"Break 4 Love" is a song written, produced, and recorded by Vaughan Mason, the principal member of American house-music group

Raze Raze may refer to: * Demolition **Slighting * Raze, Haute-Saône, a town in France * Raze (Underworld), a fictional character in the Underworld films * Raze (magazine), a videogame magazine published by Newsfield Publications from 1990-1991 * ''Ra ...

, the song's original credited performer. The song, the group's only significant US hit, featured vocals by Keith Thompson and Vaughan Mason, as well as sexual sound samples by Erique Dial. The single peaked at number 28 on the UK Singles Chart and topped the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Dance Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart in 1988. It is still considered a classic of the early house music genre. The song interpolates "Today, Tomorrow and Forever" (1987) by The Castle Beat.

Versions

Original 1988–1989 versions

* "Break 4 Love" (Drop the Panties) – a.k.a. Caught in the Act Mix – spoken vocals by Vaughan Mason * "Break 4 Love" (Radio Vocals) – a.k.a. English Mix, English Version, Vaughan Mason 12" Mix – sung vocals by Keith Thompson * "Break 4 Love" (Instrumental) * "Break 4 Love" (Spanish Fly) – spoken vocals by Jeanette Fraginals * "Break 4 Love" (Spanish Mix) – similar to Spanish Fly, but no break * "Break 4 Love" (French Mix) * "Break 4 Love" (Italian Mix) All of these versions run approximately 5:25 and feature sexual vocalization samples by Erique Dial. A 3:18 edit of the English Mix was used as the 7" single version.

Commercial performance and reissues

"Break 4 Love" reached number 28 on the UK Singles Chart in 1988. It has since been remixed, re-recorded and reissued on several different independent dance music labels, the most significant of which, "All 4 Love (Break 4 Love 1990)" which featured Lady J and The Secretary of Entertainment and produced and co-written by Erique Dial climbed to number 30 in the UK in early 1990. Further releases of "Break 4 Love" remixes were released in the UK in 1994 and 2003. The 1994 release reached number 44 on the UK Singles Chart and number one on the

UK Dance Singles Chart The Dance Singles Chart and the Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synth-pop) in record stores ...

, and the 2003 release at number 64 on the singles chart.

Critical reception

Andy Beevers from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' gave the 1994 remix four out of five, writing, "It is no surprise to find this 1988

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

classic back again with an inevitable array of remixes. A relatively reverential update from Our Tribe leads the way and has provided the single with a brief spell at the top of the Club Chart. Expect strong specialist demand and a possible crossover."

Impact and legacy

British

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

DJ and producer

Fabio Fabio is a given name descended from Latin ''Fabius'' and very popular in Italy and Latin America (due to Italian migration). The name is written without an accent in Italian and Spanish, but is usually accented in Portuguese as ''Fábio'' (with t ...

chose "Break 4 Love" as one of his top 10 tracks in 1996, saying, "This was one of the first

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat ...

tracks. It used the break to roll the track along. A really sexy track, it always gets people going mad—it's got energy." "Break 4 Love" can be heard in the

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

'' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', on the in-game radio station SF-UR, which also features other house music songs by different artists.

Track listing

* Original Grove Street 12-inch single #"Break 4 Love" (Drop the Panties) #"Break 4 Love" (Instrumental) #"Break 4 Love" (Spanish Fly) #"Break 4 Love" (Radio Vocals)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

The Collaboration version

"Break 4 Love" was covered by

Peter Rauhofer Peter Rauhofer (29 April 1965 – 7 May 2013) was an Austrian-American disc jockey (DJ), remixer and producer who formerly worked under the moniker Club 69 as well as Size Queen. A native of Vienna, Austria, he was famous for a variety of his ...

and

Pet Shop Boys Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide and were listed as the most successful duo in UK music h ...

, released under the name "Peter Rauhofer + Pet Shop Boys = The Collaboration". The single was not released in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and did not chart there. The song can be found on the US bonus disc of the Pet Shop Boys album ''

Release Release may refer to: * Art release, the public distribution of an artistic production, such as a film, album, or song * Legal release, a legal instrument * News release, a communication directed at the news media * Release (ISUP), a code to i ...

'' and as a B-side of CD 2 of its single "

Home and Dry "Home and Dry" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 18 March 2002 by Parlophone as the first single from their eighth studio album, ''Release'' (2002). It reached number 14 on the UK Singles Chart and number 44 on the ...

". The single did not chart on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, but it peaked at number one on the

chart, and peaked at number 51 on the US

Hot Singles Sales The Hot Singles Sales, also known as the Hot 100 Singles Sales and the POS chart, was a music chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine listing each week's best-selling physical singles in the United States, such as CD singles, vinyl single ...

chart.

Track listings

*US 12-inch single: Star 69 # "Break 4 Love" (USA Club Mix) # "Break 4 Love" (Friburn and Urik Tribal Mix) # "Break 4 Love" (Mike Monday's Kit Kat Dub) # "Break 4 Love" (The Classic Mix) *US CD single part 1: Star 69 (CD12172) # "Break 4 Love" (UK Radio Mix) # "Break 4 Love" (US Radio Mix) # "Break 4 Love" (Classic Radio Mix) # "Break 4 Love" (Friburn and Urik Tribal Mix) # "Break 4 Love" (USA Club Mix) # "Break 4 Love" (Mike Monday Kit Kat Dub) # "Break 4 Love" (Classic Club Mix) # "Break 4 Love" (Ralphie's Dub for Love) *US CD single part 2: Star 69 (CD12192) # "Break 4 Love" (Laroz and Amdursky Mix) # "Break 4 Love" (Friburn and Urik Hi-Pass Mix) # "Break 4 Love" (Michael Moog Club Mix) # "Break 4 Love" (Richard Morel's Pink Noize Club Mix) # "Break 4 Love" (Sunshi Moriwaki's 2 Step Remix) # "Break 4 Love" (Michael Moog Dub)

Charts

References

{{authority control 1987 songs 1988 singles 2001 singles Champion Records singles Columbia Records singles Music Week number-one dance singles Pet Shop Boys songs Raze (house-music group) songs