Alex Van Halen is facing accusations of copying parts of his memoir, ‘Brothers,’ from another book about the band, ‘Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen.’
Author Brad Tolinski shared his concerns in a Facebook post, stating, “I just finished Alex Van Halen’s ‘Brothers.’ I found much of it very engaging… if not a little familiar,” he wrote in a Facebook post. He noted that he and co-author Chris Gill counted nearly forty quotes directly taken from ‘Eruption,’ all unattributed. “My co-author Chris Gill and I, counted close to forty quotes taken directly from our book ‘Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen’ —most them unattributed. Okay, technically all them unattributed, since he never directly mentions our book. I guess it’s a back-handed compliment—it means our reporting was accurate. However, I would add, if you’ve read Brothers and enjoyed it, it’s only half of the story. Read our book and get Ed’s perspective.”
In response to the criticism, a user pointed out that Alex acknowledged Gregg Renoff’s work in the author’s note of ‘Brothers.’ The user shared a quote where Alex mentioned relying on memories and the writings of others who were present during significant moments. Alex wrote, “I have mixed feelings about the books by all the Van Halen-ologists because they weren’t actually there, but I read them all just to remind myself of everything Ed and I said over the years.”
Tolinski replied to the user, stating, “Yeah, saw that, but dismisses us ‘because we weren’t there.’ Hmm, I believe Ed was, which is where we got our info. But, you know, enough sour grapes. I did enjoy the book.”
Alex Van Halen has been working on the memoir to honor his brother Eddie and cope with his grief. He admitted, “I’m not done dealing with this yet. In fact, I’ll probably be dealing with it until my dying day.” He also shared that he sometimes talks to Eddie to process his feelings, saying, “This is probably a spiritually, psychically wrong thing to say, but had Ed listened to our dad, he’d still be here. Instead, he did everything he could to f*ck that up.”
Additionally, Alex has released the full version of ‘Unfinished,’ the last song he wrote and recorded with Eddie Van Halen.
