Van Halen III

Van Halen III is the band's eleventh studio album, released in March 1998 on Warner Bros. Records. Mike Post and Eddie Van Halen produced it, and it arrived three years after Balance. It is the only Van Halen record to feature singer Gary Cherone, and the last with bassist Michael Anthony, who plays on just three tracks. Eddie handles the remaining bass parts himself, and his hand in the writing, production and playing is so extensive that Anthony among others sees it as closer to a solo project.

It reached No. 4 in the United States and went Gold, though that fell short of the multi-platinum, chart-topping run of the four albums before it. The lead single "Without You" did well on radio, but critics and fans were largely unkind, pointing to the songwriting, production, performances and length. At over 65 minutes, it is the band's longest record. Cherone left soon after, and it was their last studio album until A Different Kind of Truth in 2012.