Eddie Van Halen is arguably rock’s greatest living guitar player, but Billie Eilish has never heard of him. She made the revelation on Jimmy Kimmel Live recently, but it took a couple of weeks for it to become a Twitter trending topic.
Former Nine Inch Nails art director Rob Sheridan said, “RE: This Billie Eilish / Van Halen thing, honestly it’s extremely good that hair metal finally doesn’t matter anymore.”
“We worked extremely hard to kill hair metal in the 90s, thank you teens for giving it an unceremonious ‘ok boomer.’
“Imagine being a teen in the 90s and people being shocked that you didn’t know or care about Perry Como. Because THAT’S HOW OLD VAN HALEN IS NOW.”
Michael Anthony broke his silence on Van Halen disrespect yesterday. Max Kennerly responded, “Every member of Van Halen was born between 1947 and 1955. ‘You don’t know Van Halen?!?’ is just begging for the response, ‘ok boomer.'”
Sheridan shot back, “Yup. And my point is less about “knowing who Van Halen is” and more about not CARING who Van Halen is. I probably technically knew who Perry Como was at age 17 thanks to my Grandma, but it was just irrelevant old people stuff. Exciting to see hair metal now in that category.”
Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang Van Halen weighed in on the controversy as well with a tweet, stating, “If you haven’t heard of @billieeilish, go check her out. She’s cool. If you haven’t heard of @VanHalen, go check them out. They’re cool too. Music is supposed to bring us together, not divide us. Listen to what you want and don’t shame others for not knowing what you like.” Motley Crue revealed an Eddie Van Halen ‘sickness’ photo last week after cancer reports.
If you haven’t heard of @billieeilish, go check her out. She’s cool. If you haven’t heard of @VanHalen, go check them out. They’re cool too.
Music is supposed to bring us together, not divide us. Listen to what you want and don’t shame others for not knowing what you like.
— Wolf Van Halen 🐺 🚐 🙌 (@WolfVanHalen) December 2, 2019
