As the son of a legendary rock star, Wolfgang Van Halen has led a pretty colorful life. Growing up with Eddie Van Halen, he naturally gravitated toward music and clearly inherited his dad’s genes. When he was just 15 years old, Wolfgang joined Van Halen full-time as the bass player, and while that was exciting for the teen, being in the band didn’t come without some drama. At the time, he had replaced former member Michael Anthony and told Spin in a 2021 interview, “Looking cynically on paper, as a kid replacing a longtime member, it’s like … yeah, you should hate me.” He added, alluding to Eddie’s sobriety, “It was never like I went to my dad and said, ‘I should be playing bass.’ At that point, I just wanted to keep my dad alive.”
While Wolfgang’s reason for taking over Anthony’s spot came from good intentions, he hasn’t been exempt from having a few sketchy moments during his career. From calling out other musicians to taking on his father’s years-long feud with David Lee Roth, the Mammoth WVH frontman has shown that he’s not afraid to throw some head-bangin’ shade.
Wolfgang Van Halen shaded Miranda Lambert
Country singer Miranda Lambert made headlines in 2023 when she legit stopped in the middle of a song during her Las Vegas show to call out fans who were taking selfies. In a video shared by ET, Lambert is seen telling the crowd, “These girls are worried about their selfie and not listening to the song. It’s pissing me off a little bit. I don’t like it at all.” After making sure that she had everybody’s full attention, the “Hell on Heels” singer started her set again.
In another previous incident, Lambert popped a fan’s beach ball that was making its way around the crowd. When a fan tweeted about the incident in a since-deleted post, Wolfgang Van Halen wrote, “Yeah I’m familiar with this type of fun-sucking behavior.” On the flip side, a fan applauded the rock star’s stellar performance and replied, “Nothing but amazing memories from Mammoth WVH concerts my friend.” It’s safe to say we’re not going to see a Lambert-Van Halen collab anytime soon.
Wolfgang Van Halen clapped back at David Lee Roth
Wolfgang Van Halen has had a very complicated relationship with his father Eddie Van Halen’s band since he joined it as a teen. It didn’t help that Eddie and fellow bandmate David Lee Roth were constantly at odds, and their beef trickled over to Wolfgang. Although Eddie tragically died in October 2020 from throat cancer, it seems Roth is not ready to let go of the feud, but he has now redirected his ire toward Wolfgang. In January 2024, he shared a bizarre video on YouTube of an interview with “Jesus,” who was seemingly a stand-in for the Mammoth WVH singer. “I want people to know I got this job because of my talent, okay? I would have had this job anyway, even if my dad wasn’t God,” the character quipped.
While on “The Morning X with Barnes & Leslie,” Wolfgang hit Roth back with some shade of his own. “I guess I’m honored he even thinks about me as much as he seems to. I mean, I guess you have to take what he says with a grain of salt, considering he also said that he wrote ‘Eruption,'” he laughed. Wolfgang added, “I seem to have been born into this Van Halen drama that has come way before me, and I guess now that my dad isn’t here to be a target, I guess he went to the next best thing.”
Wolfgang Van Halen called his father’s band dysfunctional
Wolfgang Van Halen understandably wants to set himself apart from his father Eddie Van Halen as a musician, which is why fans won’t see him cover Van Halen songs. However, after Eddie died in 2020, Wolfgang played three of his father’s songs at a Taylor Hawkins tribute concert in 2022 with the Foo Fighters, but it’s unlikely he’ll ever do so with the remaining Van Halen members. “When it comes to Van Halen and entities surrounding the band it’s unfortunate, certainly compared to Foo Fighters, who have their s*** together with interpersonal relationships,” he told Classic Rock. Wolfgang went on to say, “Their camp is very dysfunctional — everyone! Hell, it was difficult to make plans even when the band was active.”
As shared by Antimusic, Wolfgang told The Messenger that a reunion with Van Halen is not going to happen without his father. “Van Halen doesn’t exist anymore as far as I’m concerned,” he stated. He again shaded the band for their clashing personalities and compared the members to Foo Fighters, who are more cohesive. “I don’t know, maybe it’s just ’80s bands — there’s something about ’80s bands where it was the cool thing to be d***s,” Wolfgang mused.
Wolfgang Van Halen called out his father’s copycats
While Eddie Van Halen didn’t invent shredding, he became known for his insane guitar solos, which inspired many other musicians to attempt their own licks. In a shady moment, Wolfgang Van Halen reflected on his father’s influence while on “WTF with Marc Maron” by stating, “In a way, Dad kind of ruined the musical landscape because instead of everybody wanting to find out who they are, they just wanted to be that.” He went on to say, “People focus on the guitar playing, but, overall, it was the fact that Dad is a great songwriter. And that’s what I shoot for, too. It’s not about flashy stuff.”
After the interview, a fan called Wolfgang out on X, formerly known as Twitter, and wrote, “I think you used a poor choice of words when saying that your Dad (indirectly) ruined the musical landscape of the time. Honestly you weren’t even alive yet to experience those times.” Wolfgang responded with a curt, “It was a joke.”
Wolfgang Van Halen has no problem clapping back at fans
Celebrity death hoaxes are unfortunately a common theme and Wolfgang Van Halen had to respond to a particularly ridiculous one when a fan posted on social media, “This is getting ridiculous. I know for a fact that Wolfgang Van Halen died as a toddler. But now they are showing him as grown and alive. He was valerie Bertinelli and Van Halen’s son who fell from a balcony and died many years ago.” While fans and fellow musicians jokingly offered their condolences, Wolfgang wrote, “Guys we know they’re confusing me for [Eric Clapton’s] kid, stop trying to correct everyone and just make fun of this stupid person with me.”
In another instance, a fan roasted Wolfgang on X in a now-deleted post, to which he replied, “How many times [do] I need to play Panama to successfully respect my father, Chris?” He then posted, “Also please stop having children holy s***,” with a meme that read, “Eight Is Enough.” A fan wrote, “I thought the same thing when I checked his profile! Stay at home Dad to EIGHT kids? Holy c***!!! Get that guy snipped!”
