Released November 1985 Genre Pop/Rock Label Atlantic Records | Format 7", 12" Length 3:59 | |
B-side "Heartbreaker" (May 1985 issue)
"Treat Me Like an Animal" (November 1985 issue) | ||
"Love Grammar" is a song by English singer/musician John Parr, released as the third of four singles from his 1984 self-titled debut album John Parr. The song was written and produced solely by Parr.
Contents
Background
The song was released as the third single from the John Parr album in America. It was originally issued in May 1985, following the release of "Magical", which had peaked at #73 on the Billboard Hot 100. However "Love Grammar", like "Magical", wasn't played much on the radio, as all the stations were playing another Parr song; the soundtrack song "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)", which was released as a single in June of that year. The "Love Grammar" single was re-issued in November 1985, following the success of"St. Elmo's Fire", which went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The re-issue of "Love Grammar" found some commercial success, peaking at #89 in America. The song spent two weeks in the chart, after debuting at #92.
The song would appear as part of the soundtrack of the June 1986 Karen Black movie Flight of the Spruce Goose. Additionally, the album track "Steal You Away (Flight of the Spruce Goose)", from his following 1986 album Running the Endless Mile, would also appear in the film.
The following fifth and final single from Parr's debut album would be a remixed version of "Don't Leave Your Mark on Me", which was issued in the Netherlands and Germany only. The release featured the LP Version of "Love Grammar" as the B-side.
Release
The single was released on 7" and 12" vinyl via Atlantic Records in America only. The single version of the song was labelled as the "LP version" although it ran approximately ten seconds shorter than the album version. The main single release in America of May 1985 featured the John Parr album track "Heartbreaker" as the B-side, whilst the November 1985 main release featured the album track "Treat Me Like an Animal" as the B-side. An American promotional 7" vinyl was also issued with "Love Grammar" on both sides of the vinyl, whilst another 7" vinyl issue featured "Love Grammar (Vocal/LP Version)" as the main song, with the B-side being "Love Grammar (Vocal/Special Remix Edit)". The 12" vinyl release featured "Love Grammar (LP Version)" on both sides of the vinyl.
No picture sleeve/artwork was issued with any version of the single, and instead the single came in a generic plain Atlantic Records sleeve.
Promotion
A music video was created for the single, which was the main form of promotion. The video aired on the MTV channel on November 21 for the first time. The video featured footage of Parr in concert, spliced with cuts of his girlfriend modeling sportswear designed by Chams de Baron, which, not coincidentally, sponsored the video. The Chams logo was removed from the tape, but a 30-second commercial and an identical video, to be distributed to cable and affiliate stations, flashes the logo prominently and often.
In the Billboard magazine issue of 14 December 1985, the song was listed under the 'The Clip List' section, where it had been receiving light rotation on the MTV channel.
On 30 November 1985, and again on 15 February 1986, Parr performed the song on the American syndicated music television series "Solid Gold". The first performance on the show was the show's 250th episode.
Track listing
- "Love Grammar" - 3:59
- "Heartbreaker" - 5:26
- "Love Grammar" - 3:59
- "Treat Me Like an Animal" - 5:26
- "Love Grammar (Vocal/LP Version)" - 3:59
- "Love Grammar (Vocal/Special Remix Edit)" - 3:35
- "Love Grammar (LP Version)" - 3:59
- "Love Grammar (LP Version)" - 3:59
- "Love Grammar (LP Version)" - 3:59
- "Love Grammar (LP Version)" - 3:59
Critical reception
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic spoke of the song in a review of the John Parr album, where he stated "1984 was a terrific year for music, certainly the best of the decade, so it was easy for somebody like John Parr to sort of slip in underneath the radar with a record that was teasingly, tastefully raunchy -- a strip anthem for civilized bachelor parties, a perfect compliment to the Reagan era. This turned out to be a pretty good touchstone for the album, which was a far bigger hit than anybody that views Parr as just a man in motion would expect. It didn't just reach the Top 50, spending half a year on the Billboard charts, but spawned three Hot 100 hits - with "Love Grammar" and "Magical" hitting the lower regions after "Naughty Naughty" peaked at 23. These two songs don't have the thematic hook of "Naughty Naughty" - which, let's face it, has the kind of attitude that results in a classic one-hit wonder - but they're both good mainstream-oriented album rockers that try to come to terms with the synth-saturated style of the new wave." Erlewine also noted the song as an album stand-out track by highlighting it as an AMG Pick Track.