THE PERSUADERS - THIN LINE BETWEEN LOVE AND HATE

Released: August 1971

Charts:  US: #15 

In 1971, New York vocal group The Persuaders delivered their signature hit “Thin Line Between Love and Hate,” a cautionary tale that became an instant R&B classic. Written and produced by brothers Robert and Richard Poindexter, along with Robert’s wife Jackie Members, the track spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and climbed to No. 15 on the Hot 100.

The song explores the fragile balance between devotion and resentment in a relationship. In its verses, the narrator describes a woman who dutifully tends to her man, even when he stumbles home at 5 a.m. without explanation. But the chorus delivers the lesson: a woman’s patience has limits, and repeated heartbreak can turn love into something dangerous. By the second verse, the man finds himself in a hospital bed, bandaged from head to toe—a chilling reminder not to take unconditional love for granted. Part of the song’s power lies in its ambiguity. While it alludes to violence, it never spells out exactly how the man ends up injured, leaving listeners to fill in the blanks.

The Persuaders themselves had a turbulent history. Originally performing as The Internationals, they were once duped into impersonating another group in the UK before reinventing themselves under their new name and signing with Atlantic Records. “Thin Line Between Love and Hate” was their first single and the title track of their debut album.

The Pretenders reimagined it in 1984, with Chrissie Hynde flipping the perspective to the woman scorned; their version charted modestly in both the UK and US. In 1995, Annie Lennox gave it her own haunting interpretation on her album “Medusa”, altering the lyrics and deepening the emotional narrative.