Finish What Ya Started
| "Finish What Ya Started" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by Van Halen | |
| from the album OU812 | |
| B-side | "Sucker in a 3 Piece" |
| Released | September 1988 |
| Recorded | 5150 Studios, Hollywood, California, 1987-1988 |
| Genre | Hard rock |
| Length | 04:20 |
| Label | Warner Bros. |
| Writer(s) | |
"Finish What Ya Started" is a song by Van Halen taken from their 1988 album OU812. Despite the album being seemingly complete, Eddie Van Halen came up with the riff at 2 in the morning and went down to his then-neighbor Sammy Hagar to show it. Hagar let Eddie in, and the two played guitars in his balcony until they had a completed song. Once Eddie left, Hagar decided to write the lyrics despite being late at night. The theme wound up being unfulfilled sex, summed up by Hagar as "blue balls.[1][2] In the song, Eddie Van Halen recorded his guitar part on a Fender Stratocaster plugged direct into the studio mixing console. The song is one of only two Van Halen tracks featuring Sammy Hagar playing a rhythm guitar part, which he played on a Gibson acoustic.
The official music video for the song was directed by Andy Morahan.[3] It features the band playing against a plain white background with quick cuts to women dancing. The version of the song on their 2004 compilation The Best of Both Worlds stops mid-way through the outro, unlike the fade out on the OU812 version.
In 1989, the song peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Billboard rock chart.
References
- ↑ Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga
- ↑ Dodds, Kevin. Edward Van Halen: A Definitive Biography. p. 146.
- ↑ Garcia, Alex S. "mvdbase.com - Van Halen - "Finish what ya started"". Music Video DataBase. Retrieved November 1, 2015.