PRPG:
impossible to answer questions

Impossible Questions: Classic Rock Edition (The Answer)

September 3, 2014

Think you’ve got the answer? Keep reading to see if you nailed it.

What odd, but very specific, distinction is shared by Cheap Trick and Van Halen?

Need more impossible questions? Check out Uncle John’s Impossible Questions.

Cheap Trick and Van Halen are among a very small group of bands (we couldn’t find very many more examples, actually) who replaced a founding member with the son of one of the other band members.

Cheap Trick

This group hasn’t had a hit in decades, but still tours almost every summer. Founding drummer Bun E. Carlos was around for every concert, until 2010, when the band announced that Carlos would sit out live performances but would remain a member of the band. Three years later, Carlos sued the band for not allowing him to participate in band meetings, or even record with them. The lawsuit was thrown out, but since 2010, the band’s drummer has been Daxx Nielsen, son of Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen.

Van Halen

The Pasadena hard rock band has probably had the most famous case of revolving door lead singers in rock history. David Lee Roth was the group’s original singer until he quit for a solo career in 1985, and was replaced with solo star Sammy Hagar. In 1996, Roth and the band reunited at the MTV Video Music Awards, fueling speculation that Roth was back in the group. He wasn’t, really, but nobody had told Hagar, who was so offended that he quit the band. Van Halen got a new singer (Gary Cherone of Extreme), but in 2006 reunited with Roth for a tour. Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony stayed friends with Hagar. Still on bad terms with him, the Van Halen brothers fired Anthony and replaced him with a new bassist: Wolfgang Van Halen, son of guitarist Eddie Van Halen. He was only 15 years old at the time.