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. Van Halen began work on the album in September 1987 and completed it in April 1988, one month before its release.
Like its predecessor 5150, OU812 hit number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, the second of four consecutive #1 studio albums for the band. Spurred by four Billboard Hot 100 top-40 singles ("Black and Blue", #34; "Finish What Ya Started", #13; "When It's Love", #5; and "Feels So Good", #35), the album eventually sold over 4 million copies.
The album was remastered by Donn Landee and released on October 6, 2023, as part of The Collection II; the four studio albums with Hagar, plus an extra disc of eight rarities from this era.
Production
Once the 5150 tour concluded, Eddie Van Halen had some riffs he had been working on and Hagar "had a bunch of lyrics in notebooks that I had been thinking about and writing", so they decided to work on another album soon. While the album acknowledges Van Halen for writing and performing and Landee for recording, there was no production credit because 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 only cover song on the album, Little Feat's "A Apolitical Blues", was coincidentally also done by former Van Halen producer Ted Templeman and Landee, to the point the engineer used the same setup to record Van Halen's version. OU812 is seen in Cheech and Chong's Next Movie (1980) on the license plate of the car given to Cheech at the "Comedy House" when he was leaving. It was also scribbled on the cinderblock column on which is mounted the payphone that the cab drivers used in the TV sitcom Taxi (1978–1983). The album's front cover is a homage to the classic cover of With the Beatles. The cover features a black and white photo of the band member's faces partly hidden in shadows, and is also similar to that of Blue Cheer's Vincebus Eruptum (1968) and King Crimson's Red (1974). Album artwork for the back cover is Hugo Rheinhold's statuette Affe mit Schädel.
The track listing on the back cover is arranged in alphabetical order, instead of in sequence on most releases.
The album is dedicated to Eddie and Alex's father, Jan, who died on December 9, 1986, at the age of 66. The inner linings of the album include the words, "This one's for you, Pa". Jan had previously appeared playing clarinet on one track, "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)", on Van Halen's 1982 album, Diver Down.
Critical reception
Reviews for OU812 were initially mixed. Robert Christgau rated the album a C in The Village Voice, which signifies "a record of clear professionalism or barely discernible inspiration, but not both." He noted that "trading Dave for Sammy sure wrecked their shot at Led Zep of the '80s--master guitarist, signature vocalist, underrated rhythm section." However, he stated: "Eddie's obsessed with technique, Roth's contemptuous of technique, rhythm section's got enough technique and no klutz genius. But Sammy . . . like wow. If I can't claim the new boy owns them [...], you can't deny he defines them."
When the album was remastered as part of the 2023 Hagar era box set The Collection II "A Apolitical Blues" was removed from the CD entirely and moved to the 'Studio Rarities' bonus disc, despite it being on the original CD release.
Personnel
Van Halen
- Sammy Hagar – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
- Eddie Van Halen – lead & rhythm guitars, keyboards, backing vocals
- Michael Anthony – bass, backing vocals
- Alex Van Halen – drums, percussion
Production
- Donn Landee – producer, engineer, remastering (2023)
- Van Halen – producers
- Ken Deane – assistant engineer
- Bobby Hata – mastering (1988)
- Jeri Heiden – art direction
- Maura P. McLaughlin – art direction
- Eika Aoshima – photography
- Stuart Watson – photography
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
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! scope="col" | Chart (1988–1989)
! scope="col" | Peak<br />position
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)
| align="center"| 1
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)
|7
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1988)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 28
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1989)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 71
|}