Wolfgang Van Halen and his band, Mammoth WVH, performing during a show at MetLife Stadium in 2021
Recently, David Lee Roth badmouthed a former bandmate, who also happens to be the son of another former bandmate of his.
Yes, Roth insulted Wolfgang Van Halen in a long and rather strange, somewhat seemingly unhinged, tirade. Here is what he said, specifically:
“This fucking kid, he’s complaining the entire tour like I’m not paying enough attention to him on stage. Like Santa Claus coming down the chimney and popping out on Christmas with nobody paying attention. Shalom to the dome, homie. I’m giving him the best. Everything I’ve got in front of twenty, thirty thousand people at a clip, and he’s complaining to everybody around me — the business manager, the security guy, the clothing lady — ‘Dave’s not paying enough attention to me.’ Cut to New York City — glamorous, glistening, shimmering New York City, and we’re at Jones Beach with twenty thousand of my closest friends. I walk out into the middle of the stage and I’m gonna do ‘Ice Cream Man’, and I’m testifying to the brothers, Eddie [Van Halen] and Al [Alex Van Halen], ‘Man, this is how many times we’ve played New York. This is spectacular.’ And what I don’t know is this kid, this schlemiel kid, has commandeered a couple of monkeys to go in back, behind my back, over to the side of the stage and throw out these two great dames that I invited to be my guests to the show. And these dames are in their forties, okay? Business women. In fact, you aren’t gonna believe this shit. This fucking kid, what he doesn’t know is that these two dames work for the accounting firm that represent him, not me. But as usual, he, just like his uncle and his uncle’s brother, stiffed them for tickets. I know they’re gonna do that, so I got ahead of things and I give them tickets. I put ’em way off to the side. And I’m not talking about Mötley Crüe groupies here. This is the real deal. And they’re both carrying big satchel purses, right? Like Gucci. Here we go. And he throws them out of the building. He’s teaching me a lesson. What this fucking kid doesn’t know, they’re carrying the paychecks for all 82 people on the road crew. Nobody tells me till I’m parked in the middle of that fuckin bridge… You know fuckin’ Jones Beach, they think I’m gonna freak out. I laughed so hard I spilled my Snapple.
Here is a summary from a recent Rolling Stone article on the subject:
In his video, Roth repeatedly calls Wolfgang “this fuckin’ kid,” as well as a “schlemiel” (“fool” in Yiddish), mocks him for benefiting from nepotism, and gripes about Wolfgang allegedly ordering the removal of an accountant from a backstage area after supposedly mistaking her for Roth’s girlfriend. A representative for Wolfgang Van Halen wasn’t immediately available for comment.
The video begins with a vicious mock interview that paints Wolfgang — who replaced original Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony — as “Jesus Christ.”
“Bro, I want people to know I got this job because of my talent,” faux-Wolfgang says. “I would have this job anyway, even if my dad wasn’t God. I just want people to know I got this job because of my talent.” A rep for David Lee Roth didn’t have any additional comment.
For his part, Wolfgang Van Halen seems to rise above that kind of nonsense:
Back in 2021, Wolfgang spoke about Roth in an interview with Heavy Consequence when it had been reported that the singer was set to play his last shows ever at a Las Vegas residency. He told us, “Dave is … very much a one-of-a-kind sort of guy. We don’t really talk, if ever. We were always cordial on tour together, but it’s not like I’ve spoken to him at all in the last six years. But, I mean, he’s fucking David Lee Roth. I’m so happy for him and for everything that he’s accomplished. And he’s just a phenomenal… He’ll always be one of the best.”
Still, WVH did level some more toned down shots at Roth:
Wolfgang has avoided direct criticism of Roth, though he did imply in a 2022 Rolling Stone interview that the singer was the reason a planned tribute concert for Eddie Van Halen didn’t happen. “There are some people that make it very difficult to do anything when it comes to Van Halen,” Wolfgang said. “From my time in Van Halen, there was always some stuff that gets in the way from just making music and having a good time. And, I think that’s what happened…. The fact that in my tenure, in Van Halen, we managed to do three tours, put an album of original material and a live album out is a fucking miracle… Apparently, some people are too full of themselves to let other people have a good time.”
Below are the articles which I used in writing this particular blog entry, and from which I obtained the quotes used in the same:
David Lee Roth Fires Shots at Wolfgang Van Halen: ‘This F-ckin’ Kid’ by Brian Hiatt, January 24, 2024
In a new YouTube video, Van Halen singer David Lee Roth launches a sudden verbal attack on his one-time bandmate, the son of the late Eddie Van Halen
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/david-lee-roth-wolfgang-van-halen-youtube-attacks-1234953442/
David Lee Roth Goes Scorched Earth on Wolfgang Van Halen: “This F**kin’ Kid” The singer suggests that Wolfgang benefitted from nepotism, among other accusations
https://consequence.net/2024/01/david-lee-roth-vs-wolfgang-van-halen/
Wolfgang Van Halen and his band, Mammoth WVH, performing during last evening's show.
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