Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)

Twin brothers Andy and Jez used to go to a fair when they were kids. One day Andy won a record there. They brought it home and played it, but didn't like it. The record was put away. In 1991, after Sub Sub had a hit with "Space Face" they wanted to make a follow-up to it. They spent time searching for the right sample they could use in the new song. Then Jez put the forgotten record from the fair on. It was "Good Morning Starshine" by Revelation. Jimi learned to play the bassline on a Roland Juno-106 keyboard, and the whole track came together quickly.

There is also another well-known sample on there, but it has never been officially known what it is, only that it is a sound, rather than a song.[5] The band had only done instrumental and wanted to find someone to sing lyrics to their melody. Jimi's best friend, Joe Roberts, was dating singer Melanie Williams from the soul band Temper Temper at that time. They contacted her and she thought it was perfect. Williams also wrote the third verse for the song. The track was then recorded at Revolution Studios in Manchester. Sub Sub's manager Dave Rofe, Rob's Records' Pete Robinson and North South's promoter Karen Hampton were targeting BBC Radio 1 and taste-making DJ Pete Tong to give the song a listen. He got right behind it and it spread like wildfire through Radio 1.[6] The band and Williams also performed the song on the British music chart television programme Top of the Pops after they were the highest new entry at number ten on the UK Singles Chart. The single sold in 700,000 copies and peaked at number three in April 1993.

"Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" reached top five in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number three in its third week at the UK Singles Chart, on 18 April 1993.[7] The single spent six weeks inside the UK top 10. On the UK Dance Singles Chart, it was even more successful, reaching the number one position. It was a top-20 hit in Ireland (13) and the Netherlands (18), as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100, where it peaked at number 11 in May 1993. "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" was also a hit in Belgium, where it went to number 47. Outside Europe, it charted in Australia, peaking at number 11. The single earned a silver record in the UK, after 200,000 units were sold there.

Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger complimented the song as "excellent" and "tune-heavy, hands-high dance-pop".[8] Katrine Ring from Gaffa felt that "it is almost like hearing Deee-Lite. Grooovey!"[9] In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton said, "A hit almost before it had ever started, this track popular not only in the clubs but also extremely radio friendly. A timely piece of production as well with the Philly-sounding strings and wah-wah guitar making the track sound as if it is straight out of the 1970s. Disco returns with a 90s flavour I suppose and Top 3 is almost guaranteed."[10] Chris Roberts from Melody Maker wrote, "Slim volume of metropolitan soul, slick as a Ming vase, graced by the Gold Blends ads-scripted-by-Mishima voice of Melanie Williams, previously with the criminally underrated Temper Temper. Trembles becomingly in the slipstream of Candi Staton and the Source's "You Got the Love"."[11] A reviewer from The Mix viewed it as "great".[12] Pan-European magazine Music & Media commented, "The arrangements are smoothly funky and combined with a voice that soothes like honey and rings like a bell, you can feel that real party enthusiasm which is so reminiscent of late '70s disco."[13] They also described it as "70s disco in a trendy club style".[3]

Andy Beevers from Music Week said the song "is something of a revelation – a fresh, funky and very different disco-influenced track with excellent catchy vocals. It has been generating a huge buzz in the clubs and should be a big hit."[14] Ian McCann from NME wrote, "So: this is nicked from an old Evelyn 'Champagne' King record, it is disco, right down to the fast string breaks separating one section from the other, but my, is this a spendid item? Well, yes it is. Funky, irresistibly dancesational, terrific vocal [...], with a suitably empty lyric, and the Hey, what's happenin' bits just make it all the more marvellous. Top disco stretch satin boob tube of the week, and no mistake."[15] Another editor, Mandi James, felt that the track "grinds to a P-Funk hustle, replete with creamy guitars and hot, hot vocal courtesy of Temper Temper's Melanie Williams."[16] James Hamilton from the RM Dance Update described it as a "smash-bound jaunty leaper like Deee-Lite combining Eric Burdon & War's 'Spill the Wine' with Marvin Gaye's 'Got to Give It Up'".[17]

The Face ranked "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" number eight in their list of "Singles of the Year".[18] NME ranked it number 23,[18] while Select ranked it number 25 in their "Singles of the Year" lists.[18] Robert Dimery featured it in his 2015 book, 1,001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die, and 10,001 You Must Download.[18] Australian music TV channel Max included "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" in their list of "1000 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2012.[19]

The song was featured in the 1997 American film Romy and Michele's High School Reunion but was not featured on the soundtrack album.

• "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" at Discogs (list of releases)