Songfacts®:

• Vocalist Brandon Boyd discussed this song in a video interview. Said Boyd: "It's almost a little bit of a cliché. It is talking about the idea of love and find love and having it be purity and having it not be tainted by your misperceptions, misconceptions, expectations and transcending the sort of more