Wolfgang Van Halen Says Van Halen Camp Too ‘Dysfunctional’ to Plan EVH Tribute

A tribute to Eddie Van Halen has seemingly been in the works or rumored for nearly two years now. However, Wolfgang Van Halen doesn't have high hopes of seeing one happen.

Wolfgang recently took part in both Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts in London and Los Angeles. During those shows, he performed brief sets of Van Halen songs where he played his late father's guitar parts. He tells Classic Rock he views those sets as the EVH tribute, "I feel a lot of closure because my part of the show was a tribute to my father."

He added, "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. I don’t know what it is with some bands but certain personalities just can’t get over themselves to work collectively for one purpose – that’s been the curse of Van Halen for its entire career."

Wolfgang continued, "So, my playing at the Taylor shows delivered that catharsis without the stresses of dealing with the Van Halen camp, and the players involved. Their camp is very dysfunctional – everyone! – hell, it was difficult to make plans even when the band was active...I feel that I’ve said my piece, and if the Taylor concerts are all that happens then I’m happy with that."

Talks of an EVH tribute have increased in 2022, especially after former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted said back in April that he was contacted by Alex Van Halen for a "possible Van Halen tour." Fans undoubtedly would love to see something, but perhaps Wolfgang is right. Maybe the entire VH really is too dysfunctional to put anything together.

Eddie Van Halen was the most influential guitarist of our generation.

Of course, flashy, fleet-fingered guitarists were a dime a dozen in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. Eddie was better than all of them, but he was more than that. A songwriter, a keyboardist, a studio wizard, ¼ of Van Halen’s four-part harmony team and a band leader that was able to guide VH through losing the most distinctive frontman of the ‘80s and led them to four chart-topping albums with Sammy Hagar.

Here, we take on the tough task of ranking their top 30 songs. (It was really, really tough to cut any of the songs on the first six albums from this list.)