Eddie Van Halen Graces Rolling Stone Cover As One of 100 Greatest Guitarists

A photo of a longhaired Eddie Van Halen playing one of his trusty striped guitars is among the four separate Rolling Stone covers for the magazine’s issue with its latest list of the best guitarists ever.

This marks the fifth cover appearance for Van Halen, regarded as one of the most revolutionary and influential guitarists in recent rock history, who landed at No. 8 on the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time list featured in the Dec. 8 issue.

He's come a long way since 2007, when Rolling Stone had him ranked at — gasp! — No. 70.

The other three covers for the Dec. 8 issue feature the Top 3 finishers: Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, respectively.

Those who cast votes for the latest list of greatest guitarists included Carlos Santana (who finished at No. 20), Brian May of Queen (26), Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple (50), Robby Krieger of the Doors (76), Joe Perry of Aerosmith (84) and Alex Lifeson of Rush (98).

We had hoped to have a lot more Van Halen news for you, as the band was rumored to appear on last night's Grammy nominations show.

They didn't -- read all about it here -- but it shouldn't be long until we hear about the band's first new album with original lead singer David Lee Roth in nearly thirty years.