"Love Ain't No Stranger" is a power ballad by the English hard rock/heavy metal group Whitesnake, and it is taken from the band's U.S.-breakthrough album Slide It In. One of the group's best known songs, it's been included in multiple multi-artist compilation albums as well as in various media from Whitesnake's own labels. Particularly well-received in the context of the 1980s heavy music boom in the Anglosphere, various music critics have praised its composition.
| "Love Ain't No Stranger" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Whitesnake | ||||
| from the album Slide It In | ||||
| B-side | "Guilty of Love" (US) "Slow an' Easy" (UK) | |||
| Released | August 1984 (US)[1] 28 January 1985 (UK)[2] | |||
| Recorded | 1983 | |||
| Genre | Glam metal[3] | |||
| Length | 4:14 | |||
| Label | Liberty (Europe) Geffen (North America) | |||
| Songwriter(s) | David Coverdale, Mel Galley | |||
| Whitesnake singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "Love Ain't No Stranger" on YouTube | ||||
"Love Ain't No Stranger" is a staple of the band's live performances. Due to its popularity among fans, Whitesnake has performed the song over eight hundred times as of December 2022, making it one of the group's top five most played pieces.[4]
The song charted at number 44 on the UK Singles Chart[5] and 34 on the U.S. Mainstream rock charts.[6] Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic described the song as "one of the decade's greatest power ballads, bar none."[7]
Recording
editThe song starts with keyboardist Jon Lord's keyboards with emotional vocal delivery from singer David Coverdale. The song keeps a slow tempo until the guitars and drums kick in when the song tempo drastically changes and becomes a hard driving rock song. The slow tempo "ballady" section doesn't emerge again until the very middle and very end of the song. According to the 25th Anniversary Edition booklet of Slide It In, the keyboard intro was originally written for guitars, but was eventually switched to keyboards. Also, Coverdale told in the edition's booklet that drummer Cozy Powell once told the singer that "Love Ain't No Stranger" was the best track he'd ever played drums on.
Music video
editThe music video for "Love Ain't No Stranger" was directed by Mark Rezyka.
The video starts off as Coverdale was walking alone in a misty-night scene at a city. The scene cuts through a shot of Coverdale looking up at a woman on the top-level building. The snake lines were tatted on the woman's chest that is nearly identical to the group's Slide It In cover. The scene then next cuts through a group of people having a alcoholic night-out on the corridors, with Sykes and Murray in the group. Another woman at an young-unknown age was standing out from the group, depicted as an outcast begins to look at Coverdale as the scene continues on the band performing the song at a mock concert. During the interval of Sykes' guitar solo, the scene cuts to where Sykes grabs the woman depicted as an outcast, seemingly inviting her to ride with others in a truck. At the end of the video, Coverdale climbs on to a truck and hugs the woman, but as he turns around he sees that the woman has switched and that the woman he was after is standing on the ground. As the truck, along with Coverdale on it, starts to drive away Coverdale stares at the woman as she disappears into the mist.[8]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Love Ain't No Stranger" | David Coverdale, Mel Galley | 4:14 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2. | "Slow An' Easy" | Coverdale, Micky Moody | 6:09 |
| 3. | "Slide It In" | Coverdale | 3:20 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2. | "Guilty of Love" | Coverdale | 3:18 |
Personnel
edit- David Coverdale – lead vocals, percussion
- Micky Moody – guitars (UK version)
- John Sykes – guitars (US version)
- Mel Galley – guitars, backing vocals
- Colin Hodgkinson – bass (UK version)
- Neil Murray – bass (US version)
- Cozy Powell – drums
- Jon Lord – keyboards
Charts
edit| Chart (1985) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[9] | 44 |
| US Billboard Mainstream Rock [10] | 33 |
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. p. 894. ISBN 9780862415419.
- ^ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 58.
- ^ manosg (27 December 2014). "Review: Whitesnake - Slide it In". www.sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
"Love Ain't No Stranger" is the standout track; with its highly effective buildup and the addictive vocal line, it's probably one of the best hair/pop metal tracks of the '80s.
- ^ "Whitesnake Tour Statistics - Songs Played Total". Setlist.fm. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ "Whitesnake The Official Charts Company".
- ^ "Allmusic (Whitesnake charts and awards) Billboard singles".
- ^ Love Ain't No Stranger at AllMusic. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
- ^ "Whitesnake - Love Ain't No Stranger (Official Music Video)". Rhino. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
- ^ "Whitesnake – Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
- ^ "Whitesnake Mainstream Rock Airplay Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
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