Some artists have a style that is instantly recognizable. Eddie Van Halen's guitar playing had a sound that was just so. He played with equal amounts finesse and ferocity. It was like he was casting rock spells with that damn thing. MTV's popularity in the early 80's owes much to Van Halen. Michael Jackson's popularity benefited as well. It was Eddie's guitar driving "Beat It." As kids, we would leave the TV tuned to MTV all day in the summer and always stopped to watch any time the "Jump", "Panama" or "Hot for Teacher" videos came on. I envy anyone who saw him play live. When you speak of the "all time greats" of any art form, there is always a shortlist that most accept without much argument. When it comes to the all time great guitar players, Eddie Van Halen always was and always will be on that list. RIP