“Your Love” is a song by the English rock bandThe Outfield, taken from their debut albumPlay Deep. The song was written by the band's guitarist John Spinks. In the United States, the song reached #6 on the BillboardHot 100 and #7 on the Mainstream Rock chart in 1986. Since its release, the song has appeared on many '80s-themed compilations, as well as movies and TV shows.
Background
The song was written by Outfield guitarist John Spinks. Spinks was living in east London and invited the vocalist of the band, Tony Lewis, to his flat for a writing session. The two developed "Your Love" on the porch of the flat. Lewis sat on an amplifier and Spinks began writing the opening lyrics. According to Lewis, the song took only twenty minutes to write. The song's lyrics have no basis in reality: "Josie" was not a real person, and the song is an entirely invented story. Afterwards, the band began recording demos for their debut album Play Deep with producer William Wittman, who had also worked with Cyndi Lauper and the Fixx. The initial demo was softer in tone, and Wittman encouraged the band to take a more hard rock approach to its sound. To this end, the group were inspired by the Who, and Lewis's vocal arrangement was heavily inspired by the Police vocalist Sting.
Commercial performance
"Your Love" became a major hit in the United States. It was first released as the second single from Play Deep in November 1985. It was first pushed to album-oriented rock radio, to maintain momentum generated by the album's lead single, "Say It Isn't So". After entering the top ten of BillboardTop Rock Tracks chart, Columbia began expanding the song to top 40 radio in February 1986. It then peaked at number seven on the Top Rock Tracks chart during the week of March 1. The song entered the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1986, peaking at number six during the week of May 10. Overall, it spent 22 weeks on the Hot 100.
Reception
Rolling Stone contributor Jimmy Guterman wrote that the track "seems to advocate philandering," and that "the repulsive misogyny contaminates the whole song." While Dennis Hunt from the Los Angeles Times criticized the whole of Play Deep as "thoroughly derivative music," he praised the song's "lovely melodic line that's engagingly performed by vocalist Tony Lewis, who has obviously been listening to Journey's Steve Perry."
Music video
The music video has an extended intro and was directed by Jon Jopson. The concept for the clip has the band filming a music video for the song, and prominently features a painting motif. They perform in front of a backdrop of the Play Deep album cover, which is also being finger-painted offstage by an artist, played by actress JoAnn Willette. Her character and lead vocalist Tony Lewis appear flirtatious throughout the video. Willette was interviewed about her role on the blog Noblemania in 2013, and gave details about the shoot; it was shot in Astoria, New York on a soundstage over one day. At the end of the video, Willette can be seen exiting the studio at dawn, the time the production wrapped. The band appears mainly as playing the song, highlighting their unity as a performing band: "We didn't want a situation where they had to be actors or something that wasn't what they are," said the band's manager, Kip Krones, at the time. The video was first added to MTV's schedule during the week of 19 February 1986, and began attracting major rotation. It peaked at number two on MTV's Top 20 Countdown in late April 1986.
