Producer Hal Davis instructed the song's engineer Russ Terrana to install a strobe light so that Ross could be in the "disco" mindset.[3] As the song changed from ballad to uptempo, Ross became more comfortable with the material; she hummed, sang bit parts, laughed, danced around and even imitated Billie Holiday.[4] The distinctive bassline is played by Henry E. Davis.[5]
The song was first released on the album Diana Ross in February 1976. Motown initially promoted the album by releasing the single "I Thought It Took a Little Time". The vocal group the 5th Dimension released their own version of "Love Hangover" as a single, and Motown then issued Ross's version as a single. Both versions entered the chart the same day. By the time Ross's version of the song reached number one, Ross had reinvented herself as a disco diva and the 5th Dimension's version had peaked at number 80. It won Ross a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. It appeared on the soundtrack of the following year's Diane Keaton movie Looking for Mr. Goodbar.
"Love Hangover" reached number one on May 29, 1976. That week, Casey Kasem reported on American Top 40 that Ross had broken the record for the most number-one hits by a female vocalist. With her fourth number one, she passed Connie Francis, Helen Reddy, Roberta Flack, and Cher, each of whom had three.
Ross performed the song on the April 4, 1980 episode of The Muppet Show during its fourth season.
The song was remixed several times. A version remixed by Eric Kupper, known as "Love Hangover 2020", hit number one on Billboard'sDance Club Songs chart in March 2020.
Almighty Records released a remixed version in 2007 (remixed by the UK team Almighty).
New remixes were released in 2020 by Eric Kupper, peaking at number one on March 28 on the Billboard Dance Club chart.[6] It marked the final number one single on the Dance Club Songs chart.
Track listing
1993 UK 12" promoSide A
"Love Hangover" (Tribal Hangover) – 9:26
"Love Hangover" (Classic Club – EP version) – 8:20
"Love Hangover" (Tribal Reprise) – 5:25
"Your Love" – 3:58
Side B
"Upside Down" ('93 Remix – EP version) – 8:00
"Upside Down" (Dub 2 – Morales) – 7:37
"Someday We'll Be Together" ('93 Remix – EP version) – 8:40
"Someday We'll Be Together" (Final Sound Factory) – 6:54
In 1982, British new wave band the Associates released the double A-side single "18 Carat Love Affair" / "Love Hangover" which peaked at No. 21 on the UK chart in 1982.
British soul singer Pauline Henry (former lead vocalist of the Chimes) recorded a contemporary version of the track in 1995. It was a UK top 40 hit the same year.
Italian dance act Black Box sampled the song on their 1996 disco-house single, "I Got the Vibration/Positive Vibration", which reached No. 21 in the UK and No. 18 in Italy.
The song was sampled in Monica's 1998 hit "The First Night", which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
American singer Beyoncé added the song to her historic headlining 2011 Glastonbury Festival Performance (then sung by her background vocalists "The Mamas"), and in 2023 her backup singers "Pure Honey" performed the song nightly on her Renaissance World Tour, including a special performance accompanying Ross on Beyonce's birthday.[7]
^ abPitchfork Staff (August 22, 2016). "The 200 Best Songs of the 1970s". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 13, 2022. Its extended disco metamorphosis, which accounts for more than five of the song's nearly eight-minute length, turns out to be the hair of the dog...
^Breihan, Tom (November 15, 2022). "George McCrae - "Rock Your Baby". The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music. New York: Hachette Book Group. p. 108.
