Van Halen bassist Wolfgang Van Halen has tweeted support for seventeen-year-old pop star Billie Eilish for not knowing the classic rock band.
Eilish was grilled on Jimmy Kimmel in November about music and pop culture references from 1984 – when Kimmel was her age. In the quick-fire questions, she didn’t know Van Halen, Huey Lewis, Run DMC, The Cosby Show, Mr. T or what a Cabbage Patch Kid was.
These responses set an older generation of music fans unfamiliar with Eilish’s multi-million dollar music empire, nor the success she has had without this supposedly vital knowledge into a rage.
Now Van Halen bassist Wolfgang Van Halen has come to the defence of the superstar, posting on Twitter: “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.”
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
Eilish has received plenty of awards, including New Artist Of The Year and Favourite Artist – Alternative Rock at the American Music Awards, a Billboard Women In Music award from Woman Of The Year and Best New Artist and Push Artist Of The Year at the MTV Video Music Awards. She is the holder of two Guinness World Records for Youngest Female At No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart and Most Simultaneous US Hot 100 Entries By A Female, and she is nominated for six Grammy awards at next year’s ceremony.
That is an impressive launch of a career for anyone, much less a kid who released her debut album less than a year ago. Even Van Halen fans who think publically admonishing a 17-year-old girl for not knowing a band that peaked twenty years before she was born is somehow acceptable in 2019 have to admit that.
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