Released in 1988 as the second single from “OU812”, “When It’s Love” it’s one of Van Halen’s most enduring successes of the Sammy Hagar era. The song climbed to No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart and No. 5 on the Hot 100, becoming the band’s third and final Top 10 hit. Built around a soaring melody and a heartfelt vocal performance, it remains a centerpiece of their live shows.
The song began as a collaboration between brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen, who composed the music before Sammy Hagar added the lyrics. Musically, it’s a classic late-’80s power ballad — lush, anthemic, and anchored by Eddie’s shimmering guitar tone. The solo, Eddie later revealed, was a tribute to Eric Clapton, one of his lifelong influences.
“When It’s Love” doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Its themes — the universality and endurance of love — are familiar territory. The opening line, “Everybody’s lookin’ for something,” echoes countless pop anthems before it. Yet, when paired with Van Halen’s signature musicianship, the song transcends its clichés and matches with the sincerity and warmth that defined the band’s mid-career peak.
The parent album’s title, “OU812”, was itself a cheeky cultural in-joke — a phonetic pun meaning “Oh, you ate one too.” It had appeared in various pop culture contexts before, from the sitcom Taxi to Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie.
For Hagar, “When It’s Love” carried an additional challenge: the music video. Never entirely comfortable with lip-syncing, he pushed to perform the song at full volume during filming to keep his delivery authentic. The commitment came at a cost — he blew out his voice during the shoot, leaving him unable to sing at a concert the following night.
VAN HALEN - UNCHAINED
Released: July 1981
Album: Fair Warning
“Unchained” is one of the standout tracks from Van Halen’s fourth studio album, “Fair Warning”. Released as a single in select international markets including Germany, Spain, and Japan, the song has since become a fan favorite and a defining anthem of the band’s David Lee Roth era. Built around one of Eddie Van Halen’s most explosive riffs, “Unchained” captures the raw, muscular sound that made “Fair Warning” the darkest and most uncompromising album in Van Halen’s early catalog.
The song is a masterclass in controlled chaos. Eddie Van Halen deploys a low, drop-D tuned guitar riff that churns with a metallic intensity, while drummer Alex Van Halen locks into a syncopated groove that swings between aggression and swagger. The result is a sound that feels both heavy and airborne — a paradox of weight and freedom that perfectly suits the song’s title. As Guitar World would later note, “It’s as heavy as music can be without being heavy at all.”
Lyrically, “Unchained” is less about narrative and more about attitude. David Lee Roth delivers a performance that’s part strut, part sneer, part self-parody. Lines like “blue-eyed murder in a side-swiped dress” are pure Roth — playful, nonsensical, and utterly magnetic. Midway through the track, the band breaks the fourth wall entirely when Roth begins bantering with producer Ted Templeman in the studio. “That suit is YOU!” Roth quips, to which Templeman famously replies, “Come on, Dave, gimme a break.” The exchange wasn’t planned — it happened spontaneously during recording and was kept in the final mix.
At the time, “Fair Warning” was a sharp contrast to what would come three years later with “1984”, the album that catapulted Van Halen into pop superstardom. Released in the same year Eddie married actress Valerie Bertinelli, “Fair Warning” remained firmly rooted in the hard rock underground, finding its audience on Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) radio rather than the singles charts. Despite not charting, “Unchained” received extensive airplay and became a staple of the band’s live setlists, often serving as a high-voltage centerpiece in their concerts.
A music video was created to promote the song, though the band’s indifference to the medium was evident. MTV had just launched, and the label hired director Bruce Gowers to film a concert performance. Van Halen provided no additional lighting or staging for the shoot, but editor Robert Lombard managed to piece together a compelling clip from the raw footage. The band unexpectedly loved the result, which encouraged them to make future videos — including their next one for “(Oh) Pretty Woman.”
Decades later, Eddie’s son Wolfgang Van Halen would call “Unchained” “the definitive Van Halen song from the Roth era”. It’s easy to see why. The song distills everything that made early Van Halen electric: monstrous riffs, reckless humor, and a swagger that borders on supernatural.
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CHANGE - THE GLOW OF LOVE
Publicada: octubre de 1980
Llistes: Regne Unit: #14
Quan el projecte italoamericà de disco Change va publicar “The Glow of Love” el 1980, difícilment podien imaginar que estaven llançant no només la seva pròpia carrera, sinó també la d’un dels més grans vocalistes de soul de tots els temps: Luther Vandross.
