“Let Love Rule” by Lenny Kravitz

"Let Love Rule" was Lenny Kravitz's opening shot, his debut single and the title track of his first album, released in 1989, and it arrives like a flower child who's been raiding his parents' record collection. Kravitz wrote every note and word, sang it and produced it himself, and the sound is gloriously out of step with the gated drums and synth sheen of the moment: warm, analog, unhurried, swaying and swelling like a revival meeting.

Henry Hirsch plays organ as well as engineering (alongside David Domanich) and mixing the track, and Karl Denson's saxophone adds a soulful ribbon on top. The title says it all, and Kravitz sells it with a straight face and a strong groove, which is a harder trick than it sounds. Lisa Bonet, Kravitz's wife at the time, appears in the video.

It reached 5 on the US Modern Rock chart and 23 on Mainstream Rock, and it kept finding new ears: in 2009 the French house duo Justice remixed it to promote a 20th anniversary deluxe edition of the album, with a video by Keith Schofield in which a character tangles with a scroll of closing credits. It later turned up as a download for Rock Band and Guitar Hero 5.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.