Love Is Strong - Release and Aftermath

Release and Aftermath

Released as the first single from the album, "Love Is Strong" performed below expectations, barely making it into the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the United States. It became the lowest charting first single ever by the band and marked a change in the composition of the singles chart as well as the Stones role on it. Despite this, the song remains one of the band's well-known songs from the 1990s. Five years earlier "Mixed Emotions" was a Top 5 pop chart single. Considerable promotional expense was spent on the Voodoo Lounge CD release, as it was the first on Virgin Records, including a popular music video directed by David Fincher and edited by Robert Duffy at Spot Welders; the black and white video shows giant versions of the Stones, as well as a few residents locked in romantic embraces, rambling about New York City.

The single's weaker than expected lead dampened CD sales despite positive critical reviews and even an eventual Grammy Award. In time, the track proved popular in Europe going to number 14 in the United Kingdom and received significant airplay in the United States. The Rolling Stones performed the song at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards.

Although it had disappeared from several recent concert tours setlists in favour of the more live friendly "You Got Me Rocking" (the follow-up single from Voodoo Lounge), the Stones reintroduced "Love is Strong" to their A Bigger Bang Tour setlist on July 22, 2007 at their Brno, Czech Republic show and at their Hamburg show in August.

It was included on their 2002 career compilation album Forty Licks.