Eruption The Eddie Van Halen Story

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.

Eruption is the definitive Eddie Van Halen biography, illuminated by insights delivered in the guitaristand#8217;s own words.

Paul Brannigan is the author of This Is A Call: The Life And Times Of Dave Grohl and the co-author (alongside Ian Winwood) of the two-volume Metallica history Birth School Metallica Death and Into the Black. A former editor of Kerrang!and#151;the worldand#8217;s biggest weekly music magazineand#151;Branniganand#8217;s writing has also appeared in Mojo, Rolling Stone, Q, Classic Rock, and Metal Hammer magazines. He lives in London.