Liner Notes · No. 026
"Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen: the B-side
Quick hall pass: the song that got you sent to the principal's office for air-drumming on your desk ended up on network TV, in a video game your kids still can't beat, and on Roth's set list in 2026. Here's the B-side.
On this record
TRACK 1 · The cameo
Glee and Guitar Hero
Glee dropped it into a fantasy 80s classroom in 2011, and Guitar Hero made it one of the series' harder songs. Five buttons. Still too many.
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The detention scene: On November 15, 2011, Glee's "Mash Off" episode, billed as the show's 300th musical performance, put the song in a fantasy classroom with a full 80s takeover. Rachel questioned whether the song was appropriate. Correct, Rachel. The kids in 1984 were asking the same thing, mostly so they could hear it again.
The excuse: The singer's explanation for picking it: he's a Van Halen fan. Honestly, the most believable thing anyone said on that show.
The plastic guitar: It's in Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero: Van Halen, where it's a master track, and the Guitar Hero wiki calls it one of the series' harder songs. Reviewers counted it among the band's classics next to "Jump" and "You Really Got Me." Eddie made it look easy with six strings. Millions of us couldn't do it with five colored buttons.
That's the TV and the games. Now, who was at the mic in that classroom? Quiz time.
In 2011, which Glee character sang "Hot for Teacher" in a fantasy classroom?
No Googling. We'll know.
That's Side A. Flip the tape.
Side B is where it gets weird:
- The reunion tours, the Tokyo Dome night that became the band's first live album with Roth, and Roth's 2026 opening night.
- The covers: Ween live in Austin, a bluegrass version, a heavy metal mariachi band, and Beck playing the teacher.
- Where they are now: Alex's archival album talk, Wolfgang's Mammoth, Roth's 2026 tour, and Sammy's olive branch.
Free, every Tuesday. One song, the story you never heard, and a 10-minute hall pass from the doomscroll. Already subscribed? Enter your email to unlock.
▶ SIDE B
TRACK 2 · The live one
The reunion, the Tokyo Dome and Roth's 2026 set
It held a late-show slot from the 2007 reunion to Eddie's last tour in 2015, and Roth was still playing it solo in 2026.
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2007, back in class: On the 2007-2008 reunion tour, the band's first with David Lee Roth since 1984, Ultimate Classic Rock's set-list count puts "Hot for Teacher" around song 18 of the average night. It held the same slot on the 2012-2013 A Different Kind of Truth tour. Late in the show, when the drummer has had time to warm up. Smart.
2013, the Tokyo Dome: On June 21, 2013, Van Halen played the Tokyo Dome. That show became Tokyo Dome Live in Concert (2015), which Rolling Stone reported as the band's first live album with Roth, and "Hot for Teacher" is on it. A live album with Dave, finally. Some of us returned overdue library books faster.
2015, the last tour: The song was in the set on the 2015 North American tour, near the end of the night. Eddie's final concert with Van Halen was October 4, 2015, at the Hollywood Bowl.
2026, Diamond Dave solo: On April 16, 2026, Roth opened his solo tour at Spokane Live! at Spokane Tribe Casino in Airway Heights, Washington, and played "Hot for Teacher" as song 15 of 17. It was still in the set at Niagara Falls on May 21. Forty-two years later, and he still doesn't feel tardy.
TRACK 3 · Cover watch
The covers (one of them has a mariachi band)
Ween unhinged, a bluegrass banjo, a heavy metal mariachi band and a jazzy Beck. Play them, then vote.
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- 2003 · Ween. A live version recorded at Stubb's in Austin in July 2000, released on Live at Stubb's in 2003. Exactly as unhinged as you're imagining.
- 2006 · David Grisman and Sons. An instrumental bluegrass version on the tribute album Strummin' with the Devil: The Southern Side of Van Halen, an album that also features Roth himself. The drum intro, but make it a banjo.
- 2017 · Metalachi. A heavy metal mariachi band's version, written up by Van Halen News Desk in April 2017. Trumpets where the double kick drums used to be. Nobody asked. Everybody needed it.
- 2019 · The Bird and the Bee feat. Beck. Inara George and Greg Kurstin made it jazzy and keys-driven for Interpreting the Masters Volume 2: A Tribute to Van Halen (August 2019), and flipped the teacher's gender. Beck does the spoken parts as the teacher, Mr. Goodbody. The most polite this song has ever sounded.
▶ WATCH THE CONTENDERS
Battle of the versions: which "Hot for Teacher" wins?
Cast your vote. Results in the next issue. Choose carefully: we're grading you.
TRACK 4 · Where are they now
Where the band is now
Eddie Van Halen died in 2020. Alex wrote a memoir and talks of an archival album, Wolfgang tours with Mammoth, and Roth cancelled most of his 2026 dates.
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Eddie: Eddie Van Halen died on October 6, 2020, at 65, after a long battle with cancer, his son Wolfgang said. That 32-bar solo is still the one guitar students reach for first.
Alex: On October 22, 2024, Alex Van Halen published Brothers (HarperCollins), a memoir he called a love letter to Eddie. In February 2026 he talked about an archival Van Halen album, saying his drums, Eddie's guitar and Wolfgang's bass were already recorded. Finding a singer appears to be the open question, and no release has been announced. Wolfgang said he had no inside information but would support it.
Wolfgang: His band Mammoth toured North America in summer 2026 behind its third album, The End (2025), with European dates booked from October through the end of the year.
Diamond Dave: Roth's 2026 solo tour opened April 16. In late July he cancelled nearly all the remaining dates, keeping only an August 7 show in Sturgis, South Dakota. No reason was given.
Sammy: Sammy Hagar tours as "The Best of All Worlds" with former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and Joe Satriani. In an October 2026 Billboard interview he said he'd love to bury the hatchet with Alex Van Halen. The longest-running group project in rock: arguing about Van Halen. Still no due date.
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