In junior high school, I took a gymnastics class where the coach let the kids play their records while we were working out. The two brand new records that were on heavy rotation and stuck with me were 2112 and Van Halen. Both were new records at the time, and they rocked my world. Honestly I didn't know which record was which for a while, and I thought early on that "Eruption" was 1.) Rush, and 2.) synthesizers.
Well, I got that sorted out in due time, and Van Halen was the first album (LP) I bought as a teenager with my own money. And holy hell, did it rock my world! Once I actually understood that what I was hearing on "Eruption" was one dude with a guitar, my whole world changed, and I was hooked! For all the attention his leads get, I think his rhythm playing was the best part of what he did. Just the groove and the attitude that came through in those albums up through about 1984 still blows me away. After the Roth era, I think he laid back a lot more, didn't have the anger and fire, and his playing didn't grab me as much. I'll not knock the Van Hagar era, because Sammy was great in his own way, but it didn't call to me as much as the earlier stuff.
I still marvel at how f!?cking on it Eddie was in the early days, if you can catch some of the earliest video footage from their live performance, the band was tight, hungry, and on fire. I think he used the guitar as a way to play the amp like nobody else had before.
He changed everything about how rock guitarists do what they do. I'll never play as well as he did, but he left his indelible mark on me, mostly in how I attack the amp and love it when it punches back. Oh, it hurts to know that he's gone.