Love Is Noise

"Love Is Noise"
Single by The Verve
from the album Forth
B-side "Chic Dub"
Released 11 August 2008
Format digital download, 7", CD
Genre Alternative rock
Length 4:02 (radio edit)
5:29 (album version)
Label Parlophone
Writer(s) Richard Ashcroft / The Verve
Producer(s) Chris Potter, The Verve
The Verve singles chronology
"Sonnet"
(1998)		 "Love Is Noise"
(2008)		 "Rather Be"
(2008)
Alternative cover

"Love Is Noise" is a song by English alternative rock band The Verve and is the second track on their fourth album, Forth. It was released as the first single from the album on 3 August 2008 as a digital download, with the physical release on 11 August 2008[1] in the United Kingdom (see 2008 in British music). The song received its first airplay by Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1 on 23 June 2008.[2] The promo video for the song debuted on the band's MySpace on 9 July.

Richard Ashcroft stated that lyrically the song is a take off of William Blake's "And did those feet in ancient time", commonly known as 'Jerusalem'. Whereas in Blake's song the title verse is "and did those feet in ancient time. Walk upon England's mountains green?" Love is Noise asks: "Will those feet in modern times / Walk on soles that are made in China?", and allusion to "Bright prosaic malls" instead of "dark Satanic mills".[3][4] This is the second time Richard Ashcroft has referenced Blake, following 1995's "History".

"Love Is Noise" derived from another song off the album, "Columbo". While recording that track Richard created a new loop on a vocoder and added it to the song. "Columbo" was practically a jam the band had been working on for a couple of days. After that loop was added, all the band started adding some stuff on to it until finally, it evolved into a different track.[5]

The song has been played live as early as the late 2007 gigs, but was given different names such as "Modern Times", "Love is Pain", "Love is noise (with boy)". The band played it with a huge warm reception at 2008's Coachella as the setlist's closer, something that was repeated in Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage on 29 June.

The video for the song was released on the band's MySpace. The video mixes up shots of the band performing in a dimly-lit room, with frontman Richard Ashcroft sitting on the floor, with montages of other images, including snow-capped mountains, a North Korean choreography, a couple about to kiss, a dancer and a blonde woman with an eagle.

The single debuted in the UK Singles Chart at #5 after its first week of release via online download alone. The following week the song peaked at #4 and stayed 5 weeks in the UK Top 10. It marked a great return for The Verve, charting as their third UK Top 5 single and their fourth to crack the UK Top 10. It had great success around Europe, charting on the Top 20 for 6 weeks so far. It also reached the Top 10 in Ireland, Malta, Sweden, and Italy.

Track listings

On 3 August a digital download of the "album version" of the song was released with the song's video in the iTunes Store. A week later, an exclusive iTunes Store bundle was released featuring a "Freelance Hellraiser" remix at the same time as another bundle featuring the "album version" and the physical format's B-sides. The physical formats (CD and 7" vinyl records) were released on 11 August 2008.[6]

UK Promo CD (Black cover below)
  1. "Love Is Noise" (Radio Edit) – 4:04
  2. "Love Is Noise" (album version) – 5:30
Digital bundle
  1. "Love Is Noise" (album version) – 5:30
  2. "Chic Dub" – 6:11
  3. "Let the Damage Begin" (live 2007) – 4:09
  4. "A Man Called Sun" (live 2007) – 5:19
iTunes Store exclusive bundle
  1. "Love Is Noise" (album version)
  2. "Love Is Noise" (Freelance Hellraiser remix) – 9:10
7" vinyl Gatefold (VERVE002)[7]
  1. "Love Is Noise"
  2. "Let the Damage Begin" (live 2007)
7" clear vinyl (VERVE003)[8]
  1. "Love Is Noise"
  2. "A Man Called Sun" (live 2007)
CD (VERVE004)[9]
  1. "Love Is Noise"
  2. "Chic Dub"
CDR promo [10]
  1. "Love Is Noise" (death metal disco scene remix)
  2. "Love Is Noise" (death metal disco scene dub)
  3. "Love Is Noise" (Tom Neville silent lover mix)
  4. "Love Is Noise" (Tom Neville silent lover instr)
  5. "Love Is Noise" (Tom Neville noisy lover mix)
  6. "Love Is Noise" (Tom Neville noisy lover instr)
  7. "Love Is Noise" (Tong & Rogers wonderland mix)
  8. "Love Is Noise" (Tong & Rogers wonderland instr)
  9. "Love Is Noise" (album version)

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2008) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart[11] 4
Irish Singles Chart[12] 1
Italian Singles Chart[13] 8
New Zealand[14] 35
Ö3 Austria Top 40[15] 29
Swedish Singles Chart[16] 10
Danish Singles Charts[17] 18
Swiss Singles Top 100[18] 26

Year-end charts

Chart (2009) Position
Hungarian Singles Chart[19] 64

References

  1. ↑ Cohen, Jonathan. "The Verve Storms Back on Forth Album". billboard.com. 1 August 2008.
  2. ↑ Zane plays the new Verve single, avail until 30 Jun 08'
  3. ↑ "Lyrically, look at it in the first few lines, as a kind of remake of Jerusalem by William Blake, rather than those feet in ancient times its those feet in modern times.", Richard Ashcroft, Love Is Noise Interview, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rXLSWrFVqg
  4. ↑ Vorndran, Daniela (23 August 2008). "Verve, The – August 2008 (Part II)". Reflections of Darkness – a dark music webzine. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  5. ↑ http://www.reflectionsofdarkness.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3642&Itemid=46
  6. ↑ "The first Verve single for over a decade". 6 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  7. ↑ "The Verve Love Is Noise UK 7" RECORD (441475)". Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  8. ↑ "The Verve Love Is Noise UK 7" RECORD (441477)". Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  9. ↑ "The Verve Love Is Noise UK 5" CD SINGLE (441473)". Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  10. ↑ "The Verve Love Is Noise UK CDR promo".
  11. ↑ UK Singles Chart
  12. ↑ Irish Record Music Association
  13. ↑ Italian FIMI Singles Chart
  14. ↑ Love is Noise at Charts.org.nz
  15. ↑ Love is Noise at AustrianCharts (German)
  16. ↑ http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Verve&titel=Love+Is+Noise&cat=s Swedish Singles Chart
  17. ↑ http://danishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Verve&titel=Love+Is+Noise&cat=s
  18. ↑ Love is Noise at Hitparade.ch (German)
  19. ↑ "Éves összesített listák – MAHASZ Rádiós TOP 100 (súlyozott)". Mahasz. Mahasz.

External links