Love Song – Tesla | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#10) & Mainstream Rock (#7); 1990
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
For three years the five men in City Kidd banged around their home base of Sacramento before setting up shop at Bearsville studios in upstate New York to record their debut album. They spent two months rehearsing and contemplating a name change. The label suggested Tesla, after electronics pioneer Nikola Tesla. While radio and MTV aired Tesla’s first single, Modern Day Cowboy, in early 1987, Frank returned to his job picking up trash at construction sites to help pay the bills. Eventually trash gave way to cash as Tesla embarked on an international tour with Def Leppard. With Mechanical Resonance on its way to platinum sales, Tesla returned with The Great Radio Controversy and its Top 15 mainstream rock track, Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out). Next up was one penned by Gannon and singer Jeff Keith: Love Song. It was also one their label wanted to exclude from the album. In the end, Tesla prevailed and Love Song became their first Top 10 record.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Steve Thompson
- Michael Barbiero
Lyrics Written by:
- Jeff Keith
- Frank Hannon
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).