Addicted to Love (song)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Addicted to Love"
Single by Robert Palmer
from the album Riptide
A-side "Addicted to Love"
B-side "Remember to Remember"
Released January 1986
Format 7", 12"
Recorded 1985
Genre Pop rock, dance-rock
Length 6:01 (album version)
4:04 (single version)
Label Island
Writer(s) Robert Palmer
Producer Bernard Edwards
Robert Palmer singles chronology
"Riptide"
(1986)		 "Addicted to Love"
(1986)		 "Hyperactive"
(1986)

"Addicted to Love" is a song by Robert Palmer released in 1986. The song has now become known as his signature song,[citation needed] thanks in part to a highly popular video featuring high fashion models. Other artists have released versions since.

This is the third song on the Riptide album. The most commonly heard version runs around four minutes, but the full album version runs a little over six minutes.

The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart the week ending 8 February 1986. The song ended up topping the Billboard Hot 100, as well as the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart. It even made the Top Ten of Billboard's Soul Chart. It was one of the last 45 RPM singles to receive a million-selling Gold certification.

Contents

Background [edit]

Originally intended to be a duet with Chaka Khan, her record company at the time wouldn't grant her a release to work on Palmer's label, Island Records. Chaka Khan is still credited for the vocal arrangements in the album liner notes.

The guitar part on the song is played by Eddie Martinez[1] and keyboards by Wally Badarou. The song is also notable for the unaccompanied drum opening, which plays at 7/4. The rest of the song is in common 4/4 time.

Noddy Holder (the lead vocalist of English rock band Slade) stated in an interview that this song was the main track he wished he'd written himself. "The one main song that I wish that I'd written and recorded is Addicted To Love by Robert Palmer. To me, that's a perfect pop song. Everything about it really hits the nail on the head."[2]

Music video [edit]

Palmer breaks into the song live

The music video, directed by legendary British photographer Terence Donovan[3] was one of the most iconic of the era. The video features Palmer performing with an abstract "band," being a group of models whose pale skin, heavy makeup, dark hair and seductive, rather robot-like expression follow the style of women in Patrick Nagel paintings.

The models in the video are (from left to right) Julie Pankhurst (keyboards), Mak Gilchrist (guitar lhs), Patty Kelly (bass guitar rhs) and Julia Bolino (guitar far rhs) with Kathy Davies at the back on drums. Mak Gilchrist recalled to Q magazine:

“I was 21 and got the part on the strength of my modelling book. We were meant to look and “act” like showroom mannequins. Director Terence Donovan got us tipsy on a bottle of wine but as we were having our make-up retouched, I lost balance on my heels and knocked the top of my guitar into the back of Robert’s head, and his face then hit the microphone." [4]

Palmer recycled the video's "iconic models" concept for the videos of three other songs of his : "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" (also from Riptide), "Simply Irresistible" and the animated "Change His Ways" (both from Heavy Nova).

VH1's Pop-Up Video trivia about the video include the fact that a musician was hired to teach the models basic guitar fingering techniques, but "gave up after about an hour and left". The episode also pointed out several choreographical errors, including the models moving out of sync with one another, and moving during points with no backbeat, such as the second chorus.

The music video ranked at number 3 on VH1's Top 20 Videos of the 1980s and was both the first and last video shown on long running UK music programme The Chart Show.

The models were also used in the spoof of the video in Weird Al Yankovic's UHF wearing glasses and moustaches.

Chart performance [edit]

Charts (1986) Peak
position
Australian Kent Music Report 1
UK Singles Chart 5
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 1
U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks 1
U.S. Billboard R&B chart 8

Year-end charts [edit]

Chart (1986) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100 10

Tina Turner version [edit]

"Addicted to Love (Live)"
Single by Tina Turner
from the album Tina Live in Europe
B-side "Overnight Sensation" (Live), "Legs" (Live)
Released 1988
Format 7" single
12" single
Genre Rock, Hard Rock
Length 5:10 (single mix)
Label Capitol
Writer(s) Robert Palmer
Producer John Hudson
Tina Turner singles chronology
"Nutbush City Limits (Live)"
(1988)		 "Addicted To Love" (Live)
(1988)		 "Tonight (Live)"
(1988)

Tina Turner has made "Addicted to Love" a regular feature of her live shows since 1986, although her version did not make it onto the market until two years later.

A live recording from the 1986/1987 Break Every Rule Tour of the track was included on her Tina: Live in Europe album in 1988, and was also issued as the lead single to promote the album in certain territories – instead of "Nutbush City Limits" – and was a Top 20 hit in the Netherlands.

