What Is Love (song)

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“What is Love”
Single by Haddaway from the album Haddaway
B-side	"Sing About Love"
Released	1993
Genre	Eurodance
Length	4:29 (7" Mix)
Label	Coconut Records
Writer(s)	D. Halligan / J. Torello
Producer	D. Halligan / J. Torello
Haddaway singles chronology
"What Is Love" (1993) "Life" (1993) Alternate covers "What Is Love - Remix", French CD-Single "What Is Love - Reloaded", CD-Maxi

"What is Love" is a 1993 dance track by the singer Haddaway, popular with club DJs. It was a one-hit wonder in the United States (although Haddaway had several more hits in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe). Recorded in the early '90s, it later experienced a revival as the song from the Saturday Night Live "Roxbury Guys" sketches, which were later made into the 1998 feature film A Night at the Roxbury. The song was also featured as the background music for the previous night's NBA highlights on NBC's NBA Showtime in the mid-to-late '90s. The music video featured clips from Metropolis. Since 1994, it has been played prior to the opening pitch of every Tulane Green Wave home baseball game.

The song reached #1 in an impressive thirteen countries, all of them European or Asian. Elsewhere, the song peaked at #2 in the United Kingdom and Germany, #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, and #12 in Australia.

Contents 1 Covers and samples 2 Uses in the media 3 Charts 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Covers and samples

• Haddaway's song was sampled by Atlanta crunk/hip-hop group Crime Mob on a song also called "What Is Love". The track was leaked to the Internet in late 2006, and appeared on their second album Hated On Mostly, released March 2007.
• In June of 2007, José Galisteo recorded it on his debut album, Remember.
• The song was also given an industrial makeover by the band The MDP. This version is also commonly known as the "goth version", because of a popular flash movie where it is featured accompanying an animation of the Roxbury Guys with goth makeup.
• The song has also been covered by The Gossip, with lead singer Beth Ditto changing the lyrics to "When Is Lunch?, Baby I'm Hungry".
• Most recently, Irish shoegaze band Razor Stilettos covered the song at their gig supporting The Coronas.

[edit] Uses in the media

• Played in the 1994 "Life of Brian" episode of the television show My So-Called Life
• Played in the 2003 movie Just Married
• A Hindi version of this song was played in the 1994 Indian movie Gentleman
• Sung by Steve Carell and Ed Helms portraying Michael Scott and Andy Bernard, respectively, in Season 3, Episode 8 ("The Merger") of "The Office"
• Played in the trailer for the 1994 film Monkey Trouble.
• Featured in Judson Laipply's "Evolution of Dance".
• Played in the Northern European versions of the 2005 computer animated film Madagascar.
• Was featured in a Diet Pepsi Max commercial during Super Bowl XLII in the United States that also featured Chris Kattan, who played one of the brothers in the Roxbury sketches and movie, also telling people who are bobbing their heads to the beat to "Stop it!".

[edit] Charts

Chart (1993) Peak position U.S. Billboard Hot 100[1] 11 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Recurrent Airplay[1] 5 U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream[1] 4 U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40[1] 15 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales[1] 6 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[1] 9 Australian Singles Chart[2] 12 Austrian Singles Chart[3] 1 Belgian Singles Chart 1 Danish Singles Chart[4] 20 Dutch Singles Chart[5] 1 European Singles Chart 1 Finnish Singles Chart 1 French Singles Chart[6] 1 German Singles Chart[7] 2 Irish Singles Chart[8] 1 Israeli Singles Chart 1 Italian Singles Chart 1 Latvian Singles Chart 1 Norwegian Singles Chart[9] 1 Spanish Singles Chart 1 Swedish Singles Chart[10] 2 Swiss Top 100 Singles Chart[11] 1 UK Singles Chart[12] 2 Chart (1993)1 Peak position Swiss Singles Chart[13] 15 Chart (2003)2 Peak position Austrian Singles Chart[14] 49 Dutch Singles Chart[14] 100 German Singles Chart[15] 51 Swiss Singles Chart[14] 92 1 "What Is Love - Remixes" 2 "What Is Love - Reloaded"

Annual Chart (1993) Position Swiss Singles Chart[16] 2

Preceded by "Informer" by Snow	Norwegian number one single 22/1993 - 29/1993	Succeeded by "Mr. Vain" by Culture Beat
Preceded by "All That She Wants" by Ace of Base	Austrian number one single May 9, 1993 - July 4, 1993	Succeeded by "Mr. Vain" by Culture Beat
Preceded by "Mr. Blue" by René Klijn	Dutch number one single May 15, 1993 - June 19, 1993	Succeeded by "(I Can't Help) Falling in Love With You (UB40 song)" by UB40
Preceded by "Informer" by Snow	Swiss number one single June 13, 1993 - July 11, 1993	Succeeded by "Mr. Vain" by Culture Beat
Preceded by "No Limit" by 2 Unlimited	French (SNEP) number one single July 17, 1993 - August 14, 1993	Succeeded by "Dar la dir la da da" by GO Culture

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• What Is Love? on Discogs

v • d • e Haddaway Albums Haddaway / The Album · The Drive Singles "What Is Love" · "Life" · "I Miss You" · "Rock My Heart" · "Fly Away" · "Catch a Fire" · "Love Be Thy Name" · "What About Me"