The Mighty VH Podcast
This ain’t yer mom's podcast.
This is a high-voltage, back-alley, nitro-burning, chrome-plated oral history of the loudest, proudest, most uncontainable rock band ever to plug in and blow the doors clean off the building.
Every episode, your hosts Tommy London & Tor kick open the vault, flash a fake backstage pass and stroll past the velvet rope like they own the place. Albums get peeled apart track by track. Tours get relived night by night, bruise by bruise. Legends get mythologized, demystified, and then mythologized again.
The Mighty VH Podcast is where the riffs sweat, the stories stretch, and the truth comes flying in sideways wearing ass-less chaps.
You want news and rumors? We tell you what’s real, what’s noise, and what’s pure beautiful nonsense, with a wink and a raised eyebrow.
This is the place where genius gets examined, ego gets celebrated, and excess gets its rightful crown. Where guitars talk, drums thunder, and the spirit of rock and roll doesn’t politely knock, it jumps the fence, cannonballs the pool, and steals your girlfriend’s attention span.
The Mighty VH Podcast
Ep: 009 OU812 Album Focus
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Released in the summer of 1988, OU812 proved that Van Halen’s successful reinvention with Sammy Hagar was no fluke. Debuting at No. 1, the album showcased a band that was growing both musically and lyrically, blending arena rock anthems with more melodic songwriting and impressive musicianship.
In this episode, Tommy London and Tor take a deep dive into Van Halen’s eighth studio album, examining every track, the stories behind the recording sessions, the standout performances, and where OU812 fits within the band’s legendary catalog. From chart-topping hits to overlooked gems, they break down what makes this album one of the defining releases of the Hagar era.
Thirty-eight years after its release, does OU812 deserve more recognition among Van Halen fans? Join Tommy and Tor as they revisit an album that helped cement Van Halen’s place at the top of the rock world.
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Email: themightyvanhalenpodcast@gmail.com
And we're back. Ladies and gentlemen, in case you didn't know, you have tuned in to the Mighty Van Halen Podcast. My name is Tor, and this guy next to me, his name is Tommy London. Tommy, tell them what they've won.
SPEAKER_00Today behind door number three, you have chosen OU812. Today we uh talk about the second album uh that they made with Sammy Hagar on lead vocals. And I have uh I have a lot of memories about this album, uh to be honest with you, and uh all these songs. I mean, it was released in May 24th, or on May 24th in 1988, which is Toward helped me with the math. 36? Carry the one, 36 years ago, 38 years ago. 38 years ago. See, this is why you're good, Will Hunting, and I'm not. How about them apples? 38 years ago, that album came out, and of course, it hit number one, as did every album with Sammy Hagar side note uh on the Billboard charts. And uh I didn't want to start this one off.
SPEAKER_02Oh but I missed something. There's a but in there with that that number one album. So with 5150, if uh anybody anybody recalls, 5150 was number one for one week. OU812 was number one for four weeks. That's that's kind of crazy because you know, I mean, 5150, when you think of you know the Van Helen albums, I think that 5150 kind of tops OU812 in terms of favorites. You know, usually people are favoring uh you know 5150, but uh it stayed number one for four weeks. Maybe just in 1988, there was crap albums coming out that summer. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00You know what? It may be that's probably true, but you know what? Let's let's let's and this is something I was I was gonna talk about later, but maybe now's the time to talk about this. Um, four weeks at number one. There's two attributes there that come to mind for me. Uh one, they put out a big power ballad, which which definitely reaches more people. Um, you know what I mean? And uh music video. This was the first time technically they had put out a music video. Could that be what propelled them to stay at number four? Uh we'll never know. But those were the things that were different if we had to pick things that were different, you know. How many albums did it sell? What it what's the sales on it? So OU812 sold uh four million copies, probably a little over that. 5150, 7 million copies. Uh, so I don't it that's weird too, because as I mentioned with the videos, 5150 had no videos. Let's let's stress this. Don't tell me dreams was a video, because that was by the record label, that was not sanctioned by the band. That was the labels thinking maybe we should do something.
SPEAKER_02I feel like that topic keeps you up at night, dude.
SPEAKER_00You do you know why? I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you why. Whenever I mention it on the radio, okay, if I should bring it up about if uh if I'm going into When It's Love and I talk about how it's their first video, I get told it's not. And then when I do 5150, if anything off that record, I talk about how they made no videos. And even though I explain explicitly on the radio how uh dreams was not really a video, I always get somebody telling me uh that I'm wrong and bada boom, bada bang. So I'm in this forum.
SPEAKER_02Take it easy on Tommy, please. Take it easy on he's just a man. Come on, he's just what dreams are made of right. So so uh OU812 sells sells almost half as many copies as 5150. However, it is in uh is the number one album in the country for four weeks as opposed to one week. Uh, 5150 was only in only number one for for one week. It had videos. Uh, you know, 5150 didn't have videos. If you were comparing these two albums, that's kind of kind of where where it goes with that. Uh oddly enough, um, the story goes that um when it's love, which was the big first single, sort of for it was first video, not the first single. Yeah, we'll get into that. We'll get into that. Yeah, uh, so first video, and it's a you know, ballady, awesome, you know, sort of Van Hagar song. Uh, was the first song, was the first music that Eddie and Alex presented to Sammy uh when they started writing for for OU2. It was the first thing that Sammy heard, and he was like blown away. He's like, Oh my god. So it was like they were off to the races again. Sammy feeling super inspired by hearing that that music by Ed. But interesting that the first piece of music in this this era of Van Halen is keyboard driven, right? Like that's the first thing that's the first, that's the thing they're most excited about is this this song that they've written that it's all all keyboards, etc. Whereas a few years prior, the singer back then didn't even want to know from keyboards.
SPEAKER_00Nothing to do with those keyboards, yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty wild. Uh, yeah, there's a lot of keyboard stuff on here, and and maybe that was just sign of the times or Eddie just uh saying, Hey, I got this music, and Sammy just you know vibing with it. Uh I really wouldn't know. But we do know, as you mentioned, the first single released uh was black and blue, and uh no video for that. And I'm guessing what a great song underrated song. No one gives that any due, but it is no, you're right. And I I don't know why, and this would be a great question to ask Sammy uh eventually when we get him here on the show, of uh why there wasn't a video made for that. Now, I I can figure out why they released that song first, probably because they wanted to say, hey, we're rock band, here's the rock single, you know, and uh and the whole theme of the song and stuff is is is rock and roll, you know. Uh and uh and then they probably didn't want to, you know, come out of the gate with the ballad. Uh, but coincidentally enough, that's when they made their first video. So I and I I would love to know the answer to that with the whole black and blue.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's interesting in Sammy's book, he mentions that Warner Brothers didn't want to pay for videos, like they didn't want to. That's what he says in his book. Uh, Warner Brothers didn't want to pay for a video. Now, it's my understanding that the artists really pay for the videos, like they've got to recoup those costs. Who knows what Van Halen's contract was like? Maybe you know, Warner Brothers had to pay for videos back then and they were refusing to MMs. Yeah, and MM's. Um, but you know, that there could be some truth to that. You know, I mean, obviously, if it's coming from Sammy, it it there's some the there's obviously some truth in that uh that statement. Um, but finally he says that they that the the label caved and they did a video for for When It's Love and it was thrown together pretty quickly. Everyone insisted that it was performance-based, etc. etc. But um, but yeah, I mean, black and blue to to get back to that point, an overlooked song in general. You never hear it on the radio, you know. Right, no one is covering it live. Um, but man, a great riff, a great just rocker, just good good, fun rocker song, you know, from from VH for sure.
