"What Is Love?" | ||||
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Single by Howard Jones | ||||
from the album Human's Lib | ||||
B-side | "It Just Doesn't Matter" | |||
Released | 26 November 1983 [1] | |||
Genre | Synth-pop [2] | |||
Length |
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Label | WEA | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | Rupert Hine | |||
Howard Jones singles chronology | ||||
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"What Is Love?" is a song by English musician Howard Jones, released in November 1983 as the second single from his debut studio album, Human's Lib (1984). It reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the singer's highest chart placing to date. In the US, it peaked at number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song was originally entitled "Love?" on the demo tape which Howard Jones recorded in 1982, which itself was available at his gigs. Jones also used the question mark motif around this time on posters advertising his gigs; posters which also hung behind him on stage at his early 1980s Marquee Club appearances and which read simply "Howard Jones?".
Howard Jones said, "I didn't want to write songs about, 'I love you, baby, you've hurt me and I'm sad.' I didn't want to write songs about co-dependency. If I was going to write about love, I wanted to say what do we mean by love? What is it, really? You can't be dependent upon another person for your happiness. So you'd better question this idea of romantic love pretty soon, otherwise you're going to be pretty miserable. So that's really what that song is." [3]
The music video for "What Is Love?" was filmed in Paris and features Jones walking around the city and a park.
Credits sourced from One Two Testing and Electricity Club [4] [5]
A limited edition pack was also released featuring the standard 12-inch single and a "Live at the Marquee" bonus 7-inch single which featured the tracks:
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI) [20] | Silver | 250,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Haircut One Hundred 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 ", "Love Plus One", "Nobody's Fool", and "Fantastic Day".
John Howard Jones is a British musician, singer and songwriter. He had ten top 40 hit singles in the UK between 1983 and 1986, six of which reached the top ten, including "Like to Get to Know You Well", "What Is Love?", "New Song", and "Things Can Only Get Better". His 1984 album Human's Lib reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. Around the world, Jones had 15 top 40 hit singles between 1983 and 1992. The 1986 hit single "No One Is to Blame" reached No. 4 on the US charts. Four others placed in the US top 20.
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