There's a little truth in that comment. And I may be a little biased here. I read Dave's bio years ago. And one part of it comes to mind. When Dave met the VH brothers Eddie was constan9playing these masterpiece complicated pieces he had written. And Dave had to tell him at one point " Yeah man that's really impressive work. But you can't dance to it."
So the point was that Dave kinda steered Eddie in a more mainstream direction that wound up making them all very successful. So just to ME it looked like a 50/50 proposition . It could've played out with Eddie being a studio musician that most folks never heard of if Dave hadn't gotten him to loosen up a little and write the non stop party music that was Van Halen. It COULD have... Not saying it would have.
Much credit also has to go to Michael Anthony. He's one of the best harmony singers/bass players in rock n roll history. He had a LOT to do with the overall sound of VH. I have to wonder if they would have made it so far without him...He may be the most underrated bass player of all time.