"Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" is a song by British

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...

act

Sub Sub Sub Sub were an English dance act from Handforth, Cheshire composed of Jimi Goodwin and twin brothers Andy and Jez Williams. The threesome met at school in 1985 and became regulars at The Haçienda The Haçienda was a nightclub and mu ...

, released on 29 March 1993 as the second single from their debut album, ''Full Fathom Five'' (1994). It features Temper Temper's

Melanie Williams Melanie Williams (born 28 October 1964) is a British singer. She sang on the hit single " Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" alongside the Manchester-based electronic group Sub Sub. Career Williams was a friend of Sub Sub at the time, and the band, s ...

on vocals. The song was the act's biggest single, reaching number three on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, number one on the

UK Dance Singles Chart The UK Dance Singles Chart and the UK Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synthpop) in record s ...

and becoming one of many dance singles in 1993 to cross over into mainstream popularity in the UK. In the accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

Jimi Goodwin Jimi Goodwin (born Jamie Francis Alexander Goodwin 28 May 1970 in Manchester) is the bassist, vocalist and guitarist for Doves. Before their incarnation as Doves, the three members were in a house music group, Sub Sub. Goodwin is best known as ...

plays bass,

Jez Williams Jeremy Francis "Jez" Williams (born 18 February 1970) is the guitarist/songwriter of Doves. He was born in Manchester, England, and is the twin brother of bandmate Andy and the son of noted modernist architect Desmond Williams. Before their ...

plays keyboards and percussion, and

Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...

plays

keytar The keytar is a lightweight synthesizer that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is supported by a strap. Keytars allow players a greater range of movement onstage, compared to conventional keyboard ...

. After struggling to repeat the success of the single, and after a fire destroyed the band's

Ancoats Ancoats is an area of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. It is located next to the Northern Quarter, the northern part of Manchester city centre. Historically in Lancashire, Ancoats became a cradle of the Industrial Revolution and has ...

studio in 1996, the group eventually reformed with a radically different sound as

Doves Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

in 1998.

Background and release

Twin brothers Andy and Jez used to go to a fair when they were kids. One day Andy won a record there. They brought it home and played it, but didn't like it. The record was put away. In 1991, after Sub Sub had a hit with "Space Face" they wanted to make a follow-up to it. They spent time searching for the right sample they could use in the new song. Then Jez put the forgotten record from the fair on. It was "

Good Morning Starshine "Good Morning Starshine" is a pop song from the musical '' Hair'' (1967). It was a No. 3 hit in the United States in July 1969 and a No. 6 hit in the United Kingdom in October 1969 for the singer Oliver. The chorus makes extensive use of appar ...

" by Revelation. Jimi learned to play the bassline on a Roland Juno-106 keyboard, and the whole track came together quickly. There is also another well-known sample on there, but it has never been officially known what it is, only that it is a sound, rather than a song. The band had only done instrumental and wanted to find someone to sing lyrics to their melody. Jimi's best friend, Joe Roberts, was dating singer

from the soul band Temper Temper at that time. They contacted her and she thought it was perfect. Williams also wrote the third verse for the song. The track was then recorded at Revolution Studios in Manchester. Sub Sub's manager Dave Rofe, Rob's Records' Pete Robinson and North South's promoter Karen Hampton were targeting

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

and taste-making DJ

Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as ''Essential Mix'' and ''Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio stre ...

to give the song a listen. He got right behind it and it spread like wildfire through Radio 1. The band and Williams also performed the song on the British music chart television programme

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

after they was the highest new entry at number ten on the

. The single sold in 700,000 copies and peaked at number three in April 1993.

Critical reception

Tom Ewing of

Freaky Trigger ''Freaky Trigger'' is an Internet publication and e-zine that focuses on popular culture with topics varying from music to cinema. It was founded by the music critic Tom Ewing in 1999 and features Pete Baran and Mark Sinker as editors. From 2000 ...

declared the song as "excellent" and "tune-heavy, hands-high

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

". Katrine Ring from ''

Gaffa ''Gaffa'' (stylized as ''GAFFA'') is a free Nordic music magazine with local editions in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''Gaffa'' is Denmark's largest and oldest music magazine. It has been published since 1983 and has 320,000 print readers and ...

'' felt that "it is almost like hearing Deelite. Grooovey!"

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a music writer and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worked on air ...

said in his weekly UK chart commentary, "A hit almost before it had ever started, this track popular not only in the clubs but also extremely radio friendly. A timely piece of production as well with the

Philly Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

-sounding strings and wah-wah guitar making the track sound as if it is straight out of the 1970s.

Disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

returns with a 90s flavour I suppose and Top 3 is almost guaranteed." Australian music channel Max included it in their list of "1000 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2012. A reviewer from ''The Mix'' viewed it as "great". Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' wrote that "the arrangements are smoothly funky and combined with a voice that soothes like honey and rings like a bell, you can feel that real party enthusiasm which is so reminiscent of late '70s disco." They also described the song as "70s disco in a trendy club style". Andy Beevers from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' said it "is something of a revelation – a fresh, funky and very different disco-influenced track with excellent catchy vocals. It has been generating a huge buzz in the clubs and should be a big hit." James Hamilton from the '' RM'' Dance Update described it as a "smash-bound jaunty leaper like Deee-Lite combining Eric Burdon & War's "

Spill The Wine "Spill the Wine" is the debut single by singer Eric Burdon and the band War, released in May 1970. It was backed by the non-album track " Magic Mountain", and was War's first ''Billboard'' chart hit.''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990'' ...

" with

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

's "

Got To Give It Up "Got to Give It Up" is a song by American music artist Marvin Gaye. Written by the singer and produced by Art Stewart as a response to a request from Gaye's record label that he perform disco music, it was released in March 1977. Upon its releas ...

"".

Chart performance

"Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" proved to be quite successful on the charts across several continents. It made it to the top five in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number three in its third week at the

, on 18 April 1993. The single spent six weeks inside the UK top 10. On the

, it was even more successful, reaching the number one position. It was a top-20 hit in Ireland and the Netherlands, as well as on the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...

, where it hit number 11 in May 1993. "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" was also a hit in Belgium, where it went to number 47. Outside Europe, it charted in Australia and Israel, peaking at number 11 and 23. The single earned a

silver record Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical cond ...

in the UK, after 200,000 units were sold there.

Track listings

* UK and Australian CD single, Australian cassette single # "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (radio edit) # "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (original mix) # "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (Parkside mix) # "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (On the House mix) * UK 7-inch and cassette single # "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (original edit) # "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (Parkside mix) * UK 12-inch single :A1. "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (original mix) :B1. "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (Parkside mix) :B2. "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (Parkside raw dub) * UK 12-inch single—On remixes # "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (On the Floor) # "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (On the House) # "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (On Yer Face) * French CD single # "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (radio edit) – 2:46 # "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (Parkside mix) – 7:43 * Australian CD and cassette single—remixes # "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (Rubber Band mix) # "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (original 12-inch mix) # "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (Parkside raw dub mix) # "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" (radio edit)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Usage in media

The song was featured in the 1997 American film ''

Romy and Michele's High School Reunion ''Romy and Michele's High School Reunion'' is a 1997 American comedy film directed by David Mirkin and starring Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow, and Janeane Garofalo. The plot revolves around two 28-year-old girls who appear to have not achieved much su ...

'' but was not featured on the soundtrack album.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1993 singles 1993 songs Melanie Williams songs Music Week number-one dance singles Songs written by Andy Williams (Doves) Songs written by Jez Williams Songs written by Jimi Goodwin British dance songs Sub Sub songs