VAN HALEN - WHEN IT’S LOVE

Released: June 1988

Charts: US: #5    UK: #28 

Released in 1988 as the second single from “OU812”, “When It’s Love” it’s one of Van Halen’s most enduring successes of the Sammy Hagar era. The song climbed to No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart and No. 5 on the Hot 100, becoming the band’s third and final Top 10 hit. Built around a soaring melody and a heartfelt vocal performance, it remains a centerpiece of their live shows.

The song began as a collaboration between brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen, who composed the music before Sammy Hagar added the lyrics. Musically, it’s a classic late-’80s power ballad — lush, anthemic, and anchored by Eddie’s shimmering guitar tone. The solo, Eddie later revealed, was a tribute to Eric Clapton, one of his lifelong influences.

“When It’s Love” doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Its themes — the universality and endurance of love — are familiar territory. The opening line, “Everybody’s lookin’ for something,” echoes countless pop anthems before it. Yet, when paired with Van Halen’s signature musicianship, the song transcends its clichés and matches with the sincerity and warmth that defined the band’s mid-career peak.

The parent album’s title, “OU812”, was itself a cheeky cultural in-joke — a phonetic pun meaning “Oh, you ate one too.” It had appeared in various pop culture contexts before, from the sitcom Taxi to Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie.

For Hagar, “When It’s Love” carried an additional challenge: the music video. Never entirely comfortable with lip-syncing, he pushed to perform the song at full volume during filming to keep his delivery authentic. The commitment came at a cost — he blew out his voice during the shoot, leaving him unable to sing at a concert the following night.