SPEAKER_00Overlooked, under let's do it till we're black and blue. Totally Sammy Hagar lyrics, too. You know, they're so great.
SPEAKER_02For sure. So then, so then the band releases uh Finish What You Started as the second single. Yeah, and I can remember uh getting that album for the first, you know, and listening to it for the first time and hearing Finish What You Started before it was a single and be and and reaching out to my friends and being like, I got the new VH and there's a song on there that sounds like John Mellencamp, you know, like that was my you know, like it's such a great album, and they it sounds like this and it sounds like that, but it also sounds like John Mellencamp. Like, what a weird thing to say. But when you think about the elements and the the tone of the song, it was clean, clean guitar, no, no real distorted guitar. It was kind of an acoustic, yeah, campfire-y kind of song, right? Like, totally different than on chained, you know, like it was so different, you know.
SPEAKER_00Do you think by this record they uh really wanted to embrace the pop element that they were teasing with since you know in 1984, they kind of dipped their foot in the pool there? I feel with jump and and stuff, and then with 5150, there was definitely some more pop-driven songs, and and OEW812, I think definitely had the most, um, which we'll get into. But do you think maybe that was part of it, or maybe it's just, hey, I'm just vibing these songs, and it's just it's just here and now.
SPEAKER_02I think that it was a matter of the perfect storm. And I I've said this in a couple of other episodes the perfect storm being Sammy joining the band at a point where Eddie was not that he wasn't concentrating on songwriting prior, but I feel like his guitar prowess was such had such a spotlight in the band. And I think that there was a lot of pressure on him to constantly be innovating. And and while he was innovating all the time on every album, you had a new little instrumental part that you're like, wow, what is he doing?
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02I think that he had done it enough years, and the pressure was kind of mounting to always push and be even more like, what's the instrumental part you're gonna come up with now, Eddie? You know, and I think that he started concentrating more on the craft of writing songs, whereas I think prior to the Sammy years, this is what would kind of come out, and it would just sort of, you know, like I've I've used the analogy before, falling down the stairs and landing on your feet, which I think actually comes from an Eddie interview, um, was the kind of vibe of their music. And now I think at this shift in the mid 80s, Eddie's concentrating more on the song aspect. And one of the things that I will always tout as one of the great things about Eddie as a guitarist is that as a virtuoso, you tend to go off into your skills and you want to just do the acrobatics because you can and no one else can do it. And look at me. And Eddie was one of those guitarists that could do that stuff, but also, for lack of a better term, dumb it down for the masses. You know, he knew how to write a super simple riff and make it count, and it sounded special, but it was also super simple that you could wrap your head around as a listener and as a lyricist for Sammy to be able to come in and write a lyric like black and blue or finish what you started or what have you. Like it it wasn't so out there as a riff, it was a little more simplified that you could really sink your teeth into it and you weren't sort of feeling your way in the dark as the lyricist of this crazy riff that Ed came up with. Whoop, girls gone bad. How am I writing a lyric there? But finish what you started, or or you know, to to some extent, uh you know, um, any of the other songs on OU812 or 5150 just had a more of a songwriting element to them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know. Well, you you know what's uh uh really interesting for me is that I play piano and keyboards and stuff, and and as a kid, yeah, it I would learn the Van Halen songs. I would never be able to learn a Van Halen song otherwise. They're guitar-driven tunes. So in jump, all of a sudden I learned jump. Now I'm learning I'll wait. And then um, then with these Sammy Hagar records, especially the first two there um with him, these keyboard songs. I remember playing Love Walks In. I was just so like uh ecstatic that I learned Love Walks In and I would play nonstop, you know, in scenes. I bet and um so this was really cool for uh being a fan and who played music but um piano, not guitar, to be able to take part in these Van Halen songs.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00Diving into this album. And uh why don't we do that right now? Should we dive into this record? You want to go track by track? Yeah, sure, man.
SPEAKER_02You you got the uh the track listing up there? Yeah, so um mine online. Before we get started on that, I just want to point out that for those of you that had a CD or had that vinyl, whatever physical, you know, the cassette, you'll note that on the back side on the flip side, you had the listing of the songs, and it always used to drive me nuts when any artist wouldn't put it in the order. Oh, bro, it's funny, but I totally forgot about that, and you're right.
SPEAKER_00I fucking hate that. Like it makes no sense to me, man. Why would you do that?
SPEAKER_02Well, two things, two things, two things. I'm so bliss.
SPEAKER_00Now I'm not gonna sleep tonight.
SPEAKER_02Take a breath, take, take a breath, take a breath. It's gonna be okay. Um, with this particular situation, I can tell you that those songs are listed in alphabetical order. Yeah, yeah, okay. So so on OU812, this the track listing on the back of the whatever physical uh piece of of music you're listening to, whether it's cassette, CD, or vinyl, it's in alphabetical order. But a lot of times, as you know, like you know, suddenly you have the your song order, and then suddenly it's like, oh, you know what? No, I want to put this song first. Or no, this song should be third. And should you know, like when you're putting out a major release, any any major artist, things go to print like months before things get get released. So, you know, the button might have already been pushed, and we're and now the lead singer comes in and says, Hey, I want to put that song first or second or or last or whatever. And you know, the record label's gonna adhere to that to a certain extent. Uh, but you know, just know, guys, that your your order on the back of the album is gonna be off. So sometimes that's that's the case.
SPEAKER_00I think your logic makes sense. They didn't, they must have printed that first because why would you do that otherwise? They didn't do any other record.
SPEAKER_02I promise you, Tommy, it's not anything personal with you that they do it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, take it away too personal.
SPEAKER_02Don't take it personal. They didn't do it just to fuck with you.
SPEAKER_00From now on, I want my Van Halen songs in alphabetical order. That's it. That's the way to do it.
SPEAKER_02All right, so track by track. What do you got?
SPEAKER_00Track by track. So they weren't alphabetical. This is the orders. All right, song number one, uh, mine all mine. I remember first hearing this and that whole you know, the whole keyboard thing, I said, Oh, we're gonna get it, we're gonna get all the keyboards now.
