Van Halen vs Carroll

in your opinion, how do these solos compare?

One of these solos blew the mind of multitudes of people and announced the arrival of a young new amazing guitarist who would be copied by many. The other was by Rex Carroll.

They hold up well together...The difference is Eruption came first and EVH set a new standard admired and copied by countless fans(possibly tens of thousands, if not more)...Nagasake followed in its footsteps and is brilliant in its own right with Rex a more than capable shredder and adored by maybe a few thousand fans.

Eddie was definitely into a loud, raunchier style with his solo.  Rex shows more control.  Eddie, while doing a lot of technical things, is definitely more of a guy who plays by feel.  Rex is more of the technical guy.  They do a lot of the same types of stuff, but they approach their axes differently.

Eddie is the original. 

No one played like him before he started. Everyone that came after is just an altered imitation of his style. Pretty much everyone from the 80s was very influenced. 

Paul Gilbert, Nuno Bettancourt, Vito Bratta, even Randy Rhoads (to a minor extent). Another thing about Eddie is that he was a great showman too! Running around, jumping... he was a theatrical athlete with tons of energy (in his prime).

The difference is there's several moments in Rex's solo that cop Eruption a little too closely (where Eruption came outta nowhere and blew everyone's minds).  He probably shoulda dropped those moments: the dive-bombs, the hammer-on/pull-offs, fast picking the high on the neck.  It isn't until he goes into a neo-classical mode where it's more of a distinct solo.  Those ascending licks into a "squelch" before that is also a unique touch.  His tone is very tasteful whilst Eddie's sounds more wild like controlled lightning.  Technology came a long way between these two solos and a lot of that thanks to Eddie.