I remember hearing Eruption about 2-3 weeks before the first VH album came out, no one even understood what was going on with those guitar licks then, you can say what you want about EVH, but he really broke new ground in 1978 and changed the way people played and sounded, he certainly pushed the envelope of what rock guitar was and is today, I still think the first VH album is one of the best rock albums of all time and even though everybody knows all the licks, it still has one of the best guitar tones ever recorded. I know alot of people tried to deify EVH, but they do that with everybody and as far as I'm concerned every hot shot rock player thats come out in the past 20 years needs to send old EVH a thank you card because in one way or another he influenced their style or sound