The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 648

Number 648

Robert Palmer

"Addicted To Love"

(1985)

Genre:Rock

19.01.49 to 26.09.03

Coming on the heels of the massive success of the Power Station, Riptide packages Robert Palmer's voice and suave personality into a commercial series of mostly rocking songs that seem custom-tailored to be chart hits. The Power Station connection threatens to overpower Palmer's usually more eclectic musical interest, but with that band's producer/member Bernard Edwards handling production duties and members Andy Taylor and Tony Thompson contributing as well, stylistic similarities were inevitable. "Flesh Wound," though, sounds like a retread of "Some Like It Hot," with its squelching staccato guitars and tribal drums mimicking the hit single. "Hyperactive" adds a bit of a pop veneer to the formula, with its bright keyboards dating the song to the Miami Vice era; that's not to say it doesn't hold nostalgic charm. "Addicted to Love" shares some of the same punch, somewhat slowing down the Power Station's bombast into slinkier, blues territory, while maintaining a heavy rock crunch. The song skyrocketed to the top of the U.S. charts and sold more than a million copies as a single worldwide.

A music video for the song, featuring sexy models gyrating blankly, no doubt helped sales and launched a new phase of Palmer's career, where music videos would nearly overshadow his songwriting. Equally catchy and almost as successful is the brilliant take on the Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis song "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On." It is perhaps Riptide's most daring track, with its fractured jittery notes, funky basslines, and pounding drums matching Palmer's bothered, sweaty vocals to create a yearning song that drips with passion. Also not to be missed is Earl King's "Trick Bag," which Palmer translates into a fun Clues-style minimalist modern blues song. Even if Riptide uses the Power Station as a blueprint, its only true faults reside in the cheesy album-opening and album-closing refrains of "Riptide," which seemingly satisfy Palmer's tropical proclivities. They might be relaxing and humorous as elevator music, but they are sharply at odds with the tone of the album and Palmer's usually impeccable musical taste. Cheesy opening and ending aside, Riptide has some truly addictive moments and it set him firmly on course, for better or worse, for the even harder-rocking Heavy Nova. ~ Tim DiGravina

Palmer, who made his home in Lugano, Switzerland for his last 15 years, died in Paris, France in 2003 of a heart attack at the age of 54. He is interred at the cemetery in Lugano. With Thompson's death later that year and Edwards' back in 1996, three members of the Power Station team that helped propel Palmer to his biggest success have met untimely ends.

For Power Station see Number 893
For Duran Duran see Number 764

What does Rolling Stone think about R Palmer?

Robert Palmer died today of a heart attack in Paris. The fashion-savvy singer, who enjoyed chart-topping popularity in the Eighties, was fifty-four. Though Palmer would have his greatest success in 1986 with the Number One single "Addicted to Love" and the almost equally successful "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" and "Simply Irrestible" (both reached Number Two), his solo career stretched back to the early Seventies and he was singing with the Alan Bown Set and Dada (later Vinegar Joe) in the late Sixties. When Vinegar Joe split in 1972, Palmer began to record as a solo artist. "I'm not concerned that my stuff isn't extreme," Palmer once told Rolling Stone. "I don't want to be heavy. I can't think of another attitude to have toward an audience than a hopeful and a positive one. And if that includes such unfashionable things as sentimentality, well, I can afford it."
ANDREW DANSBY(September 26, 2003)

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (He just wasn't our cup of tea, sorry) and the Album ranked at Number (Hey, if its any condolence we didn't like Power Station either)

(Bet you liked the vidoe tho aye R.Stone?)

This song has a total crowbarred rating of 70.6 out of 108

Addicted To Love Robert Palmer
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