Favorite Power Ballads #8 - "Love Bites"
@teamfreak16 (43421)
Denver, Colorado
August 8, 2017 4:41pm CST
"They taught you how to rock, now their teaching you how to love!" - The main line in a commercial for an old power ballad compilation CD. Or something along those lines. Anyway, we are at #8 in my Favorite Power Ballads series: "Love Bites" by Def Leppard.
When producer Mutt Lange made the band aware of "Love Bites," the song was a country ballad. That didn't last too long as Def Leppard turned it into one of the biggest power ballads of the 1980's.
Just how popular? The 1988 single reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (the group's only #1 hit as of now,) and, counting the United States, hit Top 10 status in six countries, and barely missed seven countries when it stalled at #11 in the UK. Oddly, this song was huge when I was in Germany. You couldn't go to a bar without hearing it, and it was in heavy rotation with a lot of people living in the barracks. Yet it failed to chart in that country.
The album, Hysteria, which reached #1 on the Billboard 200, spawned seven singles. There is a reason "Love Bites" was the most successful of the seven: power ballads were huge in the 80's, and this one was one of the best.
Enjoy!
(Info verified by Wikipedia)
HYSTERIA 30th Anniversary Editions out 4 August 2017 Order Now: https://DefLeppard.lnk.to/Hysteria30 Hysteria Special Super Deluxe Edition Box Set Includes ‘...
10 people like this
8 responses
@FourWalls (62267)
• United States
8 Aug 17
I thought love stinks, yeah, yeah. 
I watched the Behind the Music on them not too long ago. Amazed they were able to survive and stay together.
I watched the Behind the Music on them not too long ago. Amazed they were able to survive and stay together.4 people like this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
8 Aug 17
I really haven't known anyone that doesn't like it.
2 people like this
@crossbones27 (48446)
• Mojave, California
9 Aug 17
People used to go crazy for this song back in the day.
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (48446)
• Mojave, California
14 Aug 17
@teamfreak16 I can imagine and heard it a few times in barracks in my time. Marines are mostly metal. Metallica, Pantera, and Slayer and gangster rap. I was only one of a few that ever played punk. Like Tim says. Lots of Metal, very little punk.
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
9 Aug 17
I know. You'd hear it in the barracks all weekend.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
14 Aug 17
I can't even count how many times I heard this being blasted in the barracks.
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (116860)
• Anniston, Alabama
9 Aug 17
I did grow up listening to Def Leppard. And I know this one. 
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
9 Aug 17
Judging from the comments, more people dig it than not.
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
8 Aug 17
Another 80s rock band that passed me by during my alternative universe.
2 people like this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
8 Aug 17
We didn't have an alternative station for awhile, so we had no choice but AOR FM. They played Def Leppard a lot.
2 people like this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
9 Aug 17
A lot of people don't like them, but power ballads were an important part of 80's rock music.
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
8 Aug 17
It's a very popular song, judging from the comments.
@muhamadyasin82 (656)
• Jakarta, Indonesia
31 Jul 18
love bites is my favorite song from def leppard from the past until now. First listened when I bought the vault album in 1997. From the entire album I immediately knew that this song in my ears is the most prominent and hit me right up in the niches of my heart.
