Music

A member of Nazareth said his band's version of "Love Hurts" was the first rock ballad. That claim makes no sense.

Published on June 30, 2023

TL;DR:

• Nazareth’s “Love Hurts” was a cover of a song in a different genre.
• A member of Nazareth said his band’s “Love Hurts” was the first rock ballad.
• That claim makes no sense.

One of the most famous classic rock songs of the 1970s is Nazareth’s “Love Hurts.” The track was originally by a 1950s/1960s band. Subsequently, Nazareth went out of their way to change the original song.

Nazareth’s ‘Love Hurts’ was originally a song by The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers had a handful of hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including “Cathy’s Clown,” “Wake Up Little Susie,” “Bye Bye Love,” and “That’s Old Fashioned (That’s the Way Love Should Be).”

They also released the first version of the song “Love Hurts.” It wasn’t a single, but merely an album track from the 1960 record A Date with the Everly Brothers. Notably, the original version of the song was a country ballad. Nazareth released a power ballad cover of the track on their 1975 album Hair of the Dog.

A rocker claimed the 1970s version of ‘Love Hurts’ was the original rock ballad

During a 2022 interview with The Rockpit, Nazareth’s Peter Agnew discussed his band’s approach to covering songs. “And we tried to do that with any of the songs that we did. We did ‘My White Bicycle,’ and even with ‘Love Hurts,’ it was always a very soft thing,” he said. “And we made ‘Love Hurts’ the first rock ballad ever, I think, and to this day, I think it’s still the best vocal on any rock ballad, just an incredible vocal that Dan [McCafferty] did. So we changed it enough to make it different.” 

Agnew’s claim that Nazareth’s “Love Hurts” was the first rock ballad is nonsense. There have been rock ballads since at least the 1950s! Perhaps he meant it was the first rock power ballad. However, there are earlier examples of that sub-genre, like The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” (1968) and The Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” (1969).

Why Nazareth wanted their cover songs to be distinct

In the aforementioned interview with The Rockpit, Agnew explained why Nazareth liked making their covers unique. “Well, what we used to say is that if you’re going to cover a song, there’s no point just doing a version and making it sound the same,” he said. “We’d done that, we’d had enough of that in the 60’s when we were playing in the clubs and the ballrooms, you know. In those days, basically, you were a human jukebox, and if you were covering the Top 20 you had to get it right.”

Nazareth’s approach paid off. Their cover appeared in an episode of That ’70s Show and Rob Zombie’s Halloween. Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics and Amy Lee of Evanescence also released their own version of “Love Hurts.” According to American Songwriter, they decided to make their cover distinct from the original too.

Nazareth’s “Love Hurts” might not be the first rock ballad — but it’s an example of a cover done right!

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