were expected to play five 45 minutes sets of top 40’s. Eddie said that Black Sabbath was the closest to his heart out of the bands they covered. He used to also sing lead for Sabbath songs and was particularly a big fan of “Into the Void”.

I have yet to find any interviews of Alex naming influences. I’ve seen John Bonham, Keith Moon, Ginger Baker, Ray Phillips, and Buddy Ritch named by people, but I have not been able to find any confirmation of this.

If you are familiar with the “Panama” video and remember the band swinging on wires; this idea came from Dave seeing the Peter Pan Broadway show as a kid.

When it comes to Dave’s showman ship, dancing and jumping splits, that all comes from the The Berry Brothers and the Nicholas Brothers, both of which were dance teams. He also takes influence from Frankie Manning and other swing time dancers. Much of Dave’s influences come from early 60’s black culture. He names Soul Train and the movie Super Fly as having a big influence on him.

As a kid Dave played saxophone.

Gary was only on one album. His influences include Alice Cooper, Queen, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, and the Who.

Bands influenced by Van Halen!

As this project advances, bands will be added here… there are many!

Zakk Wylde names Eddie as a big influence.

The inspiration to extreme forms of metal.

Dio guitar players have been heavily inspired by Eddie.

FUCKIN’ SLAYER!!!!!!!

Widely considered the fathers of death metal.

An eclectic metal band rooted in melodic death

Sources:

https://web.archive.org/web/20111022020333/http://jasobrecht.com/eddie-van-halen-complete-1978-interviews/
https://www.guitarworld.com/features/eddie-van-halen-first-guitar-world-interview-1981
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/who-were-eddie-van-halen-influences-1071780/
https://www.loudersound.com/features/eddie-van-halen-the-1978-interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xgmZrMw7wc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXM62CQmwDY&t=4s
https://www.vhnd.com/2020/04/04/never-before-heard-alex-van-halen-interview-from-1981/
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/story/2020-10-06/ediie-van-halen-dead-at-65-revisit-our-interviews-with-the-singular-rock-guitar-great
https://www.vhnd.com/2009/03/24/michael-anthony-my-top-3-bass-players-of-all-time/
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/blogs/music-news/david-lee-roth-reveals-surprising-van-halen-influences-235352978.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0FpV3nZpEQ
http://bravewords.com/news/sammy-hagar-talks-about-influences-new-chickenfoot-album-his-voice-today-ive-got-the-tone-ive-always-been-looking-for
https://www.loudersound.com/features/sammy-hagar-interview-diamond-dave-the-van-halens-and-a-long-life-in-rock
https://www.americanmusical.com/content--name-Gary-Cherone-Interview
https://www.guitarworld.com/magazine/tony-iommi-and-eddie-van-halen-discuss-their-careers-friendship-and-past-three-decades-our-favorite-instrument