Gene Simmons — who first spotted Eddie Van Halen and the VAN HALEN band in 1976 during a performance at Starwood Club in Los Angeles — told the “Jeremy White Podcast” that he was blown away by his introduction to the David Lee Roth-fronted outfit. “When Eddie came along, nobody played like that,” the KISS bassist/vocalist said (see video below). “And I’m not even talking about the quality of the songs, or Dave‘s completely taking the frontman to the nth level. I mean, at that time, Dave was the king. There was nobody. If Mick Jagger stood next to him, it would be like a sixth-grader. And he really took it all the way. The whole band — the musicianship, the songwriting. But when