Cradle of Love
Encyclopedia
"Cradle of Love" is a rock
song written by Billy Idol
and David Werner for Idol's 1990 fourth studio album Charmed Life. The song is the album's sixth track, and was released as its first single. The song became one of Idol's biggest hits in the United States
, where it reached #2 on the Billboard
Hot 100, but stalled at #34 in Idol's native UK. It was also Idol's first, and (so far) only #1 hit on the Mainstream Rock Tracks
chart in the U.S. The song was also featured on the soundtrack of The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
. It was nominated for Rock Vocal Performance, Male
at the 32nd Grammy Awards
. It was well received by critics, and was frequently cited as a highlight of the album. Alvin and the Chipmunks
covered this song as the opening track to their 1991 album The Chipmunks Rock the House
. In 1992, "Weird Al" Yankovic
included the chorus as the first song in his polka medley "Polka Your Eyes Out" from his album Off the Deep End
.
song composed in common time
and in the key of Bb major
.
The song title is based on the saying "robbing the cradle."
, features footage of Idol singing in large frames throughout an apartment. The director made the decision to film Idol from the waist up as he was unable to walk from a motorcycle accident that had happened in February 1990. It also features Betsy Lynn George as a teenager who tries to seduce a modest and mild mannered businessman played by Joshua Townshend-Zellner. The film makes use of clips from The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
, but as Andrew Dice Clay
(who played Fairlane) had been banned from MTV, he is not shown in any of the clips. The video was a huge hit and was placed in heavy rotation on MTV. Idol and George recreated the opening of the video for the 1991 American Music Awards
.
At the 1990 MTV
Video Music Awards, the video was nominated for Best Male Video
and Best Special Effects
and won the award for Best Video from a Film
.
This video was voted #33 on VH1
's 50 Sexiest Video Moments.
His live performance of the song at the 1991 Grammy Awards was released on the 1994 album Grammy's Greatest Moments Volume I.
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{|class="wikitable"
!align="left"|Chart
!align="center"|Peak
position
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|align="left"|Australian ARIA
Singles Chart
|align="center"|10
|-
|align="left"|Austrian Singles Chart
|align="center"|8
|-
|align="left"|German Singles Chart
|align="center"|38
|-
|align="left"|Swiss Singles Chart
|align="center"|11
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|align="left"|UK Singles Chart
|align="center"|34
|-
|align="left"|U.S. Billboard Hot 100
|align="center"|2
|-
|align="left"|U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks
|align="center"|1
|-
|align="left"|U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks
|align="center"|7
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!align="left"|End of year chart (1990)
!align="center"|Position
|-
|align="left"|U.S. Billboard Hot 100
|align="center"|9
|-
|}
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
song written by Billy Idol
Billy Idol
William Michael Albert Broad , better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. A member of the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X...
and David Werner for Idol's 1990 fourth studio album Charmed Life. The song is the album's sixth track, and was released as its first single. The song became one of Idol's biggest hits in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where it reached #2 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot 100, but stalled at #34 in Idol's native UK. It was also Idol's first, and (so far) only #1 hit on the Mainstream Rock Tracks
Mainstream Rock Tracks
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue...
chart in the U.S. The song was also featured on the soundtrack of The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane is a 1990 American action/comedy film starring comedian Andrew Dice Clay as Ford Fairlane, a "Rock n' Roll Detective," whose beat is the music industry in Los Angeles. The film was directed by Renny Harlin.-Plot:...
. It was nominated for Rock Vocal Performance, Male
Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to male recording artists for works containing quality vocal performances in the rock music genre...
at the 32nd Grammy Awards
Grammy Awards of 1990
The 32nd Grammy Awards were held in 1990. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.-General:*Record of the Year**Arif Mardin & Bette Midler for "Wind Beneath My Wings"*Album of the Year...
. It was well received by critics, and was frequently cited as a highlight of the album. Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...
covered this song as the opening track to their 1991 album The Chipmunks Rock the House
The Chipmunks Rock the House
The Chipmunks Rock the House is a music album by Alvin and the Chipmunks, released in 1991 by Quality Special Products.- Side one :# "Cradle of Love" # "Freedom! '90" # "Roam" ...
