After getting dragged by some—and backed up by others—online for admitting to Jimmy Kimmel that she doesn't know who Van Halen is, Billie Eilish's lack of 1970s rock band knowledge has been defended by the current bassist for the band and member of the Van Halen family. Recently, Billie made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, part of which Jimmy spent grilling her on her knowledge of old school pop culture references, most of which she didn't understand because she's literally 17 years old. Jimmy asked Billie if she could "name a Van Halen" to which she responded "who?" On Monday, Wolfgang Van Halen took to Twitter to address the discussion taking place about whether it's "okay" for Billie to not know who Van Halen is. The current bassist for the band, which his father, Eddie, and uncle, Alex, founded in the 70s along with David Lee Roth and Michael Anthony, Mr. Van Halen tweeted: "If you haven't heard of @billieeilish, go check her out. She's cool. If you haven't heard of @VanHalen, go check them out. They're cool too."
While it is definitely humorous that Wolfgang referred to Van Halen as "them," considering he is part of the band and the family that was responsible for its inception, the objective of the tweet is quite honourable. He goes on to say: "Music is supposed to bring us together, not divide us. Listen to what you want and don’t shame others for not knowing what you like." Wolfgang's point is that not knowing an artist, no matter how big they were in their prime like Van Halen, is not "shameful." In a sense, he disputes not only those who came after Billie on the Internet, but also Jimmy's initial intention of the segment to essentially mock and condescend to Billie for, basically, being super young. Go to 3:15 to watch the whole segment on Jimmy Kimmel Live!