Wolfgang Van Halen and His Strange DLR Story About Making Van Halen’s Final LP

Wolfgang Van Halen has a unique perspective of the dynamic within Van Halen, since he became a member of the band when he was a teenager. He also has an odd story of working with David Lee Roth during that time, too.

Wolfgang said in a new interview with Classic Rock that he worked on a song with his father and uncle, Eddie and Alex Van Halen. This song was written before the band started working on their final album, 2012's A Different Kind of Truth. Wolfgang said the working title was "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Panama," because it sounded like a mix of those two classic Van Halen songs.

Wolfgang recalled, "We told the producer we were working with at the time, ‘When Dave comes to sing tonight, whatever you do, do not tell him that we wrote this. When we’re together tomorrow, we can come to him together and act, like, Hey listen to this…'"

Unfortunately, this producer didn't listen to them and told Roth about the song, and the singer refused to record it." The exact reason why that happened is unknown, but Wolfgang noted, "The relationship between Van Halen and their singers was always complicated."

Hopefully, Wolfgang doesn't have a complicated relationship with the singer in Mammoth WVH, because it's himself. (Call it a hunch, but he's probably okay.) Mammoth WVH drops their new album, Mammoth II, on Friday (August 4) and is available for pre-save here. Wolfgang will also be hitting the road this November in support of the LP. A full list of dates is below.

11/4 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave
11/5 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
11/7 – Columbus, OH – The Bluestone
11/9 – Chicago, IL – The Vic Theatre
11/11 – Grand Rapids, MI – Elevation at the Intersection
11/13 – Toronto, ON – The Danforth Music Hall
11/14 – Montreal, QC – Théâtre Beanfield
11/15 – Boston, MA – Big Night Live
11/17 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
11/18 – Philadelphia, PA – Keswick Theatre
11/19 – Baltimore, MD – Rams Head Live
11/21 – Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theater
11/22 – Lake Buena Vista, FL – House Of Blues
11/24 – Houston, TX – Warehouse Live Ballroom
11/25 – Dallas, TX – The Factory in Deep Ellum
11/26 – Austin, TX – Emo’s
11/28 – Denver, CO – Gothic Theatre
11/29 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot
11/30 – Boise, ID – Knitting Factory
12/2 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
12/3 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
12/4 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
12/7 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
12/8 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
12/9 – Los Angeles, CA – The Belasco

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.)