Eddie Van Halen completely revolutionized rock guitar playing. Among the techniques Eddie popularized are two-handed tapping, and sublime whammy bar manipulation. Eddie makes an amazing musical statement on eruption on the first Van Halen album. Equally insane is the tapping-on-a-fret harmonics in the intro to Mean Streets from Fair Warning.

Poor Eddie! He's confirmed on the bands webpage (http://www.van-halen.com), that he's got cancer. He's 46.

"I was examined by three oncologists and three head-and-neck surgeons at Cedars Sinai (Medical Center in Los Angeles) just before spring break, and I was told that I'm healthier than ever and beating cancer,"

"Although it's hard to say when, there's a good chance I will be cancer-free in the near future,"

Unconfirmed reports say the cancer is in his tongue.