Wolfgang Van Halen Sticks Up for ‘Van Hagar’ Era

Wolfgang Van Halen showed some love for the "Van Hagar" era of Van Halen in a new interview.

Speaking to Oklahoma City's KATT, Wolfgang is asked about the new Van Halen release set for Record Store Day. That title -- Live: Right Here, Right Now -- celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Also, its release on Record Store Day marks the first time the title is available on vinyl.

Wolfgang said, "That era [of Van Halen] doesn't get any respect, I don't think. There's a lot of amazing songs and just obviously brilliant guitar playing on a lot of that - on all of that stuff - and I think people don't give it a chance 'cause they fall into that just exhausting 'this singer is better, this singer is better' crap, when it's, like, just give it a chance. There's some really good stuff in there."

When asked how he factors into VH reissue decisions, he refers to his uncle -- Alex Van Halen -- as the "head honcho" on those matters. He adds, "But when it comes to decision-making or at least just kind of helping out, yeah, I am that sort of what would have been my dad's vote for stuff there with Al. So Al and I are kind of that team."

Wolfgang is currently on the road with Mammoth WVH. They have a gig tonight (March 17) in Houston followed by a show in Dallas tomorrow (March 18.) A full list of upcoming tour dates can be found at MammothWVH.com.

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.)