The Best Rock Song of 2025

Mammoth‘s “The End” is Loudwire’s No. 1 rock song of 2025.

It’s the title track from Mammoth’s third album and was also the lead single, released back in May. Wolfgang Van Halen once again took on all the instruments and the vocals, meaning this year’s best was the work of a singular creative force.

Loudwire spoke in depth with Wolfgang about the song’s origins and what it represents for Mammoth — let’s dive in.

Why Did We Pick This Song?

While Wolfgang spent the last few years trying to carve out his own legacy apart from his father, “The End” sees him embracing his musical DNA rather than distancing himself from it.

With this flashy but balanced song, he’s demonstrating musical and personal growth, taking us fans on the journey with him, even if the reasons are deeply personal. As a musician, Wolfgang has been in such a unique spotlight from his teenage years in Van Halen to cutting his teeth in the studio and on the road with Tremonti, all before climbing the ladder with Mammoth. His story has been told for more than half of his life and “The End” underscores the notion that the best parts are still ahead.

Surprisingly enough, even though “The End” was the first bit of new material Mammoth shared from the album, the song was actually written later in the recording process for the album while Wolfgang was demoing the other tracks.

“I always had this idea and I liked it, I just never knew what I would do with it. It just felt like maybe a little too over-the-top,” Van Halen recalled.

“When looking at demos to develop via our new demoing process, where rather than doing it on my laptop we just did it in the studio, [it] allowed me to take bigger chances and trying stuff, just throwing stuff at the wall.”

Mammoth, ‘The End’

Right away, the track has an element of familiarity, likely because Van Halen actually used his father Eddie Van Halen‘s iconic Frankenstein guitar for the tapping section during the intro and later on during the bridge.

“It was nice, I like being able to have dad be a part of it since he’s not here. Just to have a little bit of twisting of our fates together in my stuff is a really nice, comfy feeling,” he shared.

“I think maybe in the past, I’d been a bit more hesitant to do any tapping stuff. But at this point, I just don’t really care anymore what people are gonna say. I’m just having fun and enjoying myself. This song is a really good representation of me not giving a shit anymore, having a good time and doing what I want,” he explained.

The most challenging aspect of completing the song was fleshing out the solo, because as Wolfgang put it, “How do you write a guitar solo for a song that’s basically a solo?” But nevertheless, he managed to craft a mesmerizing solo — and he knew it was the one once he had all the lyrics down.

READ MORE: Wolfgang Van Halen’s ‘Defining Feeling’ While Working on New Mammoth Album ‘The End’

“I was like, ‘This is it. This is gonna be really exciting, it’s gonna catch peoples’ attention.’ If you hear it on the radio, you’re gonna be like — What the hell is this? — and turn it up. And I guess that kind of worked!”

What Did Fans Say About It?

Wolfgang’s instincts were correct — it did work.

Take a look at what Mammoth fans said about “The End” on the Van Halen Reddit page when it came out.

• Great fucking song, man. Love the nod to his Pop during the solo. He’s walking down the tables like Ed in the ‘Hot For Teacher’ video.
• Genuinely really like this. Best of what we already know from Mammoth WVH but just that little more fun and innovative on a musical level.
• Absolutely killer song and video. Wolfie is what we need for the rock scene right now!!!

The following comments about “The End” are from the Mammoth Reddit page.

• Wolfie is delivering. This may be the best Mammoth song yet. He’s finding that balance between technicality and traditional rock song hooks… and it’s completely working. This has been stuck in my head for the past few days. Go get ’em Wolf, we’re rooting for you!
• Fucking love it! Another face melting song!!!

What Does It Mean for Mammoth?

It may seem like a cliche to ask about the meaning of a song or its title, but in this case, we really needed to know what Wolfgang was referring to “the end” of. As it turns out, the song is symbolic of a lot of different ends.

The rocker was initially inspired to write the lyrics after the wildfires in Los Angeles came dangerously close to his home at the very beginning of 2025. He channeled all of the anxiety into his songwriting and started thinking about what else the words represented.

“I ended up attacking what ‘the end’ could mean in a bunch of different ways throughout all the songs. So if anything, it’s the closest I’ve ever come to a concept record without really putting the effort into it,” Wolfgang said.

The musician shared the perspective that some of the songs were written from: “The Spell” is about losing someone close to you, “The End” is about accepting it and “All in Good Time” is the light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel viewpoint and seeing the end as a good thing.

From there, Wolfgang elaborated on how “The End” is a reference to Mammoth and where it currently stands after dropping the WVH from the moniker.

“It’s sort of the end of the old, beginning of the new,” he teased. “As funny off the top [as it is] to have our third record called The End, I think it really matched in more ways than one through the material and where the band is.”

What’s Next in 2026?

Wolfgang’s focus with Mammoth for 2026 is getting out on the road and playing these new songs for as many people as possible — but he already has plans to get back in the studio early the following year.

“[This tour] really has been a step up from anything we’ve done before,” he admitted. “To see it mean something to people — when you look in the crowd and you see people shouting the lyrics back at you, to see whatever song we might be singing hit them at a rough time in their life and it gave them a light at the end of the tunnel, it feels really great.”

See the dates for Mammoth’s 2026 headlining run here.

What Was Wolfgang Van Halen’s Favorite Song of the Year?

Wolfgang is most excited about Puscifer‘s upcoming new album Normal Isn’t, which won’t be out until February of 2026, but he’s really enjoyed the songs that have come out from it so far (“Self Evident,” “Pendulum”).

Coincidentally, the other album the rocker is looking forward to hearing is Karnivool’s upcoming In Verses, which is due out the same day as Normal Isn’t. They shared three tracks from it so far, “Drone,” “Aozora” and “Opal,” which Wolfgang has really enjoyed as well.