Exclusively Van Halen: OU812 Anniversary Special! 11 Things You Didn't Know About the Album! 5/23/25

OU812 (pronounced "Oh You Ate One Too") is the eighth studio album by American rock band Van Halen, released on May 24, 1988. It is the band's second album to feature vocalist Sammy Hagar, following the success of 5150. Van Halen began work on OU812 in September 1987 and completed it in April 1988, just a month before its release. 🎵 Track Listing Mine All Mine When It's Love A.F.U. (Naturally Wired) Cabo Wabo Source of Infection Feels So Good Finish What Ya Started Black and Blue Sucker in a 3 Piece A Apolitical Blues (Little Feat cover) Like its predecessor, 5150, OU812 reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming the second of four consecutive #1 studio albums for the band. The album generated four Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 singles: “Black and Blue” (#34) “Finish What Ya Started” (#13) “When It's Love” (#5) “Feels So Good” (#35) Ultimately, the album sold over 4 million copies in the U.S. On October 6, 2023, OU812 was remastered by Donn Landee and re-released as part of The Collection II, which compiles all four Van Halen studio albums with Hagar and includes an extra disc of rarities from the era. 🔧 Background and Production Following the 5150 tour, Eddie Van Halen had a collection of riffs, and Hagar brought notebooks of lyrical ideas, leading the band to start work on OU812. While Donn Landee engineered the album, no official producer was credited. According to Hagar: “The band pretty much produced the album ourselves. And we weren't producers, in the sense that we went in with an idea and told everybody what to do and took control. There just wasn't a producer." The album includes a cover of Little Feat’s “A Apolitical Blues”, which had also been produced by Van Halen’s former producer Ted Templeman and engineered by Landee. Van Halen even used the same recording setup for their version. ✍️ Songwriting Details The song "When It’s Love" began as a piano and drums demo by Eddie and Alex Van Halen. Hagar wrote “Cabo Wabo” while in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Its melody originated from “Make It Last,” a song from his Montrose days. The title also inspired the name of his future nightclub. "Finish What Ya Started" was one of the final songs written, created spontaneously one night by Hagar and Eddie. Hagar struggled with the lyrics for “Mine All Mine,” rewriting them seven times, eventually calling it a “metaphysical” lyric that pushed him creatively like never before. The humorous and chaotic “Source of Infection” was written about Eddie’s hospitalization with dengue fever during an April 1988 trip to Australia with his wife Valerie Bertinelli. 🧩 Title and Artwork The working title for the album was Bone, which Alex Van Halen disliked. Hagar later chose OU812 after seeing it on a delivery truck, though some fans speculate it was a subtle jab at David Lee Roth’s solo album Eat 'Em and Smile. Interestingly, OU812 also appears in pop culture—on the license plate in Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie (1980) and on a payphone column in Taxi (1978–1983). The album cover pays homage to With the Beatles (1963), featuring black-and-white portraits of the band in shadow. It also visually references Blue Cheer’s Vincebus Eruptum (1968) and King Crimson’s Red (1974). The back cover includes an image of the sculpture Affe mit Schädel by Hugo Rheinhold. #vanhalen #johnnybeaneTV #eddievanhalen #exclusivelyvanhalen #alexvanhalen #sammyhagar #OU812 Want to create live streams like this? Check out StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/4906555367489536