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Why Van Halen Will Debut ‘Stay Frosty’ on ‘CSI’

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No, Van Halen haven’t been involved in some gruesome crime, though it’s not like anybody at the reunited rockers’ upcoming shows is going to be calling out requests for latest release “Tattoo.” But the David Lee Roth-fronted band will, in fact, be airing “Tattoo” and a previously unheard song titled “Stay Frosty” on tonight’s episode of CBS crime show CSI, at least according to unofficial Van Halen site Van Halen News Desk (via Blabbermouth). As incompatible as Diamond Dave’s over-the-top rock’n’roll extravagance might seem with gritty crime-scene post-mortems, the choice is not a sign the band has been getting into a little too much of Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo.

As it turns out, CSI and music have a bit of a record together. Musicians moonlighting as actors on the show or its New York and Miami spin-offs are many and sundry, including Justin Bieber (twice!), Diddy, and Taylor Swift, along with Pete Wentz and now ex-wife Ashlee Simpson. Method Man, Blink-182’s Travis Barker, the Who’s Roger Daltrey, and even the members of Rascal Flatts have also made guest appearances. The list goes on: Kid Rock, Nelly, Nelly Furtado, Ne-Yo, Katharine McPhee, Maroon 5, Train, Chris Daughtry … well, you get the idea.

Nor has CSI confined musicians to playing drug dealers or corpses. The show also has a bit of a rap sheet when it comes to premiering new music, as it’s reportedly doing tonight with Van Halen’s tunes from A Different Kind of Truth (actually out February 7, in case you’re wondering). As far back as 2004, U2 landed music on an episode or two as part of its promotional efforts for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. In 2005 CSI went so far as to debut a Coldplay ringtone based on a song from X&Y. Critics’ darlings Portishead, Sigur Rós, OutKast, Four Tet, and, yes, Radiohead have also had music featured in the CSI franchise, as have rising talents like Jessica Lea Mayfield. When it comes to the cross-promotional opportunities from the music world, CSI‘s stance appears to be: right here, right now.

And don’t forget that theme song: