Fox Sports paid tribute to Eddie Van Halen during coverage of Bears-Buccaneers game
There were a multitude of tributes to Eddie Van Halen following news of the guitarist’s death Tuesday at age 65.
Rolling Stone magazine called Van Halen a “legendary guitar innovator and virtuoso.”
Jim Faber of the New York Times wrote: “Mr. Van Halen structured his solos the way Macy’s choreographs its Independence Day fireworks shows: shooting off rockets of sound that seemed to explode in a shower of light and color. His outpouring of riffs, runs and solos was hyperactive and athletic, joyous and wry, making deeper or darker emotions feel irrelevant.”
Vulture.com said Van Halen was “a mad scientist, a master of the form, a crucial point in the genealogy of guitar-based music for which he represents a distinct before and after.”
On Thursday night, Fox Sports saluted Van Halen in a couple of ways. In its pregame show before the Bears played the Buccaneers, Fox played “Eruption” from the band’s first album. Curt Menefee noted: “we lost a legend this week with the passing of the great Eddie Van Halen. Consider this our tribute to him.”
Going to a commercial break during the game, which the Bears won 20-19, Fox Sports played “Panama” from the 1984 album:
Some NFL fans took note of what Fox Sports was doing:
