Finish What Ya Started

"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	1987–1988
Studio	5150 Studios, Studio City, California
Genre	Country rock,; blues rock; Americana;
Length	4:20
Label	Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s)	Eddie Van Halen; Alex Van Halen; Michael Anthony; Sammy Hagar;
Producer(s)	Van Halen; Donn Landee;
Van Halen singles chronology

"Finish What Ya Started" is a song by Van Halen taken from their 1988 album OU812.

Background

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 sex without orgasm, summed up by Hagar as "blue balls".^[4]^{[page needed]}^[5] In the song, Eddie 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 Hagar playing a rhythm guitar part, which he played on a Gibson acoustic.^{[citation needed]}

Music video

The official music video for the song was directed by Andy Morahan.^[6] 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 midway through the outro, unlike the fade out on the OU812 version.

Charts

Chart (1988–89)	Peak position
US Billboard Hot 100^[7]	13
US Billboard Mainstream Rock^[8]	2

Reception

Cash Box called it "a remarkable single...that owes more to T-Rex and Creedence than to a Whitesnake."^[9]

In 1988, the song peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Billboard rock chart.

In popular culture

The song was later used as theme music for the short-lived 1990 sitcom Sydney, which starred Eddie Van Halen's then-wife, Valerie Bertinelli.

References

^ "Eddie Van Halen's Influence, Genius Changed Music and the Possibilities of Art". Hollywood in Toto. 2020-10-07. Retrieved 2021-02-10. ...to country ("Finish What Ya Started")
^ Fricke, David (1988-06-30). "OU812". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
^ Brown, Morgan (2023). On Track ... Van Halen: Every Album, Every Song. England: Sonic Bond Publishing. p. 87. ISBN 978-1-78952-256-3.
^ Christe, Ian (2009). Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga. Wiley. ISBN 9780470536186.
^ Dodds, Kevin (12 October 2011). Edward Van Halen: A Definitive Biography. iUniverse. p. 146. ISBN 9781462054817.
^ Garcia, Alex S. "Van Halen - 'Finish what ya started'". Music Video DataBase. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
^ "Van Halen". Billboard.
^ "Van Halen: Mainstream Rock Airplay". Billboard.
^ "Single Releases" (PDF). Cash Box. October 1, 1988. p. 12. Retrieved 2022-12-22.