El grup va ser una idea de Jacques Fred Petrus, un empresari i productor francoitalià que ja havia aconseguit èxit amb formacions de disco com Machinery i B. B. & Q. Band. Amb Change, Petrus volia crear un col·lectiu d’estudi capaç de combinar la sofisticació rítmica del disco europeu amb el cor ple d’ànima del R&B nord-americà. La música va ser principalment obra dels productors italians Mauro Malavasi i Davide Romani, que van escriure i produir gran part de l’àlbum de debut del grup, també titulat “The Glow of Love”.
Publicada com a segon single de l’àlbum, “The Glow of Love” va ser un triomf immediat a les pistes de ball. Impulsada per una línia de baix exuberant, cordes lluents i una tornada plena d’alegria, la cançó va capturar l’optimisme eufòric dels darrers anys del disco. Va arribar al número 1 de la llista Billboard Dance el 1980, on s’hi va mantenir durant nou setmanes impressionants.
Al centre de tot hi havia Luther Vandross, que aleshores encara era un cantant de sessió relativament desconegut. Vandross ja havia prestat la seva veu a anuncis i com a corista per a David Bowie, Bette Midler i Chaka Khan, però “The Glow of Love” li va donar una rara oportunitat per destacar com a vocalista principal. La seva interpretació en aquesta cançó i en “Searching”, del mateix àlbum, va ser reveladora: càlida, sedosa i plena de matisos emocionals. La crítica i la indústria se’n van adonar, i en menys d’un any Vandross va iniciar la seva pròpia carrera en solitari, convertint-se en una de les veus definidores del R&B dels anys vuitanta i posteriors.
L’herència de la cançó no es va acabar amb l’era del disco. El 1999, el duo britànic de house Phats & Small en va fer un sample per al seu èxit “Turn Around”, que va arribar al número 2 de les llistes del Regne Unit. Dos anys més tard, Janet Jackson va construir el seu èxit del 2001 “All for You” al voltant del mateix ritme central, presentant així a una nova generació la irresistible calidesa de “The Glow of Love”.
CHANGE - THE GLOW OF LOVE
Released: October 1980
Charts: UK: #14
When Italian-American disco project Change released “The Glow of Love” in 1980, they could hardly have known they were launching not just their own career, but also the career of one of the greatest soul vocalists of all time: Luther Vandross.
The group itself was the brainchild of Jacques Fred Petrus, a French-Italian businessman and producer who had previously found success with disco acts like Machinery and B. B. & Q. Band. With Change, Petrus envisioned a studio-based collective that could combine the rhythmic sophistication of European disco with the soulful heart of American R&B. The music was largely crafted by Italian producers Mauro Malavasi and Davide Romani, who wrote and produced much of the group’s debut album, also titled “The Glow of Love”.
Released as the album’s second single, “The Glow of Love” was an instant triumph on the dance floor. Driven by its lush bassline, shimmering strings, and joyous chorus, the song captured the euphoric optimism of disco’s twilight years. It shot to No. 1 on the Billboard Dance chart in 1980, where it stayed for an incredible nine weeks.
At the center of it all was Luther Vandross, who at the time was still a relatively unknown session singer. Vandross had already lent his voice to jingles and backup parts for David Bowie, Bette Midler, and Chaka Khan, but “The Glow of Love” gave him a rare opportunity to step out as a featured vocalist. His performance on both this track and the album’s “Searching” was revelatory: warm, silky, and full of emotional nuance. Critics and industry insiders took notice, and within a year, Vandross launched his own solo career, becoming one of the defining voices of R&B in the 1980s and beyond.
The song’s legacy didn’t stop with the disco era. In 1999, British house duo Phats & Small sampled it for their hit single “Turn Around”, which reached No. 2 on the UK charts. Two years later, Janet Jackson built her 2001 No. 1 hit “All for You” around its central groove, introducing a new generation to the irresistible warmth of “The Glow of Love.”
BON JOVI - BORN TO BE MY BABY
Released: November 1988
Chart Peak: US: #3 UK: #22
Released in November 1988, “Born to Be My Baby” was the second single from Bon Jovi’s blockbuster album “New Jersey”. Written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Desmond Child, the song built on the band’s signature blend of arena-ready hooks and heartfelt storytelling, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 2 on the Cash Box Top 100, and No. 7 on the Album Rock Tracks chart. Internationally, it cracked the Top 20 in Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand.
The song’s writing team reunited the powerhouse trio of Bon Jovi, Sambora, and hitmaker Desmond Child, who had already co-written “Livin’ on a Prayer”, “You Give Love a Bad Name”, and “Bad Medicine.” Child’s ability to pair melodic immediacy with emotional sincerity once again helped deliver a universal anthem rooted in everyday resilience. Like “Livin’ on a Prayer”, the song revisits the lives of young, working-class lovers struggling to make ends meet but bound together by faith and fate.
