Peak
1
Weeks
22
Score
3,926
Chart Year
1986
The music video (which uses the shorter single version of this song), directed by English photographer Terence Donovan,[5] was one of the most noted of the era. The video features Palmer performing the song with an abstract "band", a group of female models whose pale skin, heavy makeup, dark hair, and seductive, rather mannequin-like expression follow the style of women in Patrick Nagel paintings. The five models in the video are Julie Pankhurst (keyboard), Patty Kelly (guitar), Mak Gilchrist (bass guitar), Julia Bolino (guitar), and Kathy Davies (drums).[6] Mak Gilchrist recalled to Q: I was 21 and got the part on the strength of my modelling book. We were meant to look and "act" like showroom mannequins. Director Terence Donovan got us tipsy on a bottle of wine but as we were having our make-up retouched, I lost balance on my heels and knocked the top of my guitar into the back of Robert's head, and his face then hit the microphone.[7] In a 2013 interview, when asked why she was designated the drummer and not given a close-up shot, Kathy Davies jokingly replied, "I guess the naughty ones always get sent to the back." Davies added that she did not mind it because she thought Palmer "had a good bum."[6] Palmer recycled the video's models concept for the videos of three other songs of his: "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" (also from Riptide), "Simply Irresistible", and the animated "Change His Ways" (both from Heavy Nova). VH1's Pop-Up Video trivia about the video include the fact that a musician was hired to teach the models basic fingering techniques, but "gave up after about an hour and left." The episode also pointed out several choreographic errors, including the models moving out of sync with one another, and moving during points with no back beat, such as the second chorus. The music video ranked at number 3 on VH1's Top 20 Videos of the 1980s and was the last video shown on long running UK music programme The Chart Show. In the romantic comedy film Love Actually (2003), written and directed by Richard Curtis, the video for Billy Mack's song, "Christmas Is All Around", is a tribute to "Addicted to Love".[8] The "Addicted to Love" models' blank expression is parodied in the "Christmas Is All Around" video, with the latter's models visibly bored to the point of yawning. The models were also used in the spoof of the video in "Weird Al" Yankovic's UHF wearing glasses and moustaches. The music video was parodied in the videos of Stardust's "Music Sounds Better with You," Tone Lōc's "Wild Thing," Mr Blobby's "Mr Blobby", Bowling for Soup's "1985," Shania Twain's "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!", Shakira's "Las de la Intuición", Kasey Chambers's "If I Were You", Paula Abdul's "Forever Your Girl", Die Prinzen's "Alles nur geklaut", and Luca Carboni's "Luca lo stesso".
Palmer wanted this song to be a duet with Chaka Khan and recorded it with her. Her label, Warner Brothers Records, would not allow her voice to be used on the record, so he had to erase her part and re-record her high notes before releasing it. Chaka Khan did appear on Steve Winwood's "Higher Love," which beat out this song for the 1987 Record of the Year Grammy. The video featured Palmer singing in front of a "band" of beautiful women who looked exactly alike. They wore lots of makeup and identical clothing as they pretended to play the instruments. The video became an icon of the '80s, and is constantly parodied, including in a Pepsi commercial with Britney Spears. Elton John's lyricist Bernie Taupin makes a pretty good case that the models in the video were influenced by the song "Bennie And The Jets," where he wrote about a futuristic rock band of androgynous beauties. Said Taupin: "I can't help but believe that that Robert Palmer video with all the identical models somehow paid a little lip service to The Jets." The funny thing about the video was that the models posing as a band were selected precisely because they did NOT know how to play the instruments. As a result, each girl was keeping her own time and moving to a different beat. One of the girls in the video was "bassist" Mak Gilchrist. She recalled to Q magazine June 2009: "I was 21 and got the part on the strength of my modeling book. We were meant to look and 'act' like showroom mannequins. Director Terence Donovan got us tipsy on a bottle of wine but as were having our makeup retouched, I lost balance on my heels and knocked the top of my guitar into the back of Robert's head, and his face then hit the microphone." Gilchrist added: "I remember