| "Modern Love" | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by David Bowie | ||||||||||
| from the album Let's Dance | ||||||||||
| B-side | "Modern Love (Live)" | |||||||||
| Released | September 1983 | |||||||||
| Format | 7"/12" single | |||||||||
| Recorded | Power Station, New York, December 1982 | |||||||||
| Genre | Rock, pop, dance | |||||||||
| Length | 3:56 (single) 4:46 (album) |
|||||||||
| Label | EMI America Records EA158 |
|||||||||
| Writer(s) | David Bowie | |||||||||
| Producer | Nile Rodgers, David Bowie | |||||||||
| David Bowie singles chronology | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
"Modern Love" is a song written and recorded by David Bowie, and the first track on his album Let's Dance. It was issued as the third single from the album in 1983.
Bowie has claimed the song is inspired by Little Richard, and it maintains the album's theme of a struggle between God and man. Some commentators noted the similarities between the track and Elton John's near-simultaneous hit "I'm Still Standing" , although both parties admitted the songs were recorded at roughly the same time with no knowledge of the other.
By the time "Modern Love" was issued and edited as a single, Bowie's Serious Moonlight Tour was underway. The track had become a popular encore on the tour, and Jim Yukich's video for the song used footage of Bowie and his band performing the song from the July 20, 1983 concert in Philadelphia. A live version, recorded in Montreal on July 13, was on the B-side.
The single reached #2 in the UK, and #14 on the US Billboard Hot 100.[1] As well as being a staple of the tour, it featured in Bowie's set at Live Aid in 1985, and in his subsequent Glass Spider and Sound+Vision tours of 1987 and 1990. A re-recording with Tina Turner was also featured on a Pepsi commercial in 1987.[2]
In 2007 the Israeli Alternative folk artist Geva Alon made a cover of this song, which was included in his second album, The Wall of Sound.
Contents |
| Chart (1983) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 6 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 2 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 10 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 3 |
| German Singles Chart | 27 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 17 |
| U.K. Singles Chart | 2 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 14 |
| U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 6 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||