Originally, “Born to Be My Baby” was recorded as an acoustic track, reflecting its humble lyrical origins, but producer Bruce Fairbairn persuaded the band to re-record it in a more polished, hard rock style, aligning it with the big, radio-ready sound of “New Jersey”. Jon Bon Jovi later expressed some regret over this decision, suggesting that the acoustic version might have pushed the song all the way to No. 1.
Directed on a low budget and filmed in-studio, the music video, shot entirely in black and white, chronicles the band during the recording process, with candid scenes of camaraderie, laughter, and hard work. Unlike their more theatrical clips, this video showcases the group’s human side — gathered around microphones, joking between takes, and re-singing the chorus until it felt right. A particularly touching moment comes midway through the video, when Dorothea Hurley, Jon Bon Jovi’s longtime partner (and later wife), enters the studio to embrace him. The video concludes with the band celebrating upon learning that “New Jersey” had reached No. 1 in the United States — a real-life moment of triumph captured on film.
Following “Bad Medicine”, “Born to Be My Baby” kept Bon Jovi’s momentum roaring through late 1988, leading directly into their next chart-topping single, “I’ll Be There for You.”
BON JOVI - IN THESE ARMS
Released: May 3, 1993
Chart Peak: US: #27 UK: #9
Released on May 3, 1993, “In These Arms” marked the third single from Bon Jovi’s fifth studio album, “Keep the Faith”. Written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and David Bryan, and produced by Bob Rock, the song represents the band’s early-’90s reinvention — a shift from their arena-rock dominance of the ’80s toward a more mature, emotionally charged sound. The track became one of the standout hits from the album, reaching No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 14 on the Top 40/Mainstream chart, and achieving strong international success, peaking at No. 9 in the U.K., No. 7 in the Netherlands, and Top 10 in Australia, Portugal, and Canada.
At its heart, “In These Arms” is a declaration of enduring love and devotion — a plea to hold on to what truly matters. It combines the urgency of Bon Jovi’s rock roots with a soulful, almost gospel-like conviction. Driven by a pulsing bassline, jangling guitars, and tight, punchy drumming, the track balances power and vulnerability. Jon Bon Jovi delivers one of his most impassioned vocal performances, his voice cutting through with both strength and longing.
While often mistaken for a ballad, the song maintains an upbeat pop-rock energy more akin to “Born to Be My Baby” than to the softer anthems of the band’s earlier years. Keyboardist David Bryan, who co-wrote the song, later recorded his own version for his 1994 solo album “On a Full Moon, infusing it with a more introspective tone.
The music video captures Bon Jovi’s onstage charisma and the energy of their Keep the Faith Tour. It combines live performance footage from their New Year’s Eve concert at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on December 31, 1992, with additional scenes shot at the Dane County Coliseum in Madison, Wisconsin in March 1993. The same Bethlehem concert footage had also appeared in the video for “Bed of Roses.”
BELINDA CARLISLE - I GET WEAK
Released: January 1988
Charts: UK: #10 US: #2
Released in January 1988 as the second single from “Heaven on Earth”, Belinda Carlisle’s “I Get Weak” captured the intoxicating vulnerability that comes with falling hopelessly in love. Written by Diane Warren and produced by Rick Nowels, the song followed the global success of “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” and became another major hit—peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 4 in Canada, and No. 10 in the United Kingdom.
At its heart, “I Get Weak” is about surrender—about the dizzying loss of composure that love can bring. Carlisle’s warm, emotive voice gives life to Warren’s lyrics of infatuation and helpless desire: a woman so captivated by someone that she literally loses her balance when he looks her way.
Hit songwriter Diane Warren originally penned the track with Stevie Nicks in mind, but producer Rick Nowels—who had worked extensively with both Nicks and Carlisle—felt that it was a better fit for Belinda. His instinct proved right. Carlisle’s combination of strength and vulnerability brought emotional depth to Warren’s melodic hooks, transforming the song into one of her defining performances.
Warren, who became one of the most prolific hitmakers of the modern era, was at a creative peak during this time. Her catalogue already included and would go on to feature timeless anthems such as “If I Could Turn Back Time” (Cher), “When I See You Smile” (Bad English), and “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” (Aerosmith). Following the monumental success of “Heaven Is a Place on Earth,” expectations were high, and “I Get Weak” did not disappoint.
The music video, was directed by actress Diane Keaton—who had also helmed “Heaven Is a Place on Earth”. Shot in a mixture of black-and-white and color, it portrayed Carlisle in moments of passion and reflection, often mixed within the same frame. Her on-screen love interest was Tony Ward, a model and actor who would appear in Madonna’s “Justify My Love” and “Cherish” videos.
