about one of his favorite bands, she was baffled — understandably, given that Van Halen released its first album 23 years before her birth. The clip went viral, sparked an unfair pile-on from rock fans against Eilish, and then, in turn, questionably accurate attacks on Van Halen’s music from non-fans.
But the episode digs into more interesting issues: What does this incident say about Eilish’s tastes, about the tricky art of classic rock legacy maintenance, and ever-widening musical generation gaps? Meanwhile, Sheffield argues that Eilish has more in common with David Lee Roth than their fans would think — starting with their facility with “the talking parts of songs.”
Nominated for a Grammy when Van Halen never was. ‘Welcome my son welcome to the machine’
If she had:
For years of my life, I have had no clue who Van Halen was. I only just heard of him maybe a three years or ago or something like that when I heard about his work on Beat It. That's actually an interesting conversation. You know, the places that we find out about musicians from.
Fuck, sorry, I meant hear.
Is it a sin to have not heard of Van Halen? I mean, he's famous, but he's not Paul McCartney or anything. It's not like you'll regularly here about him unless you read best guitarist lists.
Who cares
Fuck them anyway. After they started bad mouthing Micheal Anthony I was done with them.
Knowing Van Halen should be a requirement for getting in the music industry.
If she didn't have green hair and a brother that writes her music, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
Should’ve, could’ve, would’ve
NOOOOO
No
This was over a week ago. Move on!
How has Billy Idol not heard of Van Halen? I don't believe that for a second.
She grew up in a house full of music - yes!
Leave the girl alone. I’m sure Van Halen has never heard of her and she doesn’t care.
If she likes classic rock would be hard not to know.
Van Halen? The group from decades ago? Nope. Billie is today. Now get on with reporting current music. Get rid of your Boomer staff?
She’s 17, who cares. This is a great opportunity for her to LEARN music history. I certainly didn’t care who half the popular bands/musical acts from my grand parents generation were when I was 17!
😭😭😭
I believe the question should be, if we need to hear about Billie. No thanks. Change the page, that happened weeks ago.
Sure
No.
Han Valen is overrated.
No. I shouldn't have heard of her either.
Who is Billie Eilish?
Many are making it sound like this is a generational thing, it’s not! Some music is timeless and some is honestly shit! I wasn’t born in the 50s and I know of Buddy Holly,Ritchie Valens,Chuck Berry,Elvis Presley,The Beatles, etc... And I didn’t have google! Ignorance!
No
Uh, yeah!
How have you dragged this nonsense on for weeks? No she shouldn't, nobody cares, let it go ffs!
No. But they should have heard of her.
When future generations are asked if they know who she is they’ll say: who? Or I loved that dancing Irish musical.
Who cares? She is 17 and Van Halen has not been relevant for quite some time. By the way big fan of Van Halen! 🤘
Iyalah, you should listen to many genres
I taught guitar 15 years ago to a bunch of kids who didn't know who Nirvana was. You don't know what you don't know!
No
NO!!
It's an older band, so it's not that crazy she hasn't heard of them. Has everyone born in the 80s heard of the Ink Spots? People tend to listen to music that is being released in their time more often, she shouldn't be attacked for not knowing them.
No. Beatles, yes.
People really be going out of their way to find things to pick on her about. How about grow the hell up
When I was growing up as a teen in the 1980s - before there was a You Tube or Spotify - I was listening not only to 80s bands but to performers before my time. I don't know why kids today won't avail themselves of the internet to listen to band/singers pre-2010.
stop.
When music journalism goes beyond lame.
should you have wasted my time making me read this tweet?
Who’s this billie irish?!
My wife was 24 years old when the song 'Moves Like Jagger' was released and she didn't know who the song was about. Her parents didn't listen to classic rock and she never followed pop culture. So she didn't know Mick. Big deal.
and watch Van Helsing
Who cares?
No, she’s 17 . How often do you hear Van Halen on the radio? Unless you listen to EddieTrunk they haven’t been around lately .
Only if vanhalen knows who bukkawhite is
No
Stop.
Billie Eyelash sucks ass
She’s a kid! Some kids grow up and their parents never explain the power of a record collection, the days of the cd store or recording songs on a cassette only to have to flip sides mid song.
Have they heard of her?
Never heard of Billie Eilish until this happened 🤷♀️
Who tf cares though?
No, just as much as I have no idea what a Billie Eilish is.
vagabond_ 1-Who cares? 2-This is one of the dumbest questions I ever heard. 3-... and I don't even know nothing about Billie other than she is a teenager that pops up with these really stupid questions and phrases attached to her... I'm guessing she pisses off a lot of people.
No.
Isn’t she like 17 years old? Why would she have heard of VanHalen?
Considering the really obnoxious 80’s revival we just had? Jump playing as often as it was? She should’ve AT LEAST have heard that name...
No.
are we still talking about this
I will answer your question with another question, should anyone care?
No
Funny how she knows Madonna and Cyndi Lauper but not Van Halen or Huey Lewis. She is very young. Let her do her thing.
It doesn’t bloody matter! Both are fucking awesome. Period.
La verdad, nos vale goma si los ha escuchado o no...
Who cares? Van Halen probably had no idea who she is either. Nor do I.. or most people...
Who the hell is billie ellish
Yep
YES, BECAUSE I HEARD OF THE BIG BANDS, SINATRA, THE MUSIC OF MY MOMS ERA, BECAUSE ITS GOOD MUSIC, NOT LIKE HERS AND WHATS CALLED MUSIC THESE DAYS.I HAD THE BEATLES, ENOUGH SAID.
Let her be.
She probably has never heard of Led Zepplin or The Beatles as well. I mean shes a child with little talent.
Yes! Every musician should have!
N. O.
Who cares?
No. Many of us are still trying to forget.
Let’s be done with this.
Well... Van Halen is arguably Rock n Roll royalty And who’s the other person?
Don’t care
Should Avril Lavigne have known who David Bowie was?
WolfVanHalen has already commented and gave her a nice compliment. They both make music people love. No story here.
Fuck no who cares!
Complete and utter shit post. Thanks
no
Leave the kid alone. This is pathetic.
I wish I never heard of Billie Eilish...
Give it a year. No one will remember this little tart
I’m an architect and I’ve heard of Christopher Wren. You should always know who came before you in any career that requires creativity. But also, who really gives a shit.
Nope. No one should care either
Who gives a shit?
Should we fucking care ?
'Has has she heard of Billy idol? How bout Billy Joel? She ever heard of Billy the Kid? Has she ever heard of Relish? Cause I like Relish, Hot Dogs are great. What were we talkin about?..,'
Not really, I mean she’s a kid. If you were born in the 99 or anywhere in 2000, I forgive you for not hearing about a lot of classic bands. I don’t know who all these “Lil” rappers are these days, but I was born in the 80s. It’s an age thing.
Nope. Doesn't matter
I've never heard of her.
Yes but who cares.
Yes.
She is ratchet and will not be a thing in a few years.
Pretty sure she has heard Jump, just had no clue who sang it
Is this the only story your magazine has this month?
Let this story die😴😴😴😴😴plz.
Maybe Van Halen just wasn't that important. If he made a larger impact, kids would still be talking about him. Things change. Have a nice decade.
She'll reach an age where she wants to be open to more kinds of music. I remember when I wouldn't listen to anything but my generations music. I went years thinking People are Strange was an Echo and the Bunnymen original
Why in gods name should Billie Eilish give one damn about Van Halen?
The real story is how people think they have a right to determine what she should or shouldn’t know. It’s no one else’s business. When did free will stop being a thing? It’s her choice alone what music she wants to follow. She’s obviously doing just fine without knowing VH so...
lol she grew up listening to playlists curated by her parents, which included artists most of us don’t know. So, she doesn’t know Van Halen, wgaf.
So silly, Billie doesn’t need to apologize for not being Joe Dirt, in the 2000’s😜The funnier joke is clearly the mullet wielding folks stuck in the 80’s.. and I like early VH, Eddie is a genius guitar king and inventor/originator but this is a goofy non issue.
That’s a really strange picture of Eddie you found. He doesn’t have the correct Floyd rose on his guitar, and the pickup is white. Super weird.
ALL THE BIG SELF-HELP MASTERS SAY TO LOVE EVERYONE It's HARD TO LOVE....HATE
Did you ever ask Van Halen if they’d heard of HER?
Obviously should. Sorry but, we are not talking about a random fan, it's someone making a living in the music industry
As if y'all knew each single artist or band from 20 years before you were born
What About Steppenwolf !!!!!!?
When I was her age I didn't know much about groups that peaked thirty years prior either.
Who's Billy Ellish
Truly the driving question of our times. We live in a sea of garbage.
I wish I’d never heard of Van Halen 🤮
who the hell is your readership that THIS is still being discussed AND PAID FOR these writers deserve better
why not be exposed to a wide range of music? music from around the world. different genres of music. music from different time periods. wouldn't that add to her music?
She’s doing great without you shoving your influences down her throat.
Billie Eilish is doing just fine. Why it the important? Why not ask all thoughts who think Elvia founded rock if they ever heard of Sister Loretta
rock and roll yeah.
Most people know the music they grew up with and on average, the music of the past 20 years to that... Those who knew the ‘70s maybe knew back to ‘50s music. So asking anyone born after ‘00 to know music before ‘90s is asking a lot...
how can you build for the future if you haven't learned the past?
Rolling Stone: oh really, you are a girl and a musician? Name all bands
Mute plz
YES she should especially when shes an artist. Music history is holy. 💯😇 They are missing out SO much sacred material.
schoolofrock
Zzzzz
Dead story. Stop milking.
I think she's very lucky. I wish I hadn't heard of Van Halen.
Who cares if she has or hasn't
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