The two singles had the same B-sides: live recordings of "Overnight Sensation" and ZZ Top's "Legs" and near identical picture sleeves. The version of "Addicted to Love" issued on the single was in fact an alternate mix of the track; the single mix was later included on the European editions of her 1991 greatest hits album Simply the Best, as well as All the Best in 2004 and Tina!: Her Greatest Hits in 2008.

Official versions [edit]

  • Tina Live in Europe album mix – 5:22
  • Single Mix – 5:10

Peak positions [edit]

Charts (1988) Peak
position
Dutch Singles Chart 19
Belgium Singles Chart[5] 29
Polish Singles Chart[6] 32
UK Singles Chart 71

Other cover versions [edit]

Live cover performances [edit]

  • Van Halen was seen warming up with the song on the MTV documentary,"Van Halen Unleashed." They also performed the first verse of the song within their pre-recorded performance of "Best Of Both Worlds" during the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards. When the full concert was released on home video under the title Live Without A Net, "Addicted To Love" was removed, thus is exclusive to the televised broadcast of the awards show.
  • Rod Stewart played the song live at Albert Hall as a part of a medley with Some Guys Have All The Luck
  • Girl group Kandy Rain performed the song on the first live show of The X Factor in 2009
  • Contestant Norbert L. Király performed the song on the third live show of the Hungarian version of X-Faktor on 30 October 2010.
  • Contestant Wagner performed the song on the eighth live show of the seventh season of UK version of the X Factor on 27 November 2010.
  • Contestant Curtis Grimes performed a country version of the song on the first season of The Voice.

Parodies [edit]

Song parodies include:

Film parodies include:

Television parodies include:

Influences on other music videos [edit]

The video has either influenced or been parodied by other music videos including:

Appearances in other media [edit]

  • The song was heard in the 1986 cult film Dangerously Close, and 2004 documentary "What the Bleep Do We Know!?".
  • Geena Davis portrayed one of the models in a 1989 Saturday Night Live skit, The Robert Palmer Bunch, depicting the girls living with Robert Palmer in suburbia. Palmer was played by Phil Hartman.
  • The video was parodied in a dream sequence of Dr. Joel Fleischman in the 1991 TV series Northern Exposure episode "Spring Break".
  • ABC radio (Japan) Program "ABC ACID Eiga-kan"(ABC ACID CINEMA) OP theme 1993–2009.
  • The 2006 Super Bowl spot of the TV series Lost featured an edited version of the video with inserted images of the show's first and second seasons and modified lyrics that changed the word "love" for "Lost" (hence the title, "Addicted to Lost").
  • Emerald Nuts used the "Addicted to Love" girls in a TV Commercial.
  • Ring of Honor wrestler Rhett Titus has begun using the song as his entrance theme.
  • A small scene of the video was used in the 2009 movie Watchmen by Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias in his multi-screen room.
  • The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Friday 29 January 2010, 12:35 am, opened with Craig Ferguson dressed as one of the models and Rosie O'Donnell in the Robert Palmer role, lip-synching "Addicted to Love".

References [edit]

  1. ^ Blackett, Matt (01). Guitar Player Magazine http://www.myspace.com/eddiepmartinez/blog/493237306 |url= missing title (help). 
  2. ^ "noddy holder interview – at". Soundchecks.co.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2011. 
  3. ^ Terence Donovan Obituary Guardian UK
  4. ^ "Addicted To Love Songfacts". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 10 September 2011. 
  5. ^ "Song Artist Tina Turner". Retrieved 4 February 2012 (2012-02-04). 
  6. ^ "Song Artist Tina Turner". Retrieved 4 February 2012 (2012-02-04). 
  7. ^ "Addicted to Love – Single by Florence + The Machine". iTunes Store. Apple Inc. 8 June 2010. Retrieved 27 February 2011. 

External links [edit]

The Video Models

Preceded by
"Kiss" by Prince and the Revolution		 Billboard Hot 100 number one single
3 May 1986		 Succeeded by
"West End Girls" by Pet Shop Boys
Preceded by
"Living Doll" by Cliff Richard and The Young Ones		 Australian Kent Music Report number one single
23 June 1986 – 30 June 1986		 Succeeded by
"Touch Me (I Want Your Body)" by Samantha Fox
Robert Palmer
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilations
Singles
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Addicted_to_Love_(song)&oldid=555751310"