Van Halen and rock music fans, we have some good news and bad news about last night's prime time Grammy nomination special. The bad news is that despite organizers hyping an appearance by Van Halen (with Twitter hints containing classic Van Halen song titles) they were no where to be seen on the narrowcast.
The good news is that there is still no real reason for rock fans to bother to care about the Grammy awards, which have consistently treated the biggest selling genre of music as an afterthought. (The same artists that are always nominated were once again nominated, provided they put something out this past year.)
The Van Halen speculation about their appearance on the TV special started when the Grammy people took to their Twitter account and wrote "Who do u predict the reuniting band will be @ #GRAMMYnoms? Does this hint make u wanna 'Jump' & 'Dance the Night Away'?" (see the tweet here)
And then the press release for the event said that the show would include "a special, live announcement from an iconic group regarding their historic band reunion set to take place on the Grammy stage on February 12, 2012." (Read press release here) This leads away from Van Halen since they had reunited a few years back. But this is the Grammy's, so we can't expect them to be up on the happenings in the rock world and they very well may have meant Van Halen as their tweets hinted at.
Many expected the band to appear to announce the release of a new album featuring David Lee Roth on vocals and to announce a tour around the release.
On November 17th, Front Line Management's PR company Scoop Marketing sent out a photo under the heading of "Van Halen Sneak Peak" of a group shot at an undisclosed venue in Los Angeles which featured Alex Van Halen; Wolfgang Van Halen; Eddie Van Halen ; Jimmy Iovine, Chairman, Interscope Geffen A&M Records. Irving Azoff, Executive Chairman of Live Nation Entertainment and Chairman and CEO of the Front Line Management Group; Steve Berman, Vice Chairman, Interscope Geffen A&M Records; David Lee Roth; and Jim Urie, President and CEO, Universal Music Group Distribution.
And then teased "Want to know why? Stay tuned..." Some have identified the venue as Roxy Theater. (See the photo here)
That was the only official information that has come out from anyone associated with Van Halen and it hinted at the fact that the band had inked a deal with Interscope Records for their new album, leaving their long time label home of Warner Bros.
One of the only reliable sources for Van Halen information, yet unofficial, is the Van Halen News Desk which reports that they had "heard that January is the month that the band plans to make their official announcement about their album and tour. The album and tour are still scheduled for early 2012." You can read their report here.
