Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth has some choice words for Wolfgang Van Halen, son of his late bandmate, Eddie Van Halen.
In a clip from his “The Roth Show” podcast posted on YouTube, Roth complained about Wolfgang, who joined the band with his father as a bass player in 2006.
The clip begins with a spoof interview of Roth interviewing Jesus Christ and discussing nepotism in an apparent dig at Wolfgang’s position in the band.
Then his tirade begins, with Roth saying, “This f—ing kid! He’s complaining the entire tour like I’m not paying enough attention to him onstage.”
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David Lee Roth went on a tirade against Wolfgang Van Halen, the son of his late bandmate, Eddie Van Halen. (Getty Images)
“I’m giving him the best, everything I’ve got, in front of 20-30,000 people at a clip, and he’s complaining to everybody around me — the business manager, the security guy, the clothing lady — ‘Dave’s not paying enough attention to me.’”
Roth then said that during a show in New York City, Wolfgang had “these two great dames that I invited to be my guests to the show” thrown out.
“This f—ing kid, what he doesn’t know is that these two dames work for the accounting firm that represent him, not me,” the 69-year-old said. “But as usual, he, just like his uncle and his uncle’s brother, stiffed them for tickets.”
“He’s teaching me a lesson,” Roth added. “What this f—ing kid doesn’t know? They’re carrying the paychecks for all 82 people on the road crew.”
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Roth said Wolfgang tried to throw guests of his out of performances during a Van Halen tour in the 2010s. (Chelsea Lauren/WireImage)
He noted that people thought he was going to “freak out,” but he says he laughed “so hard” about the incident.
Roth said a similar issue occurred during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, in what he says was his last show with Eddie.
“We’re playing the Hollywood Bowl, we’re playing the last two shows of the tour, and Ed’s not having a good day this year, so I know … I always gotta play it like: What if this is the last show I have with the brothers?” Roth said. “This is important to me, we’re celebrating 50th anniversary from when we first started arguing over which song was first.”
He continued, “We’re at the Hollywood Bowl, I’m about to launch into ‘Ice Cream Man,’ and this f—ing kid. He commandeers two muscle monkeys, locates the one dame that is my guest. She’s off in the wings of the Hollywood Bowl. They find her, make her do the walk of shame past all the other guests and out into the parking lot and throw her out of the building.
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Roth routinely referred to Wolfgang as “this f—ing kid” during his podcast rant. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
“Wolfie Van Halen’s going to teach me a lesson by throwing out what he thinks is my girlfriend. But guess what? Not only is this an accountant again, and not only is she carrying the paychecks for 82 of us on the road crew, but she’s carrying cash bonuses for everybody there.”
He noted it was the same woman from the New York show, and added, “[A]nd that’s how I remember my last show with Eddie Van Halen.”
Representatives for Roth and Wolfgang did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Roth’s rant is just the latest instance of infighting in Van Halen’s storied history.
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The original lineup of Van Halen, from left, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen, are shown in 1978. (Fin Costello/Redferns)
Van Halen was founded by brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen in the late 1960s and early ’70s, officially becoming the band known to audiences with the addition of Roth in 1973.
The band took off with hits like “Running with the Devil” in 1978 and dominated the early ’80s rock scene.
After the release of their album “1984” and its subsequent tour, Roth decided to leave the band for a solo career.
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Van Halen was notorious for its infighting, beginning when Roth left in the mid-1980s to pursue a solo career. (David Tan/Shinko Music/Getty Images)
In a 1985 interview with “Guitar World,” Eddie said, “I think it’s something [David Lee Roth] always wanted to do. I think it’s great he’s actually doing it. Put it this way: It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and haven’t done. I guess, in a funny way, it explains Dave as a vocalist and lyricist.”
A year later, he told the outlet there were creative differences as well.
“The way we did [‘5150’] is basically how I would have liked to have done all the previous records. And I think that’s another thing that maybe drove Dave away. Because for ‘1984’, I built the studio and I started wanting to do things a little more my way, and I guess I turned some people off; I created a little friction – not meaning to. I built the f–king story for the benefit of all of us, for the family, for the band.”
Roth and Van Halen admitted to creative and personal differences during the height of the band’s success. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Roth confirmed that creative differences were an issue in a 2019 interview on the “WTF with Marc Maron” podcast.
“There were always creative differences,” Roth said. “We never got along. It was a beautiful, beautiful pairing of … you’ve seen cowboy movies where the guys are always sabotaging each other, but they’re working to somehow accomplish something, and I think you’ll see that in a lot of popular bands.”
After Roth left, he was replaced by Sammy Hagar until 1996, when Roth temporarily reunited with the band at that year’s MTV Video Music Awards.
But tensions were still high, with Roth reportedly annoyed that Eddie spoke about his hip issues and planned replacement during a news conference, per the Washington Post.
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Van Halen nearly reunited in 1996 but experienced tensions behind the scenes. (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
Roth said “Tonight’s about me, not about his hip,” and when Eddie agreed to not mention it again, Roth allegedly said that he “better not.”
According to the Washington Post, Eddie said, “I told him, ‘You ever speak to me like that again, you better be wearing a cup.’”
Van Halen wouldn’t formally reunite until 2007, at which point Eddie’s son, Wolfgang, replaced original bassist Michael Anthony.
That caused its own wave of controversy as Anthony and Hagar went on to perform as “The Other Half,” about which Eddie scoffed during a 2006 interview with Howard Stern.
Eddie’s son, Wolfgang, joined the band in 2007, sparking controversy among fans. (Steve Granitz/WireImage)
“I got no problem with these guys, but they’re billing themselves as the other half of Van Halen. My brother is the other half of Van Halen. They’re out there selling hot sauce and tequila and playing all my songs. It doesn’t bother me. It just makes them a cover band.”
He also praised Wolfgang during the interview, saying, “The name Van Halen, the family legacy, is going to go on long after I’m gone. This kid is just a natural.”
Before the reunion, Roth told Billboard in 2006 his thoughts on a reunion, saying, “I see it absolutely as an inevitability. To me, it’s not rocket surgery. It’s very simple to put together. And as far as hurt feelings and water under the dam, like what’s-her-name says to what’s-her-name at the end of the movie ‘Chicago’: ‘So what? It’s showbiz.’ So, I definitely see it happening.”
Roth admitted on “WTF” that he and Eddie never seemed to fully click or reconcile.
Roth felt he and Eddie Van Halen would always have a contentious relationship, despite their working together. (Chris McKay/Getty Images for Live Nation)
When asked during the podcast if he and Eddie could sit and have dinner at the end of a long day, Roth said, “Nope, not even close, not even close. This is not a golf club. This is a little closer to ‘The Wild Bunch.’ There is a fury and an antagonism, and what comes out of that is, when it’s good, oh man.”
Roth toured with Van Halen off and on from 2008 through 2015, their last show together being in October at the Hollywood Bowl, the site of the singer’s alleged friction with Wolfgang.
Following Eddie’s death from cancer in 2020, Wolfgang declared the band officially over, telling Howard Stern at the time, “You can’t have Van Halen without Eddie Van Halen.”
In a 2021 interview with Billboard, Wolfgang acknowledged fans’ doubts about his participation in the band.
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Wolfgang Van Halen said Van Halen as a band was done after his father’s death in 2020. (Michael Buckner/Billboard via Getty Images)
“With the name or just having the parents that I have,” he told Billboard in 2021, “people assume that I’m an unmotivated person who is just comfortable in doing nothing and coasting on what has come before with what my name entails. And I’m anything but that.”
Wolfgang started his own band, Mammoth WVH, and they released their first album in 2021.
In 2022, Lee Roth also remembered Eddie, saying on his podcast, “My dear departed, Ed. Boy, I miss him. I had a ball with Ed. Walt Disney once said, ‘You know what? My love affair with Mickey Mouse was better than any love affair with a woman I ever had.’ I’ve got to tell you: Playing with Ed, writing songs with Ed, presenting those songs with Ed was better than any love affair I ever had.”
