Wolfgang Van Halen Honors Eddie Van Halen on His Birthday

Wolfgang Van Halen took to social media today (Jan. 26) to pay tribute to his father, Eddie Van Halen, on what would have been his 69th birthday.

Wolfgang wrote, "I wish you were here so I could give you a big hug, go to dinner, celebrate it with you and make a dumb joke about it being your 69th birthday. Just regular sh-t. I miss hearing you laugh. I miss laughing with you. It’s the little things."

He added, "I’ll do my best to keep a smile on my face and think of you today. But then again, that’s not very different than any other day so far without you. I love and miss you more than you could ever possibly know. Happy Birthday, Pop."

Wolfgang is also celebrating his father's birthday by helping unveil a new guitar from EVH Gear: The EVH SA-126. Partially billed as "the brainchild of Wolfgang Van Halen," the EVH SA-126 is a semi-hollow and a solid body guitar. In a statement, Wolfgang said, "I am so proud of this instrument and the incredible team that has been working on it for years. It will be available in 4 colors and you can get your hands on it this May."

Fans can learn more about this guitar at EVHgear.com.

As expected, EVH Gear is touted by some of hard rock and metal's most prominent guitarists. Among those listed on EVH Gear's website are Code Orange's Reba Meyers, In Flames' Niclas Engelin, Bad Wolves' Doc Coyle, Judas Priest's Andy Sneap, John Sykes and Jason Hook.

In addition to a variety of guitar models, EVH Gear also produces amplifiers, cabinets, heads and other guitar accessories. EVH Gear is a subsidiary of Fender. Other Fender subsidiaries include Gretsch, Jackson, Charvel, Sunn and Squier.

Eddie Van Halen was the most influential guitarist of our generation.

Of course, flashy, fleet-fingered guitarists were a dime a dozen in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. Eddie was better than all of them, but he was more than that. A songwriter, a keyboardist, a studio wizard, ¼ of Van Halen’s four-part harmony team and a band leader that was able to guide VH through losing the most distinctive frontman of the ‘80s and led them to four chart-topping albums with Sammy Hagar.

Here, we take on the tough task of ranking their top 30 songs. (It was really, really tough to cut any of the songs on the first six albums from this list.)