Van Halen May Sign With Columbia

David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen perform as Van Halen.

Lester Cohen/WireImage

Several reports are indicating that Van Halen have either signed with Columbia Records or are coming close to sealing a deal with the label. According to the Hollywood Reporter, no deal has been signed just yet, but the Sony-owned company is "in the lead" in the race to release the band's first album with original frontman David Lee Roth since 1984. That record is expected to hit stores sometime next year.

Photos: Van Halen Through the Years
If Van Halen does indeed sign with Columbia, it would be the first time the band would work with a label other than Warner Bros. Records in 35 years. The group have not release a record of new material since Van Halen III, their only album with vocalist Gary Cherone, came out in March 1998.

• 
  MUSIC Exclusive Live Chat With Linkin Park and Incubus
• 
  MOVIES & TV Peter Travers: 'The Avengers' Has it All
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Jon Corzine Is the Original Zimmerman
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive Premiere: Tenacious D's 'Tinnitus'

Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter