Here is entry two in my list of favorite guitar solos. I apologize for those who, after seeing my first selection, thought they would all be obscure choices. This one just can't be ignored. To be 100% honest, I didn't grow up listening to hard rock, it's something I came to later on in life. While I was familiar with all the major hits, I probably couldn't have identified which bands were responsible for which songs. I went through a "I should learn guitar" phase in high school when I tried to self teach myself a bunch of Metallica songs; that's really when I started to go back and listen to all the good shit I had missed. Van Halen is responsible for a shitload of the best rock songs of all time, and while this isn't technically a song, it's the shit. At some point last year I was cruising the youtube and came across the most stereotypically rock video I have ever seen. It wasn't over the top bullshit stage performance; it was, "goddamn that dude's fuckin' cool." That's the second video in this post, and very well may melt your face(so be careful). The first is the strict studio version of the solo. Watching Eddie Van Halen blowing smoke rings on stage and then shredding with the cigarette just chillin' on the head of the guitar is just flat out awesome. It doesn't get more badass.
