Gerry Martire

Gerry Martire

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Wolfgang Van Halen Marks 'Eruption' Anniversary With Tribute To His Dad

Days after stunning Wembley Stadium with his rendition of Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher," Wolfgang Van Halen again paid tribute to his late-father, Eddie Van Halen, marking the 45th anniversary of his most iconic recording.

On Thursday, Wolfie shared an old video of himself performing "Eruption" in the studio on the same 'Frankenstein' guitar his father used to write and record the etude.

The video garnered plenty of acclaim for Wolf when he first shared it in 2015, but it holds new meaning now that his father has passed on and he's established himself as a force unto himself in the rock world with his Mammoth WVH solo band.

Wolf is pictured in the studio seated with the 'Franken-Strat' on his lap. Someone off camera instructs the younger Van Halen to "Gimme a classic there, buddy" and Wolfie lets it rip.

You can watch the clip below.

Wolf goes on to explain that he used his father's 'Frankenstein' on a few tracks on his Mammoth WVH album, and plans to use it again down the road.

He added that if his version sounds strange, it's because he tuned the guitar down an additional half-step for the song he was recording at the time.

"You can hear my hesitation before playing, and I almost decided to try and play it up one fret, but I ended up just playing in its normal position," he writes. "I may have attempted to do that after this video at some point though haha. Love and miss you, Pop."

"Eruption" was recorded on September 8, 1977. When the song was released the following winter on Van Halen, it ignited a new movement in music — and a lot more practicing from Eddie's peers.

Eddie himself went into the studio to practice his solo for an upcoming gig, but when producer Ted Templeman heard what he was playing he told Eddie he was going to record him. The maestro later complained that he "didn't even play it right" and there's a mistake at the beginning of the pass that wound up on the album.


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