SPEAKER_02What a song, right? Right off the bat. Here we go. And and you know what? Let me just add one thing about that. Um, another reason, and I and you know, I think probably every episode you find me going off on a little eddy tangent here. One of the things that made Ed so special was that unlike Hendricks or Jeff Beck or Jimmy Page or Steve I or name, name your guitarist. Yeah, who's out there switching up from championship basketball to baseball besides Michael Jordan? Like Jimmy Page isn't playing piano, you know what I'm saying? Like, you know, there's there's no other Eric Clapton isn't sitting behind a synthesizer and doing it. You know, Ed decided to, you know, I'm just gonna do this now. I do this too, you know, and there was no other virtuoso or guitar god that was willing to step away or was allowed to step away, or however the circumstances were. But not only did Ed do that throughout all events, I mean, he was doing that basically since the third album, he was doing he was playing some keyboards here and there on every every album, yeah. Um, but did it successfully. And I think if you talk to guys who are who are key key players, like keyboard players and synth synth players, um, and especially if you were around back then, uh I would bet that he was an influence on their playing style. I think that he he had a playing style that was different than a traditional keyboardist, than someone like a Jonathan Kane from Journey, um, or or uh I'm so sorry, I can't remember his name from Toto, you know, like just a different style because he came at it from you know left field as a guitarist. Um and I think that he sort of set a standard for an 80s sort of sound of this is what a rock synth song sounds like. And and you had bands that would then follow in those footsteps, you know. So he was he's reinventing the wheel every chance he gets. Yeah, but that's that's just my opinion. Here we go, back to the show.
SPEAKER_00Here we are. Welcome back, everybody. Mine or mine. Uh so Sammy Hagar struggled with the lyrics on this one, which is a little shocking because I just feel like um that he's one of those guys where it just comes right to him, you know. But this song the good the great ones make it seem easy, right? Yeah, that's true. And because he had said in the past that dreams was one of the hardest songs, but that's vocally. Um, that is a very high song, Dreams. Um, but I guess he couldn't find you know what he wanted to say, or maybe even some of the melodies here um on uh minimal uh minor mine. And you know what? I can see that because when the keyboards are jumping around like that, sometimes it is hard to find the footing and and where where do I sing, or you know, where's the melody that counters this? But Sammy is the king of that, and he obviously did uh come through with what a great track, right?
SPEAKER_02So energetic, like so like it had uh an urgency to it. You put that on. That's that that's definitely a uh an album starting track. Like there was no doubt it was gonna be the first song. Um, and really you they came to play. Like you put that track on first, you're like, Oh, what is this song? Amazing, you know, still to this day, every time I put it on, I'm like, Yes.
SPEAKER_00I feel I feel it, yeah. I I I dig the tune, and uh I uh I and I could be wrong about this, and I didn't look this up to to double check, but maybe you recall because you saw them on this tour. I think they may have opened with that song, but I'm not a hundred percent sure. I remember hearing it live, and I don't know. I saw them in the monster of rock tour, which I guess we'll talk about too, because that was a big uh part of OU81, too.
SPEAKER_02So, anybody out there listening, uh check it out for us. Let us know in the comments. Did uh did Van Halen open with mine on mine on this tour? So now the tour, we'll just go off on a little another little side note, sorry, uh, was the Monsters of Rock tour. But then they came back and did just a Van Halen tour where they had uh, I think Candle Box opened for them. I think. I think no, no, that's not right. That's not right. Might have been too early for them. Might have been too early for that. Um, I don't know who opened that. I can't remember who opened that tour. Uh, but if you know that too, we want to know the first songs.
SPEAKER_00Let us know when you start your podcast and we'll tune in.
SPEAKER_02We're gonna just stop doing research for these episodes. You guys do it all. So leave it in the comments. We want to know what song they opened their set with, and then also and then we're looking for an intern as well. If you like to be hired for sure, but all right, so but yeah, great, great track. And you know, there's the story that uh Sammy was really having a hard time with it, but when it was done, it was like the last song recorded, I think, for the for the album. Don Landy came came out into the vocal booth, gave Sammy a big hug and said, You did it, and he was so proud of him, and uh saw that that he was having a hard time with it. But but he nailed it, man. What it's a timeless performance and a great right there.
SPEAKER_00That that tells you the struggle. I mean, the guy went in and hugged him. Like, oh holy god, like what was going on? I would love to know more inside scoop on that song. Maybe it was called something else, maybe there was a different alternate melody, maybe there's that take somewhere. And what was the difficulty lyrically? It definitely wasn't um uh hitting certain notes because you know, he had higher songs in.
SPEAKER_02Well, you know, I think that with with when you're writing a song, there's there's rhyming schemes, there's a mess that you just feel internally like this is what I want to get out, and you just can't articulate it quite yet. You've got whatever blocking your vision, and and the words aren't just coming, you know, the rhyme scheme, the pattern, the melody. Like there's so many pieces to writing a song, as you know. Um, you know, and some days, you know, listen, Tom, uh Tommy, Sammy had a lot going on personally at the time. Uh, he was still married to his first wife, and there was some rocky roads going on there. He found a hard it was difficult for him to get away uh to do this album. Uh, to put things into perspective, 5150 tour ends, and Sammy has to put out an album for Geffen. Part of his deal, he was signed to Geffen Records and he owed them an album. And the only way David Geffen was going to give up Sammy to Warner Brothers was if he promised to come back and do an album. Um, and to do that album, someone, probably Ed Ed Leffler, the the management um for Van Helen at the time, came up with the idea of having Sammy do the album, uh, but but to keep Eddie kind of uh occupied, Eddie played bass and produced the album. Right, right, yeah. And and you know, while he didn't tour behind it, he did press behind it and did have to take the time out to write all the songs and record all the songs, and you know, so that took a year, you know, at least to get to get all that done. But basically, when he was done with that press tour, he was back in the studio doing OU812 with the boys, and you know, the home life was a little rocky there. And uh, so you know, the life of an artist isn't always as as free and clear as you might think it is, and uh, you know, to create on demand, like okay, I can I can do Tuesday, and hopefully inspiration strikes that Tuesday at three o'clock, you know. So uh, you know, it doesn't all come easy as as uh anybody who's written or tried to write a song knows. Uh sometimes it just doesn't come, and sometimes it just comes in waves, and you just gotta ride that wave when you can.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and even more so when you're a band like Van Halen and there's a bar that you have to hit, you know, it's like you have to hit this bar, and uh that can't be easy either. That's that's right.
SPEAKER_02The pressure was you know, you bring up a good point. The pressure was definitely on because 5150, the album, the tour, they were both so incredibly successful. What do you how do you match that? Who can match that, right? I mean, I think that in the unfortunate part of this story is that you can almost give an artist a freebie, a pass, a hall pass to not be so great on the next album because realistically, lightning doesn't strike twice. However, however, in the Warner Brothers history, it did strike twice for Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood Mac puts out 1975 of the Fleetwood Mac album, the defining Fleetwood Mac album with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Knicks, their first one with those guys. And it was incredible, it blew up, it was, you know, sold millions and millions of records, huge tour, and then they come back with um with rumors, which was an even bigger album. So now Warner Brothers says, Oh, you can lightning can strike twice. So Van Halen, let's have at it, right? You had a great you had a great album the first time around with Sammy. Let's see you do even better. So the pressure is on the pressure's really on everybody to to make sure that this follow-up to 5150 is gonna sell twice as much and be twice as big and money, money, money, more, more, more, more. Yeah, more.
SPEAKER_00And then they weren't a one-trick pony with Sammy, and that was probably effective. Yeah, so let's move on to the second tune, When It's Love, which was the uh the first video. I'm gonna underline that one more time. The first video Van Halen ever made with Sammy for MTV. Um, yeah, so there's another one. Uh, Sammy uh apparently was struggling with the lyrics uh for a bit with this tune, but uh he definitely figured it out because uh this was the album's biggest hit. Um can't go. Wrong at that time, especially with the with the big old power ballad. Oh man, I remember MTV, the big premiere, it was a big deal that they were uh Van Halen were finally returning with the video. And yeah, um, I remember this one scene. I'll never forget like Sammy does like what's the thing he puts right you just a face in the crowd. I remember the the hands. Oh, yes, yeah, for sure. Oh, look at you. I remember whatever he did. I was like, ah, it's a cool trick, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, from what I understand, that video was supposed to be performance-based, and uh the band was cool with that. Um, but you know, they also stuck kind of stuck in this sort of the subtext of the uh bartender and the bar back sort of having a little a little something going on, a little work romance going on, which was sort of the subtext of the video in terms of falling in love, etc. etc. How do I know when it's left? Um, but uh, you know, the band wasn't there to tell their story, they just wanted to play and you know, get in and get out and just have the video to show for it.
SPEAKER_00It might be the first and only Van Halen song that has the nana hook. You can't go wrong with the nanas, right? It may be.
SPEAKER_02Is there ever a song where that's got nanas that aren't awesome?
SPEAKER_00Like nanas are like I mean, it's a no-brainer. I mean, uh yeah, it you'll be a big hit at karaoke, you'll be a big hit at your own show, and honestly, live to perform that song live.
SPEAKER_02You've got everybody and that their lighters at the time you had their lighters up. Uh, yeah, that was a big, a big step in the right direction. I'm sure the AR guy at Warner Brothers was super happy when he heard that song. Like he could see the dollar signs, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no doubt. Track three, AFU, naturally wide. I always dug this tune. It's uh it's pretty badass. And um, I just uh you know, AFU. I I I just assume was something else like hey F you. I'm naturally wide over here.
SPEAKER_02You can take the boy out of Philly, but you can't take the Philly out of the F you.
SPEAKER_00I was like, wow, Sammy, he gets me. But that was a great track, like that, and it needed that in the album, right? Right then and there it was time. Well, sure.
SPEAKER_02Right after a ballad, like you needed a ripping, rip roaring rocker.
SPEAKER_00It was like, hey man, how many keys you got on here? Like it's time, you know. And then uh he delivered the goods.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, great song that um again, uh, I think doesn't really get its due in the Van Halen universe. It's uh it's a great track, uh, great lyric, uh super fun. They definitely played that live on on that tour. Um and something tells me they opened with that, but I could be wrong. Um you might be right, but but that's a that's another great song that doesn't really get its due, I think.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man. Sammy should throw that one back in this set. He he breaks out rare gems, and mine all mine, from what I understand, is in his set now, which I was a little surprised at. Yeah, um, uh, but that would be a good one to have. Yeah, and then we now are in Cabo Wabbo land, and I had never heard of Cabo or a Wabbo or a Wabbo, that's Cabo and vice versa. Until this album with Sammy Hagar and uh the boys of Van Halen here, I didn't know right.
SPEAKER_02Well, you know, at the time Cabo San Lucas existed, but if you uh listen to any interviews with Sammy, he'll tell you that it was just a beach town, like there was nothing going on there, there was nothing to do at night, there was no place to go. Now it's become over the years, it's become uh quite a tourist uh place to for you know, and and a lot of homes there. There are a lot of people that live there. We have we have you and I have friends that have uh have family houses there. Um and and I've been fortunate enough to visit, and it's it is a gorgeous place. But back then in the late 80s, there was nothing there but surf and sand and sun, and that was it. And you know you you'd heard maybe Cabo San Lucas, maybe you've heard of that place, but it has become known as Cabo or Cabo Wabbo, or you know, it's really associated with Anhalen at this point. I oh, for sure, or or at least in our universe, our universe it's called Cabo Wabo, and everyone else can go.
SPEAKER_00Hey, quick question just curious if you know, yeah, where Cabo Wabo was written. I'll give you a multiple choice Detroit Rock City, Jersey City, or Cabo.
SPEAKER_02You know, I love a good stupid joke, and anytime someone's wearing a sweatshirt that says San Francisco, I love to say, Hey, where'd you get that? I love it, but yeah, obviously, I gotta say, it was written in Cabo. Oh, yes, yes, okay. Definitely not Detroit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely not Detroit. Um, but maybe AFU was written in Jersey, perhaps. I don't know. AFU. Have you ever been to the uh Cabo Wabo Cantina?
SPEAKER_02I actually was there once a long time ago. Mutual friend of ours uh has a home down there and we were visiting um and got a chance to go in. Uh, I don't think it was during um they weren't open. We just sort of wandered in and there was really nothing going on. And uh we had young, young kids at the time, and we weren't headed out uh at night partying uh on that trip too much. We kind of stayed inside and partied, but um, but yeah, man, it it was great just to kind of see the place in person and and uh and soak in the vibe, so to speak.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was there once and it was um it was in uh late afternoon, so there wasn't a band playing there. Um, but it was cool just to walk in there and and check out Cabo Wabo. I will say this, uh, I thought it was much bigger than it was. I mean, it it was a nice size, don't get me wrong, you know, it's not like uh you know 100 seater, but uh I expected when because when I see the footage online of them jam in there and stuff, I picture this huge just arena, right? Whatever.
SPEAKER_02But meanwhile, the camera is a little tighter and small small, yeah. When they shoot it, there's camera with a wide angle lens, like uh you know, that's a screen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's insane. But um, but it was cool. You know what? It makes me even more so want to be there for if Sammy's birthday or any performance uh he's almost a couple times for his birthday, almost. Yeah, most people have to get in too. But the the in it would be so intimate to see him like see them like that would be cool, and I also thought prior to being there that Kaba Wobble was a resort. I didn't realize it was just the bar and the club until I was like, wait a minute, where's I thought I thought there were hotels here and stuff, but uh but Sammy had his pulse on it because he would go down there, he knew he invested early, right? That was a uh smart decision.
SPEAKER_02You know, I think initially um the whole band was invested in the canteen. Uh the whole band, uh, you know, and over the years, I think Sammy bought bought out everybody's shares, and eventually he was the sole owner. I couldn't tell you the dates on that, but at when it first opened, it was a band, and so there was a club owned by Van Halen, you know, by Van Halen, you know, which is kind of a cool thing. I remember MTV had done a special on for the album, and uh, I don't remember the exact name of it, but it was basically shot all in Cabo, and it was the guys running around on ATVs and playing acoustic guitars and on the beach, etc. And uh it was such a different vibe, even I mean, not much different, right? Southern California band going to Mexico, like that's not a stretch, but at the same time, you never saw VH uh you know tooling around on ATVs and playing acoustic guitars, you know.
SPEAKER_00You know, they they had another contest, unless it was tied into the same, if you recall, where um on MTV, where if you won, you got to jam on stage with Van Halen. Right. Maybe that's uh now I'm thinking if that was mine all mine. I just remember vividly hearing and seeing Mine All Mine uh at the Monsters of Rock show, and they brought out the person. Maybe that was where that was in Philly, by the way, the now defunct JFK Stadium, which was where live aid took place. This was Monster of Rock was the last concert to be at JFK.
SPEAKER_02No kidding, yeah, it was the last with the trivia.
SPEAKER_00That was the last concert, and I was there for that. And I remember um the person coming on stage. I can't recall if it was a male or female at this point. I want to say it was a female, though. And um uh they jammed, and I guess because they didn't do it in every city, so now I'm thinking maybe that was where the prize took place, like the Philly, and you'll jam them. Yeah, um, which was a pretty cool, uh, cool contest. N TV always had the great oh yeah, this contest. Van Halen, especially. They their contests are always legendary.
SPEAKER_02That's another episode. We're gonna go.
SPEAKER_00That's yeah, we'll save that topic. That's definitely a good one. All right, let's move on to the next song here, which is and I want to talk about this one. I have a lot to say about this song, Source of Infection. Uh, which um I dig. I I love uh I love the tune. And the the only thing, okay. This song is hot for teacher, uh, part two. And I love Sammy Hagar. I do, I love all his solo stuff. I love what he's done with Van Halen. Same goes on uh over here for Davely Roth. This is a Davely Roth song, in my opinion, musically. Uh Sammy adds his thing in there, but it that's it was just missing the whole, you know, I don't feel tardy and bada blah boom.
SPEAKER_02And that angle coming in from that angle as opposed to like a literal songwriting angle. Yeah, sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and that's Dave's strength, right? Uh, and you know, and Sammy has his strength, yeah. And that's the one thing about the song that just always uh would eat me up. I was like, oh man, did this this was meant for Dave, this tune, right?
SPEAKER_02Well, you know, I for teacher part two. It's interesting you bring that up because I I feel similar, but I can kind of see there's a few angles to that. So one, uh Sammy has been noted as saying that you know he's not a fan of that song either. Like he he doesn't even want to really discuss it from the impression I get from various interviews. Um but the song is made up of various sort of cliche rock phrases, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Now while you can look at that and say, Sammy, come on, like put in a little more effort. You know, we A, we don't know what kind of schedule they were on, you know, was it time to deliver the album and it just wasn't done yet, and I gotta put something in there. I we don't really know the the reasons for why the song, why those lyrics are what they are, but I will tell you, let's look at Led Zeppelin rock and roll. Most of those lyrics are made up of song titles of old rock and roll songs, right? Okay, um, and or little phrases that were from older rock and roll songs, so it wasn't well, it wasn't a terrible idea to oh well, you know what, we're just gonna borrow from here and here and here. There Van Halen on OUN2 isn't the first band to do that. Sammy's not the first one to ever do that. There are lots of other songs, and I'm using Led Zeppelin rock and roll as one because we all kind of know it, I'm sure. But you know, that sort of borrowing from from your inspiration or the your influences is not totally uncommon. So I could kind of see that angle that they were kind of going for. But to your point, I think sort of the the thing, the fact that that wasn't taken into account was the song, the music for the song sounds very similar to a song they had just done a few years ago, and that was kind of a letdown. You know, that that Alex Shuffle is that is hot for teacher, like that will always forever and ever be whenever another band does it for one of their songs. You're like, Oh, that's a hot for teacher beat, yeah, you know. Um, so you know, it it had a few strikes against it just because you know it sounded like another great song from the same band. So you couple that with like lyrics that could have been a little different. And maybe maybe we got a sweetness there. I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_00I I do love the chorus, though. I do love love is the source of infection. You know, that was cool.
SPEAKER_02Come on, those backup vocals, Michael Anthony, Michael Anthony and Eddie. Those those two guys, their voices together. You know, we give a lot of credit to Michael Anthony for the backups, but Eddie's also in there, kind of giving it some bottom end. Um, man, they sound angelic, they're heavenly, but love infection.
SPEAKER_00Like just man, it's up there, it sounds fantastic. So good, so good. Uh, so after a source of infection, we go into Feel So Good. Oh, nice segue, Tommy. And I uh I felt I when I first heard this song, I I was actually shocked that this song was not released as a single. It was, it was as a single, but I mean no video. I mean, I think there was a music video for Feel So Good, and it was really good. I don't know, the music video for Feel So Good.
SPEAKER_02Yes, sir, yes, sir, it's out there.
SPEAKER_00Oh man.
SPEAKER_02Do we need to pause so you can go watch it?
SPEAKER_00You might have to.
SPEAKER_02Actually, it's a great video. And the thing about um the thing about that song itself, um, from a musician standpoint, um, the 80s were full of these great big synthy songs, right? Uh When it's love. Perfect example of a of a you know, typical 80s big synthy sounding song. The sound on that they use, the keyboard sound that they use on this, is based on a Hammond B3, like church organ, is this is the sound that they use. So it's sort of anti-80s sounding uh when you listen to this song. So it has a unique sound. No one is really doing it, especially in hard rock, no one's using a Hammond B3 kind of sound. And while Eddie's still playing a synth version of it, um, it's a cool sound, like it's such a cool sort of vibe that they're setting when the when this song starts off, you know. Um, the video, uh, similar to Finish What You Started, was shot with everyone shot individually. So the director of the video uh wanted to shoot everyone perfectly lit, perfectly, you know, sort of uh composed in the shot frame. Um, where when you're shooting four guys at the same time, someone's inevitably picking their nose or have their eyes closed or whatever, you know, like one guy probably isn't lit right. But so the video, the director for um finish what you started and for my for feel so good, uh shot everybody individually and sort of use them differently. But uh definitely when you're done listening to this podcast, I gotta see that. And Tommy and Tommy, when you're done you know recording this podcast, go check out that video. It's it's a good one. As a matter of fact, for the guitar geeks out there, I will tell you that it was super fun to see that video uh at the time because um Eddie had been using his sort of phase two Kramer guitar, his 5150 guitar, if you will, that he started using actually on the 1984 tour. In the jump video, Ed's using his original Frankenstrat that he's that's super famous for. But by the time he's touring, he's not taking that guitar on tour. He's got a new Kramer built who he was a guitar company he was endorsing at the time. Kramer built red and white stripe that he had done up 5150 guitar, it has the 5150 on it. They had just named the studio 5150, so it was super top of mind. Um, and he had that guitar for all of 50 for the 1984 tour, 5150 album tour, and now OU812. And we've seen this guitar a bunch, but in this video for Feels So Good, suddenly Eddie brings back the Frankenstrat, and it was like, Whoa, oh my god, you know, because you you actually hadn't really seen that guitar in a number of years since the jump video, you know, because even in the Panama video, he's using the the Kramer phase two, what I call phase two 5150 guitar. So it was like, oh wow, and you know, they they beefed up the saturation and the colorization of the video, so it's really red and black and white, and it was like ah, I'm having a brain freeze on this video.
SPEAKER_00I will say this I do not recall ever hearing that song Feel So Good on the radio. Absolutely not. I do not remember that at all, and that's probably why the video doesn't hit my head. And then when I see the video, I'm gonna be like, Oh, yeah, I've seen this one, of course.
SPEAKER_02Well, I'll tell you, like, it it was interesting that Van Halen was new. This this Van Hagar version of Van Halen was new to making videos, and Van Halen, you know, MTV wasn't just playing the hell out of every video. When it's love got played, finish what you started got played. But this song didn't really, you know, the fact that that someone like you, who is a Van Halen like right, I'm like fan of our echelon, like fan. Yeah, if you're shaking your head, I'm sure there's a lot of people out there that haven't seen it as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, true. All right, next up is uh well, we talked about this one a bit already, Finish What You Started. And I always love the backstory to this song. Oh, uh, so um Eddie and Sammy were pretty much neighbors, and in the middle of the night, I believe it was like two in the morning, Eddie had this song idea, and he ran down the beach to uh to Sammy's house. Imagine can you crazy from what I understand? He was like shouting at Sam, like, hey, wake up! You know, I guess this before like the cell phones, or maybe he called and didn't pan out. But he's down there, like you know, shouting, and and Sammy opens the window and goes, What's going on? Like, where's the fire? Right, and uh Eddie goes, I have this song, and and then uh history was made, he came inside, and that's just so cool.
SPEAKER_02I think the other half of that story is that Sammy was just about to get some, and and this Eddie wasn't going away, like uh I gotta go do a right back, I'll be right back, and then he's there until the sun comes up, you know. And so, but the lyrics kind of came based on his current situation. He wanted to finish what he started, yeah. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00That's a great song. Probably um that might be my uh favorite song on the record, I think. Yeah, it's a great one for sure.
SPEAKER_02And it's a timeless song, like you still you hear that on the radio still, and and it's it fits right in there between any on the classic rock stations. You can hear it between Queen and you know, Guns N' Roses, and it fits, you know, like you can hear it after Led Z. You can hear it wherever, yeah. Even though it's a quirky sounding song, like I said before, almost John Mellicamp-esque type song. It fits somehow. It all fits, I guess because Melencamp fits on classic rock, so you know, whatever. But but great for Van Halen, super fun song for sure. Great video as well. I love that video, it's cool. How about this? How about it's the second time we get to see Eddie in a cowboy hat?
SPEAKER_00Oh, true, very true.
SPEAKER_02Who can name the first time we see Eddie in a cowboy hat?
SPEAKER_00Well, um, I'm gonna guess the pretty woman video.
SPEAKER_02There you go, right on Tommy, gold star for Tommy today.
SPEAKER_00There we go. I redeemed myself from the other video there. That's good. Um, black and blue is next. We we kind of already touched on black and blue. Anything else you wanted to add? I just want to add again great song.
SPEAKER_02Everybody go listen to that song.
SPEAKER_00That's a great, great song. I was, I think it was a great lead-off single. They and you know, they probably should have made it.
SPEAKER_02You know, I think that that song kind of suffered from what a little bit of this album suffers from for me personally. And I I know that I've read that Ed wasn't happy at the end of the day, like you know, months later or maybe a couple of years later, talking about OU812, and he wasn't satisfied with the mixing of the album, the mix. Um, and the overall sound of the album is definitely distinct, yeah, definitely has its own kind of sound. And listen, the album did not have a producer, a formal producer. With 5150, you had Mick Taylor coming in to probably just oversee things, but basically at the end of the day, you had a very solid, substantial uh album. With this one, it almost sounds like and Van Allen, part of the magic to even old Van Allen was that it sounded like a couple guys in a garage, you know, just kind of banging it out. They were incredible musicians, but just sort of like falling down the stairs on their feet again. And with this album, it was more professional and polished sounding, but still had those sort of like rough edges to it. And I almost feel like the production on this was a little too stringent, even though it was leaving the band alone, no, no producer, it was just Don Landy and the band. So it's their engineer who was based, I'm sure, you know, cracking the whip and making sure stuff got, you know, stuff happened. Um, but there was there's a certain element to it where, like, I don't know, the guitar sound could be what what doesn't really do it. It's it's a very 80s kind of sound, it's got a little chorus in it, you know, chorusy kind of sound to it, which dates it a little bit and also smooths the edges when you add that sort of effect to a guitar. So black and blue, which is a great riff, doesn't sound as monstrous because it's not as raw, it's a little polished. They kind of they kind of overcompensated with the production because they didn't have a producer. I feel like they kind of over overcompensated with some production little tricks and things and things that might have been sort of of the time, like a chorus pedal, um, where that song that album doesn't sound as timeless, you know, just sound wise.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yes, you're right. You're you hit it on the head because I've always felt that way about that album. That it sounds like, yeah, this is 1988, right?
SPEAKER_02You know, but you know, to to the to that point, and and we're not here to talk about this, but David Lee Roth's second album, David Lee Roth's second album, skyscraper, also kind of suffered the same fate where it was they were really trying to sound of the time as opposed to time was or not caring about the time, and uh you know the the album you know maybe suffered because of it, you know. Yeah, back to the show, back to our show.
SPEAKER_00Back to our original programming. Uh Sucker in a three-piece. You know, I gotta be honest, I'll take back my finish what you started as being one of my favorite tracks because I've always dug this one, actually. Uh, I do like finish what you started too, but uh sucker in a sucker, oh, dressed up in a three-piece suit. I thought that was pretty badass. Great song.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure. Super fun lyric. Uh, again, great backup vocals on that. Like Sammy Sam, Sammy. You know, when when when the lead singer gets out of the way of the backing vocals, those backing vocals better be there. They've got to really carry a chorus. If the lead singer's taking a minute to just give you the spotlight, man, Michael Anthony and and Ed never disappointed with that stuff. Like any. Time they were given the spotlight, you were like, You are in, you're in. What a great, you know. You hear a held note by Michael Anthony and doubled up, you know. Oh, yeah, I'll listen to that all day. And then the album closes out with A political blues. A political blues, right? So here's an interesting fact about that song. Um, per when I was growing up, my dad listened to a lot of Little Feet, a band uh called Little Feet. Ironically, or or ironically, that's not the word I want to use. Coincidentally, produced by Ted Templeman and engineered by Don Landy. So now you have Sammy Hagar, who's a fan of Little Feet, and it's really just a blues song that has some quirky little lyrics to it that just make it its own thing. It's not a traditional blues song, but it's got a traditional blues, you know, 16 bar thing going on. Um produced by Don Landy, who basically, when they went to record the song, did the same mic setup and everything in the room that he did on the original. So Don is basically re-recording a song he has already recorded, probably, I think like 10 years prior, um, with with the band Little Feet. Uh so kind of just a weird little stupid trivia coincidence there that's Don, you know, covered his own song, you know. And and if I if memory serves, I think that that song was a bonus track on the C D that you couldn't get on the cassette or the Alpha, which was it? Do you know? Because I didn't have it.
SPEAKER_00What did you what mean? I had I had the cassette originally. Then I got the C D and I had it. But I remember, if I'm not mistaken, I think uh I had the 45 for uh when it's love. I'm I'm I'm just I'm assuming I feel like I feel like uh that song was the B side. Yeah, political blue it could be, it could be, yeah, for sure. And I remember I was disappointed that it was the B side because it's my least favorite song on the album, right? And I was like, wow, I'm getting a B side, and that's what I'm getting. Like, come on, there's like a live track or something else. I'm like, this is some bullshit.
SPEAKER_02Well, you know, uh oddly enough, um years and years later, like literally just a couple months ago, um, I found that 45 in a bin. I was uh, you know, I have a jukebox at home and I'm always looking for 45s, and you know, Van Halen. Um, it was just a regular black 45. It had a picture sleeve. Um, the photo wasn't great. Um, you know, it's it's not a it's not great, but yeah, it was on the opposite, I was on the B side of When It's Love, and I was and when I found it a couple months ago, I was like psyched. Like, oh great, great blues number by Van Halen, listening to Eddie Place and Blues. So um, yeah, back then I wasn't so psyched on it, but all these years later, I love the blues and I love listening to any place, so it was a home run to find that on the other side because quite honestly, I probably wouldn't play when it's love too much on my jukebox, but I play political blues all day long.
SPEAKER_00You know, that's awesome, yeah. And so the album was uh going to be called Bone, right? You know, so that would have been uh interesting. Van Halen Bone, Van Halen Bone Bone album, yeah, yeah, and uh I don't think the guys, or I believe it was Alex at least, uh uh didn't care for that title. So here let me ask you this. So the rumor has always been that Sammy, and I've I've heard him say this in interviews, uh, that what was he saw uh Sammy spotted OU812 like on a van or or on a truck or something, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then that oh, that'd be a great name for the album. But I had heard and I like this story better, and I would like this one to be true. Yeah, that this was a title in response. OU812 was a title in response to David Lee Ross's album, Eat Hem and Smile. OU812. Like, I don't know if that's true, but it should be. That's the story you run with. Like, yeah, this guy named Eat Him and Smile. Well, oh, you 812. Like that makes more sense to me, by the way.
SPEAKER_02Right. Well, listen, sometimes sometimes things just sort of happen nicely and you get that perfect storm. Um, I know that um, you know, OU812 was sort of one of these things that you'd see like on written in in the dirt on the side of a truck or on your notebook at school, or you know, I know that it's in a Cheech and Chong movie, it's in um shoot, I can't uh next, it's called Chich and Chong's next movie. Like it's on the it's on the license plate on their car in in that movie. Um, and it's also you're gonna love this one. If you watch uh old reruns of taxi and anyone uses the payphone, it's it's also written on the wall next to the payphone.
SPEAKER_00No, yes, sir. Oh, I gotta look that up.
SPEAKER_02Yes, sir. So so it was a phrase that was out there, it was a cute little graffiti thing that you'd find probably on bathroom walls and bathroom stalls and stuff back in the day. It's that kind of a thing. You know, the the marketing aspect of being able to connect it to Roth's previous album is fantastic. Yes, they absolutely should have run with that, and just the fact that we're still talking about it makes it so. It is so that's it. That's it, that's what it is. You know, I never heard the term prior. No, I I don't think I had either, but but once it was pointed out, then you started seeing it. And were you seeing it because people had the album and they were doing that, or was it still floating around from Cheech and Chong? Uh who cares?
unknownYeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So you saw them on that tour. Oh, yeah. Tour saw them on that tour. Yes, I did. Um I actually didn't I didn't go to Monsters of Rock. I will tell you that this shirt that I'm wearing today, my Monsters of Rock shirt.
SPEAKER_00Right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So um I'm what's on the back?
SPEAKER_00Is the listing on the back? Sorry.
SPEAKER_02Oh wow, it's cool. Right. So what is it? The band band members' names? Is that what it is? Yeah, yeah. Um, so I picked this up. Uh I found this, you know, somewhere at a vintage store uh maybe 10 or 12 years ago at this point. Um but I went to see them on the OU812 sort of supplemental tour that was after the Monsters of Rock tour. Um, and we'll we'll get into the whole ins and outs of that monsters of rock tour in another episode. Um, but basically, the tour was not as financially successful as they'd want it to be because it was just such a mad undertaking. Um, but the band kept playing into the fall uh on their own with a with an opening act. And I saw them at Madison Square Garden on that tour. And the the cool thing about that tour, you know what? I'm not even gonna bring it up. We'll save it for another episode. Never mind.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't want to get into them. If we're gonna do a monster rock episode, then I don't want to spill like you know my experience yet. But that was um that was when I saw them though. Uh I mean I had first saw them on 5150 tour, but then I saw them um at the JFK there, which was just cool to be there due to Live Aid, you know.
SPEAKER_02Was it was it JFK or was it RFK Stadium? Was it JFK? JFK. Was okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I'm pretty sure. Yeah, JFK. Yeah, it's JFK, right? Hold on.
SPEAKER_02I'm pretty sure it's JFK Stadium.
SPEAKER_00Let's see.
SPEAKER_02The only reason I question it is because Live Aid was there, and I remember JFK Stadium. Is it okay?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, as my dad says, let me ask my phone. Well, let me ask my phone. My phone says my dad says that he goes, Hey, my phone says your phone says what, Pop? Oh, that you know, it was this and that.
SPEAKER_02Hey, do you remember there was I don't remember what it was for, it must have been some MTV promo. But if anybody out there remembers, there was some video shot of Ed and Sam talking to each other on their decks of their Malibu houses. So at the time, Eddie and Sammy lived like almost next door to each other. There was one house in between. Can you imagine living between those two guys in Malibu? Who was that?
SPEAKER_00Will you stop going over there with songs, please? Right.
SPEAKER_02And yelling, yelling from one deck to the other, you know, like hilarious. Um, but there was some there was some video that was shot where they're talking to each other. What was that for?
SPEAKER_00Yes, okay. So at first, when you mentioned it, I thought maybe it was a promo for an uh contest ad, but no, it was a music video, if I'm not mistaken, and this should be another episode too. We'll talk about that Sammy Hagar record uh he made um under contract with Van Halen that he put out. Um, it was a video for one of those songs. Oh, for the because Eddie plays bass on the record. Oh, yes, yes, yes. So it was like I forget which which song the video is for. Um, but I see it. Yeah, I'm pretty confident it was um it was one of those uh songs, which which if and I now I'm going off, but I I want to I'd like to save an episode to talk about that record, yeah, yeah, yeah, which which didn't have a name, and then they had a contest on MTV to name it, but we'll get into that uh later. Once again, MTV contests uh coming up here in the fold. We gotta get one of the OG MT MT MT MTV hosts on here, uh, you know, like a Mark Goodman or uh uh Martha Quinn. I mean, their experience with Van Halen and Dave and these contests would be interesting. So maybe in the future we can uh yeah, one of them on here.
SPEAKER_02All right, let's make it happen.
SPEAKER_00Let's make that happen.
SPEAKER_02Let's ask the universe to make that happen. Here we go.
SPEAKER_00What else we got? Anything else? Are we gonna wrap it up? What do you think?
SPEAKER_02You know what? I'll just say that um, you know, I I I've said this on other um episodes. I like to walk away from an album and not listen to it for a while and then come back to it with fresh ears. And this was definitely one that was enjoyable to revisit. Um, you know, I hadn't listened to it in a while. Um, and you know, I I'm very susceptible to those anniversaries that pop up on, you know, you come up on Instagram and it's like, oh, today's the anniversary of this album. Oh, I'm gonna listen to that album today. Like it gets me every time. Like, I'll listen to whatever the internet tells me to listen to, basically. And when it was the day of the uh, you know, May 24th, uh, and that was popping up in my feed, I I put the album on and uh was just reminded of of how good this band was. And and and even on an album that, okay, was rushed and was their sophomore effort basically with Sammy, and you know, all of the obstacles that were in the way of the band in terms of expectations or Sammy's personal life or or Eddie's personal life for that matter, you know, Ed, Ed, you know, throughout the 80s was struggling, you know, with um with substance abuse and alcohol abuse. And, you know, he had his his demons uh that made him who he was, uh, for better or worse. Um, but you know, life went on. The we we kind of all lose sight of the fact that like, you know, artists have a have lives and they have drama in those lives and they have things that are happening that that are they're human. They're they have things that are hindering them from just being able to be creative. Um, and so I think that with the pressure that came off of the 5150, six the success of 5150, I think that this album absolutely stands up and is a great uh a great testament to how great that band was. One last thing I'd like to bring up, and uh, and maybe you can elaborate on this a little bit is the album cover, right? Oh, yeah. That album cover is so iconic, it it it's a tribute to the first Beatles album. Meet the Beatles, yeah. Meet the Beatles. And um, and how cool to do that, right? Like, I mean, they could have done anything with an and when you have you have a blank canvas, but you know, um, and you don't really associate the Beatles with Van Halen. Like, that's not someone you you do a direct uh contact with in terms of influences, but I always thought that that was kind of a cool nod. I like I like when rockers sort of you know do a nod to other rockers and and and sort of acknowledge you know what an impact they had on on someone of Van Halen's stature, you know. Pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh the back cover with the with the with the the monkey, the the darling, right? Yeah, monkey, yeah. I wonder if that was going to be the album cover. Like that could have been too. Like, that's kind of cool, but it was cool to have the members of Van Halen there.
SPEAKER_02You know what's interesting about the Van uh Van Hagar era is prior when you had Dave in the band, Dave really sort of you know was the creative driving force. So while the band, Mike and Ed and Alex were making music, Dave was doing all the other stuff, right? So, like when it came to like the t-shirt design for the tour, when it came to the the videos, you know, like Roth was the guy that was doing that stuff because no one else really cared about it, right? So someone's gotta do it. So so Dave was the right guy for the job and and took over those creative reins. Now, in the in the in the Van Hagar era, now they all gonna they're all gonna have a say, they're all gonna be like, oh, well, you know what, we should name it, we should name it this or we should do that, or we, you know, and everyone is putting in their two cents, and so you kind of have this sort of very dramatic front cover, and now you have this kind of like silly back cover. And was that gonna be the cover until they came up with this great photo? And you know, uh, you know, hard to kind of at this point sort of dissect what that is because I I would imagine that even if you asked the the remaining members of Van Halen, they probably don't even remember. Like it's quite significant, it's it's usy uh you know fans that are really dissecting all of these these little nuance uh decisions.
SPEAKER_00I have to I gotta ask you this though. Yeah, what would the cover have been if they did call it bone? I don't know if that would be the cover, all four guys they're bone. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02We say have a good thanks for tuning in. Thank you for tuning in. No man, this is great. Uh, what a great album. I suggest everyone uh not only go out and listen to this album, but go watch the feel so good video and let us know what you your thoughts are. Hey, and maybe we're missing another video. Maybe, maybe there was another thing we don't even realize. Maybe some. I'm sure someone will hit me.
SPEAKER_00Trust me, someone will write me and give me a bunch of shit. Um, you know, one one real quick last thing is that the Van Hagar era have all these great remastered deluxe edition, uh, really just beautiful. Uh I'll call them box sets, even though technically they probably aren't considered that. But you know what I mean? How they just put out the 5151 with the DVDs and uh they've done it with the other ones in the past. OU812 is the only one left. They did do a remaster and stuff, but they haven't done a deluxe like that. So maybe that'll be coming uh next year or the following in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the album. So that's something to look forward to. And we'll get all the videos on there too.
SPEAKER_02Yes, it feels so good. All right, everybody, listen. Be sure to follow us on Instagram. Uh, the handle is at uh mighty underscore vh underscore podcast. Follow us on the Instagram and Tommy tell them where they can write us. Please write us a letter.
SPEAKER_00I triple doggy dare you to write us a letter. An email is what I mean. An electronic letter. An electronic letter. It'll be here instantly. It's magic. Try it. The mighty vanhalen podcast at gmail.com.
SPEAKER_02Right on. And be sure to like, follow, subscribe, talk shit, whatever you want. Tell your friends about the mighty vanhalen podcast podcast. My name is Tor. That's Tommy London. Thanks for tuning in. And until next time, happy trails. Happy Trails. It never gets on. I love it.