Love is The Key

Album: Out of Control (2008)
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Songfacts®:

  • A number of snooty rock critics expressed their surprise that former Smiths member Johnny Marr played harmonica on this pop song. Here's Marr's explanation to Uncut magazine as to what possessed him to work with the chart-friendly five-piece: "I was working with (Girls Aloud producer) Brian Higgins on a Pet Shop Boys record, and I let it slip that I liked the guitars on a couple of Girls Aloud's early singles. So he got me in a headlock, took me from behind and, before I knew it, I had a harmonica in my mouth. No, I loved doing it. I am evangelical about pop music. The idea that pop is crass and commercial is an old-fashioned rockist conceit linked to the whole 'Disco Sucks' campaign. I always saw The Smiths as a pop group. Sparks, Roxy Music, Bowie, Sweet all made great pop-45s. I've always held on to the nobility and aspirations of pop, and what it can be."
  • Marr also played guitar on another Girls Aloud track, "Rolling Back the Rivers in Time."

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