Love Is... (song)

For similarly named songs, see Love is (disambiguation).
"Love Is..."
Single by King Missile
from the album King Missile
Released1994
GenreAvant-garde, doom metal
Length3:38
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)John S. Hall, Roger Murdock, Dave Rick, Chris Xefos
Producer(s)Daniel Rey
King Missile singles chronology
"Martin Scorsese"
(1993) 		"Love Is..."
(1994) 		"America Kicks Ass"
(2004)

"Love Is..." is a song by avant-garde band King Missile. It was the only single from the band's 1994 album King Missile.

Content

In "Love Is...," a dirge-like track with elements of doom metal, frontman John S. Hall dryly recites several examples of what love is ("beautiful / Like birds that sing") and is not ("ugly / Like rats / In a puddle of vomit"). The chorus consists of Hall ominously chanting, "Love is beautiful."[1]

Maxi-single

The "Love Is..." maxi-single was intended for promotional use only, and not supposed to be sold; nonetheless, copies are sometimes available in "used" sections of record stores, because some people who received the maxi-single sold it anyway.[2]

Track listing

All lyrics by Hall. All music by Roger Murdock, Dave Rick, and Chris Xefos.

  1. "Love Is..." [clean version] – 3:38
    • This "clean" version is identical to the album version except for the partial muting of a word that the King Missile liner notes claim is "shipload" but may actually be "shitload." (According to Hall, "on the [King Missile] lyric sheet we [the band] submitted to Atlantic, we changed all the curse words to acceptable words, figuring nobody would listen to the record, and we [would] get away with not having a warning label. This actually worked!")[3]
  2. "These People" – 4:26
    • This track also appears on King Missile.
  3. "Lost Land" – 4:32
    • This track appears exclusively on the maxi-single.
  4. "What If" [alternate version] – 2:24
    • This track, which appears exclusively on the maxi-single, differs from the King Missile version of "What If" in that the lyrics are spoken throughout rather than both spoken and sung.
  5. "Love Is..." [album version] – 3:38

Music video

The video for "Love Is..." was directed by Richard Kern.[4] The video contrasts shots of the band performing in a white room with shots of a dark, sordid party at which attendees engage in heterosexual, homosexual, interracial and zoophilic partnerships.[5]

MTV refused to air the video. Hall believes this rejection was motivated by the shots of multi-instrumentalist Xefos kissing another man.[4]

References

  1. ^ "Lyrics: Love Is..." Farmboy's King Missile. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
  2. ^ "Discography". Laundry Lists of Nonsense. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  3. ^ "Interview w/ John". Farmboy's King Missile. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
  4. ^ a b "Videography". Laundry Lists of Nonsense. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
  5. ^ "Video: Love Is..." YouTube. 2006-11-12. Retrieved 2008-05-29.