"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] 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.
A music video was also made for the song, which depicts the band performing the song at a mock concert, with scenes of Coverdale running after an unknown woman. 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.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
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) [8] | 44 |
US Billboard Mainstream Rock [9] | 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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Slide It In is the sixth studio album by British rock band Whitesnake, released in 1984. It was the first Whitesnake album to be released by Geffen Records in the US, but was remixed for the release. Because of this, two different editions of the album exist, each with its own unique qualities. It was their fourth top 10 album in the UK, peaking at number 9. It includes their first breakthrough hits in the United States, "Love Ain't No Stranger" and "Slow an' Easy". In 1988 the album re-entered the US charts due to the success of the self-titled Whitesnake album (1987), and is certified double platinum. It was the final Whitesnake recording to use the band's original "snake" logo. The band delivered a harder sound than their previous albums, and marked the band's change to a glam metal sound. Martin Popoff listed it as 241 in The Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time (2010).
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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.