In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine voted Eddie Van Halen, the eighth greatest guitarist in a "100 Greatest Guitarists of all time" poll. The rock magazine's tradition was to ask another "great guitar player" to write a personal tribute. It was fulfilling for me that my top 90s/Grunge guitarist, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam should be asked to write his thoughts about my number one classic rock axeman, Eddie Van Halen. McCready said of EVH (as he was affectionately called), "I was 14 when I first heard Eddie play 'Eruption'. He played like he was from another planet—it was glorious, like hearing Mozart for the first time. You can play the things he writes, but there's an X factor that you can't get."

The beauty of this is McCready, younger than Van Halen by 14 years, represents an era where rock took a dark and foreboding turn.