Song · Living Colour
“Love Rears Its Ugly Head” by Living Colour
From the album Time’s Up (1990)
“Love Rears Its Ugly Head” by Living Colour appears on 6 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 1994 and 2002. It was first released in 1990 on the album Time’s Up. Its best result is #507 on The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #3,891 alternative song of all time.
Watch
Video from YouTube (LivingColourVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
Vernon Reid wrote both the music and the words to "Love Rears Its Ugly Head", a 1990 single from Living Colour's second album, Time's Up, and funk guitar snakes through the whole track, needling away under a rock song that leans hard toward R&B, most of all in the vocals. Tucked into the mix is a sample of Nat King Cole's "Lush Life".
It came out after "Type" and ahead of "Solace of You", and it climbed to number 8 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart. In Britain it caught fire in a heavily remixed form, with fresh vocals and the rock edges filed down, and went to number 12, Living Colour's biggest hit there. Cynthia Bailey appears in the video.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Hard Rock & Metal
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 718 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1994) | 1000 |
| 1995 | 868 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1995) | 1000 |
| 1996 | 665 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1996) | 1000 |
| 1998 | 770 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1998) | 1000 |
| 1999 | 507 | 107.7 The End | The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1077 |
| 2002 | 716 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "Love Rears Its Ugly Head" by Living Colour.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.