About this item
Since their debut in 1978, Van Halen has set a high bar for the rock 'n' roll lifestyle of good times and debauchery. It created an entirely new style of post-'60s hard rock and, unlike bands with a similar sound, managed to gain cross-gender appeal.There is an undercurrent of tragedy to the band's saga, however. Although Eddie Van Halen is a rock god, he is by all accounts hypersensitive and emotionally insecure. Living in the spotlight, his struggles have played out in public, from a battle with cancer that left him without one-third of his tongue to the break-up of his longtime marriage to Valerie Bertinelli.With insights from Van Halen himself, Eruption reaches beyond the boundaries of a conventional rock biography to explore the cultural, political, and social contexts that shaped an icon while turning up the volume on a life lived in the fast lane.
About the Author
Titled 'Eruption' in the UK, and 'Unchained' in the US, Paul Brannigan's acclaimed new biography of Eddie Van Halen, is out now via Faber & Faber (UK) , Permuted Press (US) and Ullstein (GER, titled 'Eddie Van Halen: Ein Leben') . "The game-changing guitar legend gets the biography he deserves ... diligently researched, perceptive and well-written." CLASSIC ROCK 8/10 "Affectionate and unflinching portrait of heavy metal's Mount Everest ... Paul Brannigan goes deep here, his detailed biography probing Van Halen's psyche as well as his music." MOJO 4 Stars"The book of the year for Van Halen fans, who will treasure this extended look at EVH before and beyond the stage. Read it. Know it. Live it. Highly recommended." rockandbluesmuse.com"Van Halen's 1978 debut LP was, as former Kerrang! editor Brannigan puts it, the essence of teenage: 'Fast cars and loose morals, cheerleaders, cheeseburgers and cocaine, Daisy Dukes, bikini tops, bongs and broken curfews'." UNCUT 7/10Look out too for Brannigan's fully updated and expanded 2021 edition of his best-selling Dave Grohl biography This Is A Call : The Life and Times of Dave Grohl, available now.
