Eddie Van Halen honored by Slash, Kirk Hammett & Tom Morello on Rock Hall special - Pop It Records

The virtual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony went down on Saturday (and is rewatchable on HBO Max), with Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, The Notorious B.I.G., T. Rex, Whitney Houston and The Doobie Brothers being inducted. The special also included a tribute to the late Eddie Van Halen, featuring Slash of Guns N' Roses, Kirk Hammett of Metallica, and Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine, who spoke about his talent and impact as classic clips of EVH played on screen.

Slash said, "Eddie Van Halen was a tremendously gifted musician. His style and his sound were completely unique to him. He had a massive impact on guitar playing. I don’t think there’s anybody that’s picked up the guitar since 1978 that hasn’t been touched in some way by Eddie Van Halen’s influence. I’m going to miss his playing and I’m going to miss him as a friend."

Kirk Hammett said, "Not since Jimi Hendrix had there been a guitar player that had so much impact, and was so inspiring to me. He just explored the most simplest thing - a harmonic on his string - and brought it into this realm of technique that no-one even thought was possible. He was just, like, from a different planet."

And Tom Morello called him "the Mozart of our generation," adding, "He had the kind of talent that maybe comes around once a century. Eddie Van Halen inspired me to play 20,000 hours, to try to get within 100 miles of his inspired mastery of the electric guitar."

Watch the full special at HBO Max.

Also see: Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails Rock Hall acceptance speech and Iggy Pop’s induction speech for NIN.