. In 1992, "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
included the chorus as the first song in his polka medley "Polka Your Eyes Out" from his album Off the Deep End
Off the Deep End
Off the Deep End is the seventh studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released in 1992. This album was the first album self-produced by Yankovic, after six albums with Rick Derringer. Recorded between June 1990 and January 1992, the album was a follow-up to the unsuccessful soundtrack to Yankovic's...
.
Music and lyrics
"Cradle of Love" is a rockRock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
song composed in common time
Common Time
"Common Time" is a science fiction short story written by James Blish. It first appeared in the August 1953 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and has been reprinted several times: in the 1959 short-story collection Galactic Cluster; in The Testament of Andros ; in The Penguin Science Fiction...
and in the key of Bb major
B flat major
B major or B-flat major is a major scale based on B-flat, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two flats, B/E .Its relative minor is G minor, and its parallel minor is B minor....
.
The song title is based on the saying "robbing the cradle."
Music video
The video, directed by David FincherDavid Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
, features footage of Idol singing in large frames throughout an apartment. The director made the decision to film Idol from the waist up as he was unable to walk from a motorcycle accident that had happened in February 1990. It also features Betsy Lynn George as a teenager who tries to seduce a modest and mild mannered businessman played by Joshua Townshend-Zellner. The film makes use of clips from The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane is a 1990 American action/comedy film starring comedian Andrew Dice Clay as Ford Fairlane, a "Rock n' Roll Detective," whose beat is the music industry in Los Angeles. The film was directed by Renny Harlin.-Plot:...
, but as Andrew Dice Clay
Andrew Dice Clay
Andrew Dice Clay is an American comedian and actor who played the lead role in the film The Adventures of Ford Fairlane.Clay has been in several movies and has released a number of stand-up albums...
(who played Fairlane) had been banned from MTV, he is not shown in any of the clips. The video was a huge hit and was placed in heavy rotation on MTV. Idol and George recreated the opening of the video for the 1991 American Music Awards
American Music Awards
-Conception:The AMAs were created by Dick Clark in 1973 to compete with the Grammys after the move of that year's show to Nashville, Tennessee led to CBS picking up the Grammy telecasts after its first two in 1971 and 1972 were broadcast on ABC...
.
At the 1990 MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
Video Music Awards, the video was nominated for Best Male Video
MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video
The MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video is one of the four original general awards that have been handed out every year since the very first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. In 2007, though, the award was briefly renamed Male Artist of the Year, and it awarded the artist's whole body of work...
and Best Special Effects
MTV Video Music Award for Best Special Effects
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Awards winners for Best Special Effects in a Video....
and won the award for Best Video from a Film
MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film
The MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film was first awarded in 1987, recognizing the best videos whose songs were a part of a movie soundtrack or featured in a film. As time went on, though, music videos taken from movie soundtracks became more rare, and so the last of this award was...
.
This video was voted #33 on VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's 50 Sexiest Video Moments.
Formats and track listings
- 7" vinyl single
- "Cradle of Love"
- "311 Man"
- 12" Maxi vinyl single
- "Cradle of Dub" (extended remix)
- "Cradle of Love" (LP version)
- "Rob the Cradle of Dub"
- "311 Man"
His live performance of the song at the 1991 Grammy Awards was released on the 1994 album Grammy's Greatest Moments Volume I.
Charts
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{|class="wikitable"
!align="left"|Chart
!align="center"|Peak
position
|-
|align="left"|Australian ARIA
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
Singles Chart
|align="center"|10
|-
|align="left"|Austrian Singles Chart
Ö3 Austria Top 40
Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann...
|align="center"|8
|-
|align="left"|German Singles Chart
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...
|align="center"|38
|-
|align="left"|Swiss Singles Chart
|align="center"|11
|-
|align="left"|UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
|align="center"|34
|-
|align="left"|U.S. Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
|align="center"|2
|-
|align="left"|U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks
Mainstream Rock Tracks
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue...
|align="center"|1
|-
|align="left"|U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
|align="center"|7
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!align="left"|End of year chart (1990)
!align="center"|Position
|-
|align="left"|U.S. Billboard Hot 100
|align="center"|9
|-
|}
External links
- Billy Idol's official site
- Music video courtesy of YouTube