Wolfgang Van Halen: When Dad First Showed Me AC/DC’s ‘Big Balls’

AC/DC’s “Big Balls” is a song that most rock fans are exposed to at some point in their lives, but for Wolfgang Van Halen, it was rather early. Eddie Van Halen first played the song for his son when he was in the second grade.

The Van Halen family once took a week-long trip to the Grand Canyon, and that’s when a young Wolfgang was first introduced to the AC/DC track.

“My dad rented a Winnebago, and we went to the Grand Canyon. I remember we stopped somewhere and my mom [Valerie Bertinelli] went to the bathroom, and Dad was like, ‘Wolf, come check this out.’ And he showed me the song ‘Big Balls’ by AC/DC… and that song made me laugh so hard,” Van Halen told HardDrive Radio.

“Bon Scott on that song going, ‘Ooh,’ was something that my dad and I really bonded over. We loved that,” he continued. “So that might be one of my earliest memories of a favorite song.”

Watch the full discussion below.

“Big Balls” was featured on AC/DC’s 1976 album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, which was their third Australian record but wasn’t released in the U.S. until 1981.