feeling an acute sense of embarrassment when I first saw how sexy the video was. The most unusual place I saw it was on a huge screen on the side of a Tokyo building." The "love is an addiction" theme is a common lyrical trope, also successfully used the 1983 Huey Lewis & the News hit "I Want A New Drug." Palmer, who died of a heart attack in 2003 at age 54, said that he wrote the song about what it's like having an addictive personality. Who were the girls in the video? Noblemania tracked them down and confirmed their identities. They are: Julia Bolino (guitar) Patty Elias (guitar) Kathy Davies (drums) Julie Pankhurst (keyboard) Mak Gilchrist (bass) Gilchrist had done commercials; Bolino and Davies had been in other music videos, but Pankhurst and Elias were just starting out. They recall Palmer being very professional and polite throughout the shoot, and no flirting - his wife was there. Weird Al Yankovic recorded a parody of this called "Addicted to Spuds" on his album Polka Party!. >> Palmer performed this on the March 15, 1986 episode of Saturday Night Live. This is the tune most coveted by Slade frontman Noddy Holder. He tells Soundchecks Music Review: "The one main song that I wish that I'd written and recorded is 'Addicted to Love' by Robert Palmer. To me, that's a perfect pop song. Everything about it really hits the nail on the head." Palmer bet against himself while this was climbing the charts. He recalled: "There's a phone number you can ring for Billboard magazine to let you know your chart position and we were flying from Tokyo to Hawaii and had to stop in Guam and we had made a bet as to what number 'Addicted To Love' was going to be and I lost. I bet on number two but it went to one! It was a bet over a garment... a black and white cashmere cloak! But I ended up winning it back the following week." It all started with a guitar riff that came to Palmer in a dream. He told Q magazine in 1988, "That noisy riff woke me up. I went downstairs, got out the tape recorder, then went back to bed. Next morning, I thought, Phew, caught one there!" In the 1992 Roseanne episode "Mommy Nearest," Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) lies to her new boyfriend and says she was one of the girls from the video. Addicted To Love is also the name of a 1997 romantic comedy starring Meg Ryan and Matthew Broderick. A cover by Neneh Cherry was used in the movie.
The lights are on, but you're not home Your mind is not your own Your heart sweats, your body shakes Another kiss is what it takes You can't sleep, you can't eat There's no doubt, you're in deep Your throat is tight, you can't breathe Another kiss is all you need Whoa, you like to think that you're immune to the stuff, oh yeah It's closer to the truth to say you can't get enough You know you're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to love You see the signs, but you can't read You're running at a different speed Your heart beats in double time Another kiss and you'll be mine A one-track mind, you can't be saved Oblivion is all you crave If there's some left for you You don't mind if you do Whoa, you like to think that you're immune to the stuff, oh yeah It's closer to the truth to say you can't get enough You know you're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love You're addicted to love You're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it Might as well face it Might as well face it Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love The lights are on, but you're not home Your will is not your own Your heart sweats, your teeth grind Another kiss and you'll be mine Whoa, you like to think that you're immune to the stuff, oh yeah It's closer to the truth to say you can't get enough You know you're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it Might as well face it Might as well face it Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love Might as well face it, you're addicted to love
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feb 8, 1986 | 83 | 43 |
| 2 | Feb 15, 1986 | 68 | 58 |
| 3 | Feb 22, 1986 | 57 | 69 |
| 4 | Mar 1, 1986 | 46 | 80 |
| 5 | Mar 8, 1986 | 38 | 88 |
| 6 | Mar 15, 1986 | 32 | 94 |
| 7 | Mar 22, 1986 | 18 | 108 |
| 8 | Mar 29, 1986 | 13 | 113 |
| 9 | Apr 5, 1986 | 9 | 117 |
| 10 | Apr 12, 1986 | 6 | 120 |
| 11 | Apr 19, 1986 | 3 | 123 |
| 12 | Apr 26, 1986 | 2 | 124 |
| 13 | May 3, 1986 | 1 | 125 |
| 14 | May 10, 1986 | 2 | 124 |
| 15 | May 17, 1986 | 10 | 116 |
| 16 | May 24, 1986 | 17 | 109 |
| 17 | May 31, 1986 | 24 | 102 |
| 18 | Jun 7, 1986 | 31 | 95 |
| 19 | Jun 14, 1986 | 45 | 81 |
| 20 | Jun 21, 1986 | 49 | 77 |