"Love Is Strong" is a song by English rock band

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically dr ...

, released as the opening track, and first single, from their 20th British and 22nd American studio album, ''

Voodoo Lounge ''Voodoo Lounge'' is the 20th British and 22nd American studio album by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, released on 11 July 1994. As their first new release under their new alliance with Virgin Records, it ended a five-year gap since th ...

'' (1994). Issued as a single on 4 July 1994, the song preceded the release of ''Voodoo Lounge'' by a week. "Love Is Strong" peaked at 14 in the band's native United Kingdom and at No. 2 in Canada and Finland but stalled at No. 91 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Despite this, it peaked at No. 2 on the ''Billboard''

Album Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in M ...

chart. The song's accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

received

heavy rotation In broadcasting, rotation is the repeated airing of a limited playlist of songs on a radio station or satellite radio channel, or music videos on a TV network. They are usually in a different order each time. However, they are not completely ...

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Inspiration and recording

Written by

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

and

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

, "Love Is Strong" is a brooding number about an encounter between the singer and an unnamed person which leads the singer to a "love/lust at first sight" immediate attraction and longing for the couple to unite despite the obstacles. The song was written in Ireland by Richards and originally had the name "Love is Strange". Popular bootlegs of the sessions abound, as

Ron Wood Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in '' Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...

, Richards,

Ivan Neville Ivan Neville (born August 19, 1959) is an American multi-instrumentalist musician, singer, and songwriter. He is the son of Aaron Neville and nephew to members of The Neville Brothers. Career He has released four solo albums and had a Top 30 ...

and producer

Don Was Don Edward Fagenson (born September 13, 1952), known professionally as Don Was, is an American musician, record producer and record executive. Primarily a bass player, Was co-founded the funk-rock band Was (Not Was). In later years he produced so ...

worked the song while Jagger was supporting his record '' Wandering Spirit''. Later takes have Richards changing the title to "Love is Strong"; although the final release was significantly altered by Jagger's added lyrics and use of a harmonica, a trademark instrument for him rarely utilized in the Stones' middle period work. Jagger said at the time of its release, "We ran through it a bunch of times and I was playing harmonica, and I started singing through the harmonica mike, so you get this strange sort of sound. And then I started singing down an octave, so you get this kind of breathy, sexy tone... It was good to put harmonica on a track like this. You always think of playing it on a 12-bar blues, and it's kind of fun to put it on one which is not. It's good to work with another sequence." Recording began in September 1993 at Wood's home studio in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

and continued at A&M Recording Studios in

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in 1994.

Release

Released as the first single from the album, "Love Is Strong" performed below expectations, barely making it into the ''Billboard Hot 100'' singles chart in the US. It became the lowest charting first single ever by the band and marked a change in the composition of the singles chart as well as the Stones role on it. Despite this, the song remains one of the band's well-known songs from the 1990s. Five years earlier " Mixed Emotions" was a Top 5 pop chart single. Considerable promotional expense was spent on the ''Voodoo Lounge'' CD release, as it was the first on

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a world ...

, including a popular

directed by

David Fincher David Andrew Leo Fincher (born August 28, 1962) is an American film director. His films, mostly psychological thrillers and biographical dramas, have received 40 nominations at the Academy Awards, including three for him as Best Director. F ...

and edited by Robert Duffy at Spot Welders; the black and white video shows giant versions of the Stones, as well as a few residents locked in romantic embraces, rambling about

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It received

in August 1994. The single's weaker-than-expected lead dampened CD sales, despite positive critical reviews and a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

win for Best Short Form Music Video. In time, the track proved popular in Europe going to No. 14 in the UK and received significant airplay in the US, but only peaked at No. 91 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The commercial response in Canada was considerably stronger, where the song reached No. 2 on the ''RPM'' Singles Chart on 19 September 1994, behind " You Better Wait" by Journey frontman

Steve Perry Stephen Ray Perry (born January 22, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the rock band Journey during their most commercially successful periods from 1977 to 1987, and again from 1995 to 1998. He also wrote/co ...

. The Rolling Stones performed the song at the 1994

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

. Although it had disappeared from several recent concert tours setlists in favour of the more live friendly "

You Got Me Rocking "You Got Me Rocking" is a song by the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones, on their 1994 album, ''Voodoo Lounge''. Begun early in 1993, "You Got Me Rocking" was initially a blues flavoured number; bootlegs have Jagger and Richards wor ...

