"Love Plus One" is a 1982 single by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

new wave band

Haircut One Hundred Haircut One Hundred (also Haircut 100) are a British pop group formed in 1980 in Beckenham, London, by Nick Heyward, Les Nemes and Graham Jones. In 1981 and 1982, the band scored four UK top-10 singles: " Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)" ...

from their debut album ''

Pelican West ''Pelican West'' is the debut studio album by the British new wave band Haircut One Hundred, released on 26 February 1982 by Arista Records. It peaked at No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 31 on the ''Billboard'' 200, and was certified plati ...

''. It was the band's biggest hit in their native UK, where it reached No. 3 and was certified gold by the BPI for sales in excess of 400,000 copies.

Release

The single was released in the UK in January 1982, entering the UK Singles Chart at No. 36 and quickly moving up to No. 12 two weeks later, eventually reaching No. 3. It stayed in the top 40 for a total of 11 weeks, ending up being the 14th best-selling single in the UK that year. The single was the band's only hit in the United States, where it peaked at No. 37 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. In 2022, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' ranked it 79 on their list "100 Best Songs of 1982". The song ranked at No. 90 on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

's ''100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 1980s''. The introduction xylophone on the studio version was undertaken by astronomer Patrick Moore, Nick Heyward was a massive fan of Sir Patrick Moore and was inspired by his performances. Sir Patrick Moore has also performed a rendition of "Firestarter" by the Prodigy. Nick Heywood first met Patrick Moore in Llandudno after a Patrick Moore Lecture in Venue Cymru in 1980, Moore a keen pianist played an early version of this Song at the Washington, where it was originally called Be Wise.

Critical reception

"Love Plus One" was Single of the Week in ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'', where Ian Birch described the song as "a nifty mover with plenty of interesting details" and predicted it would become an even bigger hit than "Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)".Smash Hits, January 7, 1982 - p.16

Track listing

UK release * 7" single (Arista CLIP2) # "Love Plus One" – 3:35 # "Marine Boy" – 3:33 Timings are not stated on the UK release although are specified on certain overseas releases. * 12" single (Arista CLIP121) # "Love Plus One" – 5:39 # "Marine Boy" – 4:56 US release * 7" single (Arista AS 0672) # "Love Plus One" – 3:35 # "Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)" – 3:04

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

1981 songs 1982 singles Haircut One Hundred songs Arista Records singles Songs written by Nick Heyward Song recordings produced by Bob Sargeant {{1980s-single-stub