100 Greatest Songs of the 70’s #56 Diana Ross – Love Hangover

Released: 1976

Diana Ross reputedly hated the name The Supremes, despite it being an apt description of Motown’s most successful girl group of all time. Under the mentorship of label head honcho (and secretly, lover) Berry Gordy and in tandem with the legendary songwriting team of Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Brian Holland the hits flowed as if coming off a conveyor belt and by 1976 they’d sold over 30 million albums in the US alone.

Eventually ditching The Supremes and then Gordy, her first solo number one came in 1973 with Touch Me In The Morning, along with an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues. Her next cinematic vehicle Mahogany though was a critically savaged flop. It was then left to another kind of (ahem) mahogany to provide more satisfaction with the release of Love Hangover, a tune which would prove to be a solid 12 inches of aphrodisiacal power.

The song itself was seduction, where the sex you had was your way; satin sheets and champagne, up against a wall, in the shower, hell, just do it to me. For around two and a half minutes Ms. Ross professed undying love, foreplay-style in a come to bed voice; then the tempo switched and it was just the act, getting down, sublime music for pleasure which transcended disco and left everyone wanting more. This was a hangover you never wanted to get rid of – and a love very much supreme.