Eddie Van Halen’s Pick For The Most Badass Black Sabbath Riff
David Lee Roth (left) and Eddie Van Halen of the band Van Halen, performing in concert. They are standing back to back. Eddie is playing the guitar and smiling and David is holding a microphone betwen his legs. Both men are wearing multicolored outfits. (Photo by Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)
Choosing a single favorite Black Sabbath riff might seem impossible, but for the legendary Eddie Van Halen, one riff stood above the rest. On a 2023 episode of The Power Hour on AXS TV, hosts Matt Pinfield, Caity Babs, and Josh Bernstein were joined by Mammoth WVH’s Wolfgang Van Halen and Sabbath’s Geezer Butler.
In a shared social media clip, Pinfield prompts Wolfgang to share his father Eddie’s favorite Black Sabbath riff with Butler. “’Into the Void’ is one of the best riffs ever. It was always my dad’s favorite riff from you guys. I know he was really close with Tony [Iommi],” Wolfgang reveals from the studio desk. Butler, appearing via video chat, responds warmly, “We used to love your dad. He was a great guy. That tour, when we did it with Van Halen, was one of the best tours ever.”
Butler reminisces about the tour with Van Halen, noting it was a unique experience for Black Sabbath. “It was fantastic because they were like the first sort of metal band with an image that the girls liked,” he recalls with a laugh. “Bikers used to come and see us, and you would look out and it would be like 99 percent blokes in the audience. But then when you toured with Van Halen, it was like 50 percent women!”
In an interview with Loudwire Nights radio host Chuck Armstrong in June, Iommi also confirmed that “Into the Void” was indeed Eddie Van Halen’s favorite Black Sabbath riff.
Interestingly, Into the Void is also the title of Butler’s new memoir. In another Loudwire Nights interview, Butler discussed his admiration for Metallica’s self-titled album, often referred to as ‘The Black Album.’ “I thought the riffs were great, great riffs. I always thought, ‘God, I wish I had written that.’ It’s just really good riffs and something I could relate to,” Butler commented. He admitted that while Metallica’s earlier work didn’t appeal to him, ‘The Black Album’ was different. “When the ‘Black Album’ came out, it felt more appealing to my taste.”
Butler praised the album, calling it “one of the few metal albums I could listen to from beginning to end. I really enjoyed listening to it. There are very few albums of any genre that I can listen to from track one to the end. It’s one of those albums that I could listen to the whole thing, and I’m really impressed with it.”
