Wolfgang Van Halen on Grammy Ask: ‘It Just Didn’t Feel Right’
Wolfgang Van Halen – Story by Scarlett Hunter, photo by Travis Shinn
Wolfgang Van Halen was asked by the Grammy committee to perform at the 2021 awards show as a tribute to his father, Eddie Van Halen, but he didn’t feel right about it
Wolfgang Van Halen has a debut album with Mammoth WVH on the way, and in advance of the album’s June release, he’s released two new songs. The tunes, called “Don’t Back Down” and “Think It Over,” are currently available for digital download. “Don’t Back Down” is also brought to live by a music video, which features Wolf performing every instrument on the track.
Both “Don’t Back Down” and “Think It Over” will appear on Mammoth WVH’s self-titled debut album, out June 11. The album will also feature the previously released single “Distance,” which Wolf wrote to pay honor to his late father, guitar great Eddie Van Halen.
In other news, Wolf was asked to to perform performing the Van Halen hit “Eruption” as a tribute to his father during the Grammys this year, but he turned down the offer. Speaking with Rolling Stone, Wolf said he thought the proposition was a “tone-deaf ask.”
“It just didn’t feel right,” Wolf said. “I think some people are like, ‘Well, you should have just f***ing done it anyway.’ And I don’t think they were really thinking about the emotional attachment to it. And just the fact that it isn’t the right thing to do and something I’m not comfortable with.”
To honor Eddie, the Grammys showed a short, 20-second clip of the guitarist during the ceremony, with a spotlight shining down on his signature “Frankenstrat” guitar. Fans, of course, were upset with the short tribute.
“I’m a little biased, but I think you cannot argue the impact that three guitar players had on the history of the instrument. And that’s Les Paul, Jimi Hendrix, and my dad,” Wolf described. “So when something like this happens, you think he would be deserving of a bit more time.”
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