" (the follow-up single from ''Voodoo Lounge''), the Stones reintroduced "Love Is Strong" to their

A Bigger Bang Tour A Bigger Bang was a worldwide concert tour by the Rolling Stones which took place between August 2005 and August 2007, in support of their album ''A Bigger Bang''. At the time, it was the highest grossing tour of all time, earning $558,255,524 ...

setlist on 22 July 2007 at their

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show and at their Hamburg show in August. It was included on their 2002 career compilation album '' Forty Licks''.

Critical reception

Steve Baltin from ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an onli ...

'' wrote, "With U2 and R.E.M. making so many great records already this decade, it’s hard to call the Rolling Stones the “world’s greatest rock ’n’ roll band” anymore. However, they’re still the Stones, and this is one cool song." He added, "Trademark Jagger all the way vocally, the song oozes the sex appeal that made the man a legend. In addition, it’s hard to ignore any Keith Richards riff, and this song opens with the classic Richards’ styling. It may not be “ Satisfaction” or “ Gimme Shelter”, but whaddaya want—it’s still the Stones." David Sinclair from ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' commented, "As well as a typically salacious vocal, Mick Jagger contributes reedy blasts of harmonica which intertwine loosely with the sinuous chop and grind of Keith Richards's suspended-seventh chords. The lyric seems a shade unadventurous. Isn't there something that these 50-year-olds can get excited about other than how big and strong their love still is?"

Track listings

* UK and Australian CD1 # "Love Is Strong" (

Teddy Riley Edward Theodore Riley (born October 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer credited with the creation of the New Jack Swing genre. Riley credits Barry Michael Cooper with giving the genre its name.Hogan, Paul. "Tedd ...

radio remix) # "Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley extended remix) #" Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley extended rock remix) # "Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley dub remix) # "Love Is Strong" (Joe the Butcher club mix) # "Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley instrumental) * UK and Australian CD2, Japanese CD single # "Love Is Strong" (album version) # "The Storm" # "So Young" # "Love Is Strong" (

Bob Clearmountain Bob Clearmountain (born January 15, 1953) is an American recording engineer, mixer and record producer. He has worked with many major acts, including Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Toto, Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams, with whom he has a ve ...

remix) * UK 7-inch and cassette single, European CD single # "Love Is Strong" (album version) # "The Storm" * US maxi-CD single and Canadian CD single # "Love Is Strong" – 3:46 # "Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley extended remix) – 5:02 # "Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley dub) – 4:05 # "Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley extended rock remix) – 4:47 # "The Storm" – 2:48 * US 12-inch single :A1. "Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley extended remix) – 5:02 :A2. "Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley extended rock remix) – 4:47 :A3. "Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley dub remix) – 4:05 :B1. "Love Is Strong" (Joe the Butcher club mix) – 5:23 :B2. "Love Is Strong" (album version) – 3:46 :B3. "Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley instrumental) – 4:47 * US 7-inch and cassette single :A1. "Love Is Strong" – 3:46 :B1. "The Storm" – 2:48 :B2. "Love Is Strong" (Teddy Riley extended remix) – 5:03

Personnel

– lead vocals, harmonica, maracas *

– electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals *

Darryl Jones Darryl Jones (born December 11, 1961) is an American bass guitarist. He has been recording and touring with the Rolling Stones since 1993. He has also played in bands with Miles Davis and Sting, among others. Career Darryl Jones was born on ...

– bass guitar *

Charlie Watts Charles Robert Watts (2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021) was an English musician who achieved international fame as the drummer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 until his death in 2021. Originally trained as a graphic artist, Watts developed an i ...

– drums *

Bernard Fowler Bernard Fowler (born January 2, 1960) is an American musician. He is known for a long association with The Rolling Stones, providing backing vocals since 1989 and on their studio recordings and live tours. Fowler has been a featured guest vocali ...

and

– background vocals *

Chuck Leavell Charles Alfred Leavell (born April 28, 1952) is an American musician. A member of the Allman Brothers Band throughout their commercial zenith in the 1970s, he subsequently became a founding member of the band Sea Level. He has served as the pri ...

– Wurlitzer piano and Hammond organ

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control The Rolling Stones songs 1994 singles 1994 songs Black-and-white music videos Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video Music videos directed by David Fincher Song recordings produced by Don Was Song recordings produced by Jagger–Richards Songs written by Jagger–Richards Virgin Records singles