Former Van Halen bassist and current Mammoth frontman Wolfgang Van Halen has never minced words when it comes to artificial intelligence in music, and in a new conversation with Springfield, Missouri radio station Q102, he doubled down on his skepticism.
"I think generative A.I. is really stupid. I just think it's dumb. I think it's a waste of time. I think A.I. should be putting mufflers on cars, not doing art for us. But other people feel differently. That's how I feel. I think it's dumb. I think it's just — I don't know. It's not my thing," he said (via Blabbermouth)
The interviewer noted that record labels seem eager to embrace A.I., and Wolfgang offered a blunt explanation for why that might be. "Yeah, it's lame. Well, you know why? 'Cause it allows you to pay fewer people. All the people at the top see the line go up because they're paying fewer people to do more work with less money. It's kind of the way — every industry is, unfortunately, like [that] at the end of the day, which sucks. It's never really about what's being made. It's how quickly you can make it and shovel it out to people."
This isn’t the first time Wolfgang has sounded the alarm on technology in music. In an August 2023 chat with Primordial Radio, he allowed that certain tools might have limited utility. "I think when aiding in creation, sort of like that 'intelligent' drummer thing [from Logic], [it] can be helpful. But overall, when it comes to creative merits and creative processes, I really just don't think A.I. can compete. The only way it competes is by plagiarizing a combination of everything else that we've already done. So without us, it couldn't be. So when it comes to creating original sorts of things, no chance."
Despite his criticism, he has acknowledged that not all uses of A.I. are without merit. Speaking with Finland’s Chaoszine last year, Wolfgang said he supported Paul McCartney’s approach to salvaging John Lennon’s vocals for what McCartney has called "the final Beatles record."
"I think that was a big misconception in this day and age with social media one-liners where you can't really tell the whole story," Wolfgang explained. "I think that whole thing that came out with Paul McCartney using A.I. on this new Beatles thing, everybody was trying to make it seem like he was using generative A.I., making a fake John Lennon sing, which wasn't what they were doing. They were using a thing to separate his vocals from an old demo. But, of course, nobody reads the article; they just read the tweet, and they get pissed off without even informing themselves. Big surprise. But I think in applications like that, it can be helpful. But it can't replace our brains and our creativity. They wouldn't exist without us. So the only thing they can do is just take what we've done and shuffle it up."
For Wolfgang, the bottom line is clear: A.I. may have practical uses in technical restoration, but when it comes to the heart of creativity, it cannot match human imagination.
Meanwhile, Mammoth (formerly Mammoth WVH) is preparing to release its third studio album, The End, on October 24 through BMG. The 10-track collection, running 39 minutes, was recorded at the iconic 5150 studio and produced by longtime collaborator Michael "Elvis" Baskette. Wolfgang describes the project as the next step in his musical evolution since launching his solo career in 2020.
