Ya sang along with it and ya KNOW ya did!!!: Love Hurts By Nazareth

Love Hurts

1975

Nazareth

I can almost bet that when we 'Seventies Kids' remember '76's first real big 'One Hit Wonder', we remember it's strong, snappy, guitar intro, and the short but equally awesome guitar solo about two thirds of the way through the song just as well as we remember the vocals...which were pretty kick-ass in their own right. Also memorable was the fact that this was one of those songs you that were just about guaranteed to hear about 30 seconds after you broke up with your girl or boyfriend. You could just about bet on it.

The song is, of course, Nazareth's classic Rock ballad 'Love Hurts'...but the thing is they weren't the first...or second...or even third artist or group to record the song. They just had...by far...the most success with it.

Felice and Boudleoux Bryant wrote 'Love Hurts' back in early 1960, and The Everly Brothers recorded it and added to their album 'A Date With The Everly Brothers in July of that year...but didn't release it as a single. Next up...and first to make a hit out of it...was Roy Orbison in 1961 when he released it as the 'B' side of his international hit, 'Running Scared'. But...and it's a biggie...'Love Hurts' was only a hit 'Down Under', in Australia. It didn't even crack the Hot 100 in The US.

The Who also covered it in 67, and played it occasionally at early shows...but again, never released it as a single. It was also covered by Mark Winter, Jimmy Webb, and the duo Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. This last cover was recorded in '73, just before Parson's death, and released on their 1973 compilation album 'Grievous Angel'. Though the album got awesome reviews, it tanked commercially...and again 'Love Hurts' flew beneath the Hot 100 radar. Parsons, and his mix of Country and Rock, which he called 'Cosmic American Music', is now considered to have been extremely influential for both genres...and you can hear touches of both in their version of the song.

Nazareth got their chance with the song in '74, when they included it as a track on their legendary album 'Hair Of The Dog' and, As 'Da Old Fella' says...they took the ball and ran with it...and scored big. With both the album and the single. Nazareth was a Scottish band, and extremely popular in Europe, and Hair Of The Dog made them international stars. That album is rightly considered a classic, it's title track became a constant staple of Rock Radio...and 'Love Hurts' became a international megahit, cracking the Top 10 in nine (Count 'em) nine countries, going all the way to #1 in six of them.

Nazareth released 'Love Hurts' in The U.K. almost a year before it's US release, so it got lots of traction and,as I recall, even a little bit of airplay on this side of The Pond before it was officially released. It didn't waste much time down in the dark world of The Uncharted...it started climbing the charts pretty much instantly, and peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 13th, 1976. You were just about sure to hear it multiple times on any given day back then (On both Rock and Top 40 stations), and it's been a staple on Playlists ever since. It was played so often that it became one of those songs that was as comfortable as an old sweater, with Hard Rock and Pop aficionados alike mouthing the lyrics right along with Dan Macafferty's vocals as he crooned 'Love Hurts...Love Scars...It Wounds, And mars...' At least it was as comfortable as an old sweater unless you heard that classic guitar intro just after you got told 'It's Over'

You can still hear 'Love Hurts' regularly on Oldies stations...and better yet, you can even hear Nazareth live if you're lucky enough to be near a city where they're performing....they've never stopped performing, though backing vocalist/bass player Pete Agnew's the only original member left.

It's always nice when a classic like 'Love Hurts is still going strong! Wish it'd happen more often!

So Enjoy! Love Hurts, by Nazareth.