Billie Eilish defended by Wolfgang Van Halen after being trolled for not knowing about legendary band: 'Music is not supposed to divide us'
After Billie Eilish faced backlash on social media for failing to recall a single member of the legendary rock band Van Halen, the bassist of the group, Wolfgang Van Halen, took to Twitter on Monday, December 2, to defend the 17-year-old singer.
"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," Wolf posted. "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."
It all started when the teen appeared on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' and opened up about how difficult it was for her to cope with the heights of fame at her tender age. To further highlight the difference between their ages, and perhaps generations, the host of the show said that he was 17 years old during perhaps the "greatest year in American history" of 1984.
He went onto quiz her on some of the retro celebrities of his time and as part of that, asked her to name one of the members of the music group Van Halen. "Who?" Billie responded, which unleashed a stream of trolls online.
"How is Billie Eilish supposed to seduce my dad if she doesn’t know who Van Halen is?" one Twitter user joked, while another criticized, "Not to sound too get off my lawn but Billie Eilish should know who Van Halen is even if she’s only seventeen."
There were also others who did not really care if Billie's knowledge of old school rock bands was limited.
"Billie Eilish is so lucky not to know who Van Halen is I wish I could be unburdened in the same way," a user wrote. Another commented: "I hear your concerns about Billie Eilish not knowing Van Halen. The toll it has taken during this dark and difficult time. But I think back to when we soldiered on after Tom Holland said he hadn’t seen Empire Strikes Back. And I believe we, as a people, will survive."
In the same interview, Billie admitted that he didn't know Huey Lewis, hadn't heard of the Cabbage Patch Kid and when asked to fill in the blanks in the name, "Run-D-M" she replied, "What? What is that?"
At that, Jimmy explained the reference to the famous 1980s hip hop group Run-DMC.