Wolfgang has reflected on the album that marked his recording debut, Van Halen’s A Different Kind of Truth which he played on along with father Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth. Tragically, the album turned out to be Van Halen’s final studio album too.
In an interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, Wolfgang explained how the trio came up with the idea to record the historic album together.
“It seemed like a logical thing. We’ve got a really good thing going here, what if we tried to do an album? At that point in time, my dad’s writing style had changed, drastically — not in a bad way, but I think in a different way, to where fans of classic-era Van Halen may not have appreciated it as much.”
Wolfgang went on to share that he came up with the idea to rummage through his father’s old material to find inspiration for the new album.
“At that time Van Halen was very much a legacy act. Sure, the die-hard fans wanted an album, but … most people only wanted to hear ‘Panama’ and ‘Jump’ and stuff like that. So I thought it would be worth looking at old demos for inspiration … and build upon old ideas to bring out something new. Dad was always writing, so there were always so many ideas up there,” he said.
As soon as A Different Kind of Truth was released in 2012, it skyrocketed straight to #2 on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 188,000 copies in its first six days of release. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the iconic album, Wolfgang spoke in depths about each track.
‘Tattoo’ was arguably the most popular song on the record, and Wolfgang revealed that he had reservations about the track.
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“That was a song I didn’t think should be at the beginning or the first [single] released. It’s still a great song. I was really happy with it. It was an old demo called “Down in Flames” [from 1977] that had a really cool riff. … It happened twice as much on the original demo,” he told the publication.
“We spread it out a little to make some space for the solo, that weave thing Dad does in the beginning. I thought it was fun. I think Dave’s lyrics are super-quirky on that and really fun. But as an opener or first single, I wasn’t into that. I fought for “She’s the Woman” to be the first single. It’s not a comment on the quality of the song “Tattoo” in any way.
“It was a little different in comparison to the rest of the album. People are so cynical and reactive these days with social media that I think when they get that [song], that’s their first impression and they think the rest of the album’s gonna be like that. And that wasn’t the case with that.”
Eddie Van Halen died on October 6, 2020, at the age of 65. The official cause of death is listed on his death certificate as a cerebrovascular accident, or stroke but he has also been battling cancer prior to his death.
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Check out ‘Tattoo’ by Van Halen:
