BillboardEddie Van Halen may love creating rock and roll, but he sure doesn’t listen to other rock bands. Or care to, apparently.
In a new interview with Billboard, the Van Halen co-founder and guitarist reveals he’s not familiar with Guns N’ Roses, Radiohead, or Metallica. He also claims to know only one Ozzy Osbourne song Randy Rhoades played on — and it’s “Crazy Train.” Eddie insists he’s never listened to the music of a single band that opened for Van Halen, and says his favorite thing to listen to in the car, is the motor,
“I don’t listen to anything,” he tells Billboard. “It’s an odd thing, but I’ve been this way my whole life. I couldn’t make a contemporary record if I wanted to, because I don’t know what contemporary music sounds like.”
Van Halen’s preparing to embark on a 40-plus date North American tour with original lead singer David Lee Roth, who famously split from the band for over two decades. So how are they getting along these days?
“He does not want to be my friend,” Van Halen declares. “How can I put this: Roth’s perception of himself is different than who he is in reality. We’re not in our 20s anymore. We’re in our 60s. Act like you’re 60. I stopped coloring my hair, because I know I’m not going to be young again.”
As for former frontman Sammy Hagar’s description of Van Halen as a violent drunk in his autobiography Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock, Eddie dismisses the account as fictionalized, calling it “definitely embellished. That’s him painting a picture of something that never happened.”
Right now, Eddie Van Halen’s looking forward to the road with David Lee Roth, saying it’s the only way to give fans what they want.
“I think it’s now built into people’s DNA, that it just won’t be Van Halen if it’s not Roth’s voice,” he said.” And how do you reach the most people? By giving them the band that they know. To do it any other way would be selfish.”
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