Eddie Van Halen's son is 'hurt' by the Grammy's brief tribute to his father

• Wolfgang Van Halen felt his father's tribute at the Grammys was too brief.
• "I didn't realize that they would only show [my] Pop for 15 seconds...," he wrote on Instagram.
• Van Halen was asked to perform his father's legendary "Eruption" solo at the Grammys, but declined.

The late legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen was part of the Grammy's In Memoriam segment on Sunday night, but it was only a brief tribute. Now his son wants people to know he's disappointed.

"I didn't realize that they would only show [my] Pop for 15 seconds in the middle of 4 full performances for others we had lost," Wolfgang Van Halen wrote Monday in an Instagram caption next to an image of one of his father's guitars sitting alone on stage during the tribute.

During the tribute on Sunday, a small portion of Eddie's iconic "Eruption" solo played.

A post shared by Wolf Van Halen (@wolfvanhalen)

"The Grammys asked me to play 'Eruption' for the 'In Memoriam' section and I declined," Wolfgang wrote. "I don't think anyone could have lived up to what my father did for music but himself."

But Wolfgang said what hurt the most was that his father wasn't included in the mention of late artists at the start of the show.

"I know rock isn't the most popular genre right now, (and the academy does seem a bit out of touch) but I think it's impossible to ignore the legacy my father left on the instrument, the world of rock, and music in general," Wolfgang wrote. "There will never be another innovator like him."

"I'm not looking to start some kind of hate parade here, I just wanted to explain my side," Van Halen wrote in his Instagram post. "I know Pop would probably just laugh it off and say 'Ehh who gives a s---?' He was only about the music anyway. The rest didn't matter."

Eddie, who died in October 2020 due to throat cancer at the age of 65, was one of the founding members and lead guitarist for the rock band Van Halen. His masterful guitar playing made him a standout during the 1980s.

But he also transcended rock thanks to his evolutions of how guitars were made (he held three patents) and most notably his guitar solo on Michael Jackson's hit 1982 song, "Thriller."