Addicted to Love (song)

"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	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 chart-topping classic song by Robert Palmer first 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 February 8, 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.

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 Andy Taylor, then a member of Duran Duran, 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.

Lead vocalist Noddy Holder 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."

Chart Performance

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

Video

Palmer breaks into the song live

The music video, directed by legendary British photographer Terence Donovan 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), Patty Kelly (guitar lhs), Mak Gilchrist (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."

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.

About this video and the one for I Didn't Mean to Turn You On, few comment on the obvious "other" appeal which is the fleeting views of the breasts of the black clad models as the bright light make their clothes partially transparent. Too, the artful combination of the coldness of high fashion models faces along with the heat of their highly sexualized bodies provides dramatic contrast to the lyrics that are so in the center of "pop" as to be nearly unintelligble or at least banal in the extreme. Palmer's banal "straight" costume adds to this effect.^{[citation needed]}

Tina Turner version

"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
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

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

Peak positions

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

Other cover versions

• In 1986, Alvin and the Chipmunks covered the song for "Middle-Aged Davey," an episode of their TV series.
• In 1988, the song was covered by Ciccone Youth (Sonic Youth with Mike Watt). Appearing on The Whitey Album, this version was recorded in a karaoke booth, with Kim Gordon on vocals.
• Serbian alternative rock band Disciplina Kičme recorded a live cover version of the song which appeared on their 1987 EP Dečija pesma.
• In 1991, Celtic banjo musician Tom Hanway covered the song with the band Blue Horizon on his album Bucket of Bees.
• In 2006, the Eagles of Death Metal covered the song as a bonus track in some copies of their second studio album, Death by Sexy.
• In 2006, the song was performed by Westlife on their Face to Face Tour.
• In 2008, Hungarian singer Zoltán Miller sang this song on his album Fehér Es Fekete
• In 2009, Florence + The Machine recorded a cover version of the song as a B-side to "You've Got the Love". In the United States, this track was released exclusively as a digital single.

Live cover performances

• Van Halen was seen warming up with the song on the MTV documentary,"Van Halen Unleashed," and played portions of the song during their 1986 tour.
• 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 Curtis Grimes performed a country version of the song on the first season of The Voice.

Parodies

Song parodies include:

• "Addicted to Spuds" by "Weird Al" Yankovic in 1986 and "UHF" in 1989
• "Addicted to Pam" by Brocket 99
• "Addicted To Butts" by Bob Rivers (aka "Addicted To (Cigarette) Butts")
• "Stealing Christmas" by Brian P. Metcalf, about The Grinch

Film parodies include:

• the 1990 comedy "horror" film Repossessed with Leslie Nielsen's character Father Jebedaiah Mayii
• the 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually with Bill Nighy's character, Billy Mack

Influences on other music videos

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

• Tone Lōc's 1988 "Wild Thing".
• Paula Abdul's 1989 "Forever Your Girl".
• Queen's 1989 video for "The Miracle".
• "Weird Al" Yankovic's 1989 "UHF".
• Mr Blobby's 1993 music video for "Mr Blobby".
• Shania Twain's 1999 video for "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!"; employing tongue-in-cheek gender role reversal, this features several male models as musicians backing the female lead singer.
• Bowling for Soup's video for "1985" released in 2004.
• Beyoncé's 2007 video for "Green Light", which shares many of the same elements.

Appearances in other media

• 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 the late 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".

External links

The Video Models

• Julia Bolino
• Patty Kelly
• Julie Pankhurst
• Mak Gilchrist
• Kathy Davies

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