"Victim of Love" by Bryan Adams

Song#:  3239
Date:  08/22/1987
Debut:  75
Peak:  32
Weeks:  12
Genre:  Rock



Pop Bits:  Adams' Into the Fire, the follow-up to his multi-platinum 1984 LP Reckless, was not doing all that well. The lead single, "Heat of the Night," did fine getting to #2 Rock/#6 Pop, but its follow up "Hearts on Fire," stalled at #26 on the Pop chart (#3 Rock), which was his worst showing since his first charting single in 1982 ("Lonely Nights," #84). The news got worse with this third single. Once again, it got support at Rock (#10), but it faltered after making the Pop Top 40. In the US, no further singles were released from the album. This was quite the change from Reckless, which spawned six Pop Top 20 hits. Into the Fire would peak at #7 and go platinum, but that result was disappointing following a multi-platinum LP. This single and album would be Adams' last to chart in the 80s. He would return in 1991 with the biggest hit of his career.

ReduxReview:  I'm surprised this dark song even made the Top 40. It was fine for an album track, but it had zero appeal as a pop single. I think the Adams/Vallance partnership had reached its limits by the time this album came around and they just didn't have the gas to ignite a fire that would cook up the radio-ready type of fare found on Reckless. Adams would get his mojo back at the turn of the decade, but I didn't really get onboard. He may have gotten few #1s and other hits, but none of them really drew me in. I preferred the Adams of the Reckless days. Not that I expected him to repeat that album all the time, but with a few exceptions I don't think his writing was ever that good and consistent again.

ReduxRating:  4/10

Trivia:  Adams and his songwriting partner Jim Vallance had been working together for years. Not only did they write songs for Adams' album, but also for other artists. By the time sessions were started for Into the Fire, the partnership was starting to fall apart. The negative reception of the album by critics and lack of hits didn't help and the pair decided to go their own ways. For Adams' next album, he decided to work with producer/songwriter Mutt Lange (Def Leppard, AC/DC). As the pair began work, Adams received an offer to supply a song to an upcoming Kevin Costner film titled Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He was given snippets of the score composed by Michael Kamen and from there Adams and Lange created "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You." The song would be released as a single in the summer of '91 to coincide with the film's opening. It would also be included on the soundtrack album along with Adams' upcoming album Waking Up the Neighbors. The film was a hit and the song followed suit hitting #1 in the US for seven weeks. It would reach #1 in many countries included the UK where it spent 16 consecutive weeks at #1 (still a record as of this posting). The hit boosted Adams' career back up to multi-platinum status and he would remain successful for a chunk of the 90s grabbing three more film hits (two #1s, one #8) along with two other Top 10s.

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