In a new episode of Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others, Wolfgang Van Halen shared his thoughts about keeping the Van Halen legacy alive.
Unlike what many might expect, he has no interest in continuing his father’s work. “When I did the Taylor Hawkins tribute where I played those two Van Halen songs for Taylor and for my dad, it was a big moment for me because it was, one, proving that I could do it and two, showing that I chose not to. I think my dad actually had a quote when they ended up doing a lot of cover songs. It was on ‘Diver Down.’ there was a lot specifically on that album and he said, ‘I’d rather bomb with my own material and succeed with someone else’s.'”
“I feel very much that way. I could very easily shack up and do Wolf does Van Halen and do that and probably make a decent living at it,” he admitted. “It’s very hollow and astoundingly creatively unfulfilling. So I feel like it’s kind of selling out. I could never do that, that’s not satisfying to me. I would rather bomb on my own than succeed with what my dad laid before me.”
Wolfgang has many times clarified that he wasn’t doing what his father was doing and didn’t rely on Van Halen’s music for success. “I know Dad taught himself, and I wanted to follow the same way. It was important that I develop my own skills and my own sound. That’s helped me, or else you’d be listening to some shitty Van Halen cover band,” the rocker once said in an interview.
He acknowledged that he could easily perform classics like ‘Panama’ and gain recognition, but he prefers to take the harder route and create something new. “Given the opportunity to succeed by playing ‘Panama,’ or to fail by playing my music, I would choose to fail.”
Wolfgang also sees Mammoth WVH, his own band, as more than a continuation of Van Halen.
