Love Is... (song)
{{About|the King Missile song|other songs|Love Is (disambiguation){{!}}Love Is}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Love Is...
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = King Missile
| album = King Missile
| released = 1994
| format =
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Avant-garde, doom metal
| length = 3:38
| label = Atlantic
| writer = John S. Hall, Roger Murdock, Dave Rick, Chris Xefos
| producer = Daniel Rey
| prev_title = Martin Scorsese
| prev_year = 1993
| next_title = America Kicks Ass
| next_year = 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."{{cite web
| last =
| first =
| title = Lyrics: Love Is...
| publisher = Farmboy's King Missile
| date =
| url = http://www.i-mockery.com/kingmissile/loveis.html
| accessdate = 2008-05-29 }}
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.{{cite web
| last =
| first =
| title = Discography
| publisher = Laundry Lists of Nonsense
| date =
| url = http://www.uptoolate.com/rick/km/discog.html
| accessdate = 2008-06-06 }}
=Track listing=
All lyrics by Hall. All music by Roger Murdock, Dave Rick, and Chris Xefos.
- "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!"){{cite web
| last =
| first =
| title = Interview w/ John
| publisher = Farmboy's King Missile
| date =
| url = http://www.i-mockery.com/kingmissile
| accessdate = 2008-06-06 }}
- "These People" – 4:26
- *This track also appears on King Missile.
- "Lost Land" – 4:32
- *This track appears exclusively on the maxi-single.
- "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.
- "Love Is..." [album version] – 3:38
Music video
The video for "Love Is..." was directed by Richard Kern.{{cite web
| last =
| first =
| title = Videography
| publisher = Laundry Lists of Nonsense
| date =
| url = http://www.uptoolate.com/rick/km/video.html
| accessdate = 2008-05-29 }} 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.{{cite web
| last =
| first =
| title = Video: Love Is...
| publisher = YouTube
| date = 2006-11-12
| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1HiklY3UWQ
| accessdate = 2008-05-29 }}
MTV refused to air the video. Hall believes this rejection was motivated by the shots of multi-instrumentalist Xefos kissing another man.
References
{{reflist}}
{{King Missile}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Experimental rock songs
Category:Songs written by John S. Hall