“Love is the Drug” by Roxy Music

Roxy Music pulled "Love Is the Drug" off Siren, their fifth studio album, in 1975, and it's the sound of a band finally deciding to hit the dance floor and liking it there. Bryan Ferry wrote the words, Andy Mackay wrote the music, and Chris Thomas produced.

It didn't start out this way. The song first took shape as something slower and dreamier, until the band tightened the screws, kicked up the tempo and rebuilt the whole arrangement around a groove made for moving. What's left is lean and sly: a bassline that slinks around like it owns the room, and Ferry crooning with a raised eyebrow about a man heading out into the night looking for action.

In Britain it climbed all the way to number two. In America it did something no other Roxy single managed, breaking into the Top 40 in early 1976 and getting as high as 30 on the Hot 100, their best showing there. Critics have since heard it as an early blueprint for new wave, and that groove and bassline still collect the compliments.

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