Bad Love (Eric Clapton song)

Release

"Bad Love" was released as the third single from Eric Clapton's 1989 studio album Journeyman on March 10, 1990. However, a promotional single release, exclusively released in the United Kingdom only, was released in 1989 under license of Warner Bros. Records on a 12-inch CD Maxi single. For whole of Europe and the United States, the single was released via 7 inch vinyl grammophone record on March 10 one year later. The recording was produced by Russ Titelman, who later also produced several albums for Eric Clapton under Reprise and Warner Bros. Records. Other territories, in which the single has been released include Australia, Brazil, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, where it also was released as a B-side to a later single or limited edition track of a compilation album.

Personnel

The original recording features Eric Clapton playing electric guitar and singing lead vocals alongside Phil Collins' drumming and harmony background singing. Alan Clark acts as the keyboardist on the release, which includes Pino Palladino on bass guitar. The publishing rights to both the song and release belong to Unichappell Music, Incorporated. While promoting his new studio album during his two-year "Journeyman World Tour" in 1990 and 1991, Eric Clapton performed the song with a different band line-up including Nathan East on bass guitar, Greg Phillinganes on keyboards, Chuck Leavell on the Hammond organ, Steve Ferrone on drums, Ray Cooper on percussion, Phil Palmer on rhythm guitar as well as Tessa Niles and Katie Kissoon on backing vocals. Eric Clapton released a live interpretation of "Bad Love" on his album 24 Nights with the band line-up mentioned above, released on October 8, 1991. The British rock musician also released the track on various compilation albums including Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton (1999), Complete Clapton (2007) and Forever Man (2015). In total, the rock tune as been released on over 15 albums worldwide.

Composition

In an interview with his official fan club "Where's Eric!", Eric Clapton remembered how the song came about: "Warner Bros. wanted another 'Layla'. I thought, well, if you sit down and write a song in a formatted way, it's not so hard. You think, 'What was 'Layla' comprised of? A fiery intro modulated into the first verse and chorus with a riff around it. I had this stuff in my head, so I just juggled it around, and Mick Jones (of the group Foreigner) came in to help tidy up. He was the one who said 'You should put a 'Badge' middle in there'. So, we did that. Although it sounds like a cold way of doing it, it actually took on its own life". The song is about a man, who broke up several relationships and is now with the woman of his dreams. Although he is very happy and in love, the protagonist feels sad for all the people, who are not as happy as him, because he understands how it feels to be without happiness and love. The second verse explains, that the person felt unhappy with his life for a long amount of time and recalls many "heartaches". Finally, though, he is happy with his life and wants to be with the person he now met. The chorus expresses the person's need to forget about his old affaires, which have felt to him like "Bad Love". The song consists of two verses and one chorus which is sung between the two verses and three times after the second verse ended. The chorus and instrumental solo sections are written in a key of D minor. The verses are played and sung in the key of B minor. Because of the song's lyrics and powerful chord progression, it is widely recognised as "the perfect break-up song".

Music video

A self-titled music video to accompany the "Bad Love" single release was filmed and released in 1989. The music video, which was shot in a 4:3 format, was later resized to a wider format to get a more high-definition picture for its re-release on DVD format. The music video was shot in a black and white picture and features Eric Clapton playing and singing the song alongside Nathan East on bass guitar and vocals, Greg Phillinganes on keyboards and vocals as well as Phil Collins, who is on drums and also sings backing vocals. The quartett is shown performing the title on stage while Eric Clapton rehearsed for his, then, upcoming "Journeyman World Tour". The main video action is interrupted with film sequences that show off-stage actions like camera and lightning arrangements and Eric Clapton chatting to his fellow band members. The "Bad Love" video was constantly to be seen on the music channels MTV, VH1, MuchMusic, Fuse TV and is still shown on their programme. The music video was re-released on October 12, 1999 on the Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton DVD. The live video version from 24 Nights is not considered as the official music video.

Chart performance

In the United States, the rock song reached number 88 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, where it stayed a total of five weeks on the official national singles chart. "Bad Love" was more successful on the Mainstream Rock songs chart, also compiled by the Billboard magazine, where it peaked at number one and stayed a total 21 weeks on the chart. The song was Clapton's last number-one hit, to reach the Billboard Mainstream Rock songs chart. It stayed on top of the chart for three weeks. The single sold a total of 129,482 in the five weeks on the Hot 100 singles chart. In the United Kingdom, the release peaked at number 25 on the Official Charts Company's compilation, where it stayed seven weeks and sold 48,272 copies in the country. In Canada, "Bad Love" peaked at number 56 on the singles charts compiled by the RPM magazine, selling 2,001 copies, while on the chart. In Italy and Poland, the single release peaked at position 39 and number 14. In Japan, the album ranked on number ten on the Oricon international singles chart, selling more than 50,000 copies in total and becoming a gold record within a month. It was awarded with a Gold disc in Portugal and South Africa, too. In the Netherlands, the single positioned itself at place 83 on the MegaCharts singles chart. According to Clapton himself, the release reached the Top 10 in five countries. In total, the single release sold more than 250,000 copies worldwide.

Critical reception

Music critic Scott Floman notes, that the title "rocked just hard enough while containing catchy choruses" and that "Bad Love" is a "catchy faster paced number which saw Clapton really letting loose on guitar", which the critic is not a surprise, because "the song was co-written with Foreigner’s Mick Jones".

Media appearance

In 1990, Eric Clapton filmed a television advertisement for the Japanese car company Honda Cars. The filming took place in a New York City recording studio. In the commercial, which was shown frequently on worldwide television, the British rock musician is seen and heard overdubbing an extra guitar line, that Eric Clapton improvised, onto the song "Bad Love". For the commercial Eric Clapton brought his famous black Fender Stratocaster, "Blackie", out of retirement at the request of Honda Cars in Japan.

Cover versions

"Bad Love" has not been officially re-released on any studio or live album by another registered artist. However, the rock song became a favourite for covers on the Internet video platform YouTube. More than one hundred cover versions by both amateur and professional musicians have been uploaded, in which people cover the keyboard, bass and guitar playing of either the studio or the live release.