THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

432-Robert Palmer-Addicted To Love.

1986-Number 5 single.

Best Bit-At 0.18. As I watch the iconic video I think to myself, if these girls have taken care of themselves, then they will now be very ‘glamorous grannies.’ (If you watch the video closely you can also see Robert Palmer.)

Robert Palmer was born on January 19th, 1949, in Batley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, He died from a sudden heart attack in a Paris hotel room on September 26th, 2003, at the age of 54. During the course of his career he experimented and recorded many different genres of music including Rock, Reggae, Bossa Nova, and the Blues. Palmer was born in Batley, but shortly after his birth his family uprooted and they moved 76 miles across Yorkshire, where he grew up in the seaside town of Scarborough.Before setting out on a solo career Palmer joined his first band the ‘Mandrakes’ at 15 while still at school, he was then a member of ‘The Alan Bown Set’ from 1969. In 1970 he joined the Jazz/Rock group ‘Dada’ which was where he first played with Elkie Brooks, and Pete Gage, the three of them would go on to co-form the Rock band ‘Vinegar Joe’ in 1972. When they disbanded in 1974 after three studio Albums Palmer pursued a solo career, releasing 15 studio Albums between 1974-2003. He has also released two Albums with the ‘supergroup’ The Power Station’ in 1985 and 1996.

‘Addicted to Love’ was written by Robert Palmer, and produced by Bernard Edwards (1952-1996) (see also best songs 175 and 17) and was released in edited form from Palmer’s eighth studio Album ‘Riptide’ from 1985. Edwards (bass) Andy Taylor (guitar) (see also best songs 903) and Tony Thompson (drums) (see also best songs 175) who had all been part of The Power Station played on the track. When Palmer originally wrote the song, he wrote it as a duet with Chaka Khan in mind, but due to contractual problems her record label refused permission, but Khan (see also best songs 703-228 and 85) still received credit on the Album sleeve for vocal arrangements.For his inspiration on writing the song Palmer has said that it all started with a guitar riff he heard in a dream,’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!’

The songs video is one of the most famous in Pop music history, and was directed by Terence Donovan (1936-1996.) Five glamour models were chosen to appear wearing heavy makeup, dressed seductively, and showing a mannequin-like expression, they were also told there was no need to dance in sync, and there was no need to know how to play the instruments. One of the girls, Mak Gilchrist who was 21 at the time has said,’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.’

‘Your 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.’