B-side "Your Star Will Shine" Format 7"
12"
cassette
CD Label Geffen | Released November 1994 Length 5:46 | |
Genre Indie rock
blues rock
alternative rock | ||
"Love Spreads" is a song by The Stone Roses, released in November 1994 as the first single from their second album Second Coming. The record was a number two hit in the UK Singles Chart, the highest peak for any song by the band, as well as the only Stone Roses song to chart on the Hot 100 Airplay, charting at number 55, making the song their most commercially successful track.
Contents
Cover art
John Squire designed the "Love Spreads" cover, using a photograph of one of the four stone cherubs on the Newport Bridge in Newport, Gwent. The cherubs on the bridge are modelled after Newport's coat of arms, which contains a cherub with winged sea lions. The cherub design was subsequently used on many pieces of Second Coming merchandise.
Music video
There are two music videos for "Love Spreads." The original UK version, directed by Mike Clark and the Stone Roses, consisted of home footage. There are scenes of Mani, Squire, and Brown dressed as a chicken, the devil, and Death respectively. These scenes were interspliced with hidden images.
Geffen and MTV were unsatisfied with the quality of the first video, so Steven Hanft at Propaganda Films directed a second video for American audiences.
Responses
Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream hailed the song "as the greatest comeback single ever." In May 2007, NME magazine placed "Love Spreads" at number 44 in its list of the 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever and said it was the band at their "take no prisoners best". Allmusic called the song a "true classic".
Legacy
A re-recorded version of "Love Spreads" was used on The Help Album (a compilation of songs for the charity War Child). It was also used in the season 4 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, "Invisible Evidence" and in a season 5 episode of Entourage, "Return to Queens Boulevard."
The song is featured in the music videogame Guitar Hero World Tour, appearing in the final bonus set in career mode. It is also available as a downloadable track for the music video game series Rock Band and is playable in the Classic Rock Track Pack.
Track listing
Cassette (Geffen GFSC 84)
- "Love Spreads" – (5:46)
- "Your Star Will Shine" – (2:56)
- "Love Spreads" – (5:46)
- "Your Star Will Shine" – (2:56)
- "Breakout" – (6:04)
- "Groove Harder" – (4:26)
- "Love Spreads" – (5:46)
- "Your Star Will Shine" – (2:56)
- "Breakout" – (6:04)