On May 24, 1988, "OU812" - the eighth album of "Van Halen" was released.
Here are some interesting facts about the album:
1. The name of the album "OU812" is pronounced "Oh You Ate One Too" and rumor has it that it was ment as a reaction to the name of the album "Eat 'Em And Smile", released by David Lee Roth two years earlier and chosen as a sting to his friends from "Van Halen".
2. The official version says that singer Sammy Hagar saw a delivery truck with the serial number "OU812" and thought it was funny and so the name of the album was chosen.
3. The original name of the album was "Bone", but when Sammy came up with the idea of "OU812" all the band members agreed, as they did not like the previous name anyway.
4. This is the band's second album with Sammy Hagar, replacing David Lee Roth on "5150".
5. The album cover is a tribute to "The Beatles" and a homage to the classic cover of the 1964 album "With the Beatles".
6. The photo of the monkey on the back of the album is of a statuette called "Affe mit Schadel", by the German sculptor Wolfgang Hugo Rheinhold.
7. The band dedicated "OU812" to the father of Alex Van Halen and Eddie Van Halen, who passed away in December 1986. On the inside cover of the album, they wrote: "This one's for you, Pa".
8. Eddie and Alex's father influenced them a lot musically and he even plays the clarinet with them on the song "Big Bad Bill" from the album "Diver Down", which was released in 1982.
9. In some of the album releases, the song list at the back is arranged in alphabetical order, rather than in a chronological order.
10. Just like its predecessor "5150", the album "OU812" reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart. It was the second of four consecutive studio albums of the band to reach number one.
11. Four successful singles were released from the album: "Black and Blue", "Finish What Ya Started", "When It's Love" and "Feels So Good".
12. The music for the song "When It's Love" was written by brothers Eddie and Alex. Sammy Hagar wrote the lyrics later.
13. This is Van Halen's biggest hit after "Jump" and "Why Can't This Be Love?"
14. Eddie noted that the solo in the song "When It's Love" is a nod to Eric Clapton.
15. Eddie and Sammy started working on "Finish What Ya Started" at 2:00 a.m., when Eddie made a mid-night trip to Sammy's house in Malibu, which was near his home. They sat on the porch and played guitars until they were happy with the melody and then Sammy wrote the lyrics.
16. The song "Finish What Ya Started" is one of two songs by "Van Halen" in which Sammy Hagar plays the rhythm guitar.
17. As the title implies, this was also the last song written for the album.
18. Despite this, the last song recorded for the album was actually the opening song "Mine All Mine". Hagar was unsure of its lyrics and rewrote them 7 times before recording his vocals.
19. The song “Black and Blue” was the first from the album to conquer the top of the Billboard charts.
20. The song "Source of Infection" was written about Eddie's hospitalization with "dengue" fever during his holiday in Australia in April 1988, where he celebrated his seventh wedding anniversary with Valerie Bertinelli.
21. The song "Cabo Wabo" borrowed the melody from the song "Make It Last", a song that Hagar composed for his previous band "Montrose".
22. Later on, Sammy will also call his bar name as well as the tequila line he produced "Cabo Wabo".
23. The song "Sucker in a 3 Piece" is written about a guy who is dumped by his very attractive girlfriend because she is looking for a rich man to take care of her ("The Sucker in the Three-Piece Suit"). He's fat and bald, but he has the cash she's looking for ...
24. The CD version of the album includes another song called "A Apolitical Blues". This is a cover version of a song by "Little Feat".
25. The producer and sound technician of the album Donn Landee was also the sound technician of the original song.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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