Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang Van Halen says he declined an offer to play “Eruption” as a tribute to his father during this year’s Grammy, he revealed on Twitter Monday. “I don’t think anyone could live up to what my dad did for music, except for himself,” Wolfgang wrote, explaining that he was surprised to see the tribute become just a brief display of his guitar. “I didn’t know that they were going to show Pop for just 15 seconds in the middle of four full shows for others that we had missed.”
“What hurt the most,” Wolfgang continued, “was that he wasn’t even mentioned when they talked about the artists we missed at the beginning of the show. I know that rock is not the most popular genre at the moment (and the academy seems a little out of control), but I think it is impossible to ignore the legacy that my father left in the instrument, in the rock world and in music in general. There will never be another innovator like him. “
Wolfgang acknowledged that his father, who died last year after a long battle with cancer, would not have cared about any of this. “I know Pop would probably laugh and say, ‘Eh, who cares?’ He was just about the music anyway. The rest didn’t matter. “But he offered to speak to the Recording Academy” not just about my father’s legacy, but the legacy of the rock genre going forward. ” (A spokesperson for the Recording Academy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
Wolfgang, who toured and recorded bass with Van Halen, is releasing his self-titled debut album as Mammoth WVH (on which he sings and plays all the instruments) on June 11th.