Early Def Leppard were pretty sweet. Though as a kid I became more aware of them from Hysteria, which I bought on cassette when it came out, The first few LPs are actually quite choice (and I still ride for the crazy studio production excesses of Hysteria). When Steve Clark died, even though I wasn't into their music anymore from a deep listening perspective, it was still a major bummer.
the EVH loss is palpable for me on a similar level, though I suppose EVH is a more consummate musician if we're comparing the two. Still, while I haven't been invested in listening to Van Halen in decades, I have a lot of respect for his great accomplishments in the music. As I've gotten older it's become a lot easier for me to appreciate talented players/singers/producers/whatever across genres, even if on a given day my listening is more "weird" on the whole.