“Love Is the Drug” is a song by the English rock band Roxy Music, from their fifth studio album, Siren (1975), released as a single in September 1975. Co-written by Bryan Ferry and Andy MacKay, the song originated as a slower, dreamier track until the band transformed its arrangement to become more dance-friendly and uptempo. Ferry’s lyrics recount a man going out looking for action.
Saxophonist Andy Mackay wrote the basic melody for the song in London in early 1975, explaining, “I came up with chords for an unusual song on my Wurlitzer electronic piano. My chords had a distinctly English-y sound inspired by 20th century classical composers like Ralph Vaughan Williams. They had a folk-harmony feel influenced by early church music.” The band then collaborated to flesh out the song in the studio, with vocalist Bryan Ferry and drummer Paul Thompson moving the song in a more dance-oriented style.
“Love Is the Drug” was the band’s choice for the debut single from their fifth studio album, Siren (1975): Mackay commented, “Like most hit singles, ‘Love Is The Drug’ kind of selected itself and always sounded like something special.” The song was a commercial smash for the band, reaching number two in the UK and reaching the top twenty in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Australia. It also reached number 30 in the US, making it the band’s highest charting single there. The band had struggled previously to make inroads in the US, with Mackay lamenting, “North America had been hard for us. We were seen there as an art-rock band.”
The single was a commercial hit for the band, peaking at number two in the United Kingdom. It also gave the group its first substantial exposure in the United States, reaching number 30 in early 1976 on the Billboard, becoming their highest charting single. Since its release, the song has been hailed as an early influence on new wave and has been praised for its groove and bassline. Though the band did not film a music video for “Love Is the Drug”, they did mime the song for a television appearance in 1975. Ferry wore an eyepatchr the appearance, albeit not for aesthetic reasons.
Since then, “Love Is the Drug” has seen critical acclaim and many music writers point to the song as being a progenitor of future new wave and funk sounds. Dave Thompson of AllMusic concluded, “Indeed, peel away the radio-pleasing buoyancy which is the song’s immediate calling card and ‘Love Is the Drug’ is as grimly unrelenting as any past Roxy attack — as taut as it is tight, as sordid as it is sensual. In 2019, Marc Myers of The Wall Street Journal characterized the song, with “its pulsating bass line and swaggering croon”, as “the swaggering love song that launched new wave”.
