Wolfgang Van Halen recently participated in the “Albums that Changed My Life” feature from Classic Rock. He has a few surprising choices, but naturally, he had to shout out his father on the list.
Wolfgang’s list comes to a close by choosing two Van Halen albums: One David Lee Roth-era album and one Sammy Hagar-era album. His reasoning for this makes a ton of sense: “I don’t think you can fully represent what Van Halen is without looking at both the Roth era and the Hagar era.”
His favorite Roth-era album is 1981’s Fair Warning. Wolfgang enjoys the dark, fun nature of the album. Notably, he says, “It was an album where my dad just said, ‘F*ck it’ and did what he wanted. I think that’s why it’s a cult classic – it was never really a huge album compared to the others.”
As for the Hagar-era, Wolfgang chose 1995’s Balance, and his reason is very sweet. He said, “Technically I was alive for [1991’s] ‘For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge,’ but ‘Balance’ was the one that I kind of remember being around when it was happening.” Wolfgang also thinks Balance is the best-sounding Van Halen album in their catalog and finds many of the album’s melodies to be beautiful.
Wolfgang has quite the 2023 ahead of him. His band, Mammoth WVH, releases their new album, Mammoth II, on August 4 and is available for pre-save here. Additionally, he’s hitting the road beginning in November in the U.S. with support from Nita Strauss. A full list of dates is below.
Mammoth WVH – 2023 Headlining U.S. Tour Dates
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
