Should Billie Eilish Have Heard of Van Halen?
In the latest episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Brittany Spanos, Rob Sheffield, and Andy Greene join host Brian Hiatt to discuss the unexpected intersection of two artists whose heyday is separated by decades, styles and a whole lot of other differences: Billie Eilish and Van Halen.
To hear the entire discussion, press play below or download and subscribe on iTunes or Spotify.
When Jimmy Kimmel recently asked Eilish about one of his favorite bands, she was baffled — understandably, given that Van Halen released its first album 23 years before her birth. The clip went viral, sparked an unfair pile-on from rock fans against Eilish, and then, in turn, questionably accurate attacks on Van Halen’s music from non-fans. But the episode digs into more interesting issues: What does this incident say about Eilish’s tastes, about the tricky art of classic rock legacy maintenance, and ever-widening musical generation gaps? Meanwhile, Sheffield argues that Eilish has more in common with David Lee Roth than their fans would think — starting with their facility with “the talking parts of songs.”
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