"Love Ain't No Stranger" | ||||
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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 | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Love Ain't No Stranger" on YouTube |
"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" 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]
The 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.
The 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]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Love Ain't No Stranger" | David Coverdale, Mel Galley | 4:14 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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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 |
Chart (1985) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company) [9] | 44 |
US Billboard Mainstream Rock [10] | 33 |
Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entity, Coverdale is the only constant member throughout their history.
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Philip Neil Murray is a Scottish musician, best known as the former bassist of Whitesnake, the Brian May Band, Black Sabbath, and Gary Moore.
Slide It In is the sixth studio album by English rock band Whitesnake. Originally released on 30 January 1984 in Europe, by Liberty/EMI, it was remixed for the American market, later issued on 16 April 1984 in North America by Geffen. In Japan, it was issued a "European" Mix release date on 23 March 1984, and an "American" remix on 21 December 1984 by CBS/Sony. Widely regarded as a moderate success, it helped open the American market to the band's sound and breakthrough throughout the later 1980s. Historically, it was the final Whitesnake recording to use the band's original "snake" logo.
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"Guilty of Love" is a song by the English rock band Whitesnake from their 1984 album Slide It In. Written by vocalist David Coverdale, he described the track as a "very simple and honest love song". It has frequently been compared to Thin Lizzy for its dual lead guitars.
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"Slow an' Easy" is a song by the English rock band Whitesnake from their 1984 album Slide It In. The album provided the group with a commercial breakthrough in the United States, and this specific song, which was released as a promo single, became a hit on rock radio. "Slow an' Easy" and "Love Ain't No Stranger" reached #17 and #34 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, respectively.
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"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.