Wolfgang Van Halen Reacts To Steven Wilson’s Comments About Eddie Van Halen’s Death

Wolfgang Van Halen has taken his Twitter account to respond to the well-known singer Steven Wilson who previously stated that Eddie Van Halen‘s death didn’t affect him because he wasn’t a fan of his ‘shredding,’ and mentioned that hearing such comments bum him out hard.

As you may know, Van Halen’s co-founder and lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen passed away on October 6, 2020, after a long and vicious battle with cancer. Eddie’s son and the youngest member of Van Halen, Wolfgang gave the sad news of his father’s death with a statement he posted on social media platforms.

Since Wolfgang’s statement, the rock music community has been mourning after the death of the guitar legend. Eddie’s fans and friends have been sharing their favorite memories with the guitarist on social media. However, in a recent interview with Face Culture, the well-known English singer and songwriter Steven Wilson made an unusual statement about the late icon Eddie Van Halen.

Unlike many people around the world, Wilson stated that he wasn’t affected much by the death of Eddie since he was never a fan of his music. Steven also mentioned that he wasn’t a fan of the shredder phenomenon which he observed as a legacy of Eddie.

Here is what Steven Wilson stated about Eddie Van Halen’s death:

“Honestly, it didn’t. Because I was never a fan. I know he’s an extraordinary musician and it’s always sad when an extraordinary artist dies, but I was never a fan of the so-called shredder mentality. And I think in many ways he was the father of that whole kind of movement.

I never understood that playing as fast as you can think – and I know that wasn’t all he did, I know he was a more flexible musician than that – but I think that the legacy Eddie Van Halen has is in creating the shredder phenomenon, which is something so vile to me, that kind of idea that you play music almost like you’re playing an Olympic sport is kind of an anathema to my kind of ideas on creativity and music.”

Following Wilson’s statements about his father, Wolfgang Van Halen posted a series of tweets on his Twitter account to show his reaction to his remarks on Eddie’s legacy. In his tweets, Wolf mentioned that he was a huge fan of Steven’s music, and his comments about his father bummed him out hard. Wolfgang also stated that he didn’t find Wilson’s remarks completely rude, yet he didn’t like the fact that he ‘blamed’ Eddie for making shredding a thing.

Moreover, the young musician pointed out that Steven mainly talked about ‘shredding’ as the legacy of his father, however, according to Wolf and millions of other people, Eddie was also an incredible songwriter. Wolfgang stated that what Wilson told about his father won’t affect what he thinks about his music although it bummed him out that a ‘stellar musician’ he holds in such high regard doesn’t see what he and many people see in his father and his music.

Here is what Wolfgang Van Halen stated about Steven Wilson’s comments:

“Damn this bums me out hard. Been a huge fan of his for years. Deadwing is one of my favorite albums of all time. Although… the title is a little too clickbait-y, because what he said really wasn’t that rude.”

He continued:

“What hurts is that he seems to only view Pop as a ‘shredder’ when in my opinion he was anything but. Sure, he could shred, but Pop had melody and finesse like NO other ‘shredder’ that swam in his wake ever had (in my opinion) and on top of that he was an incredible songwriter.”

Wolf also mentioned the fact that Wilson blamed his father for shredding being a thing, and wrote:

“I guess I’m just venting (which is always a bad idea for social media lol… I can see the clickbait headlines now…) It’s absolutely ok that he’s not a fan. Not everyone is going to be a fan of everything. It just sucks that he ‘blames’ Pop for shredding being a thing(?)”

Van Halen also added this to make his point clear:

“To make things crystal clear, I’d like to add that this in NO way changes how I feel about Steven Wilson or his music. I guess it’s just a bummer that a stellar musician I hold in such high regard doesn’t see what I see when it comes to my father and his playing. End of rant.”

You can see the tweets Wolfgang Van Halen posted on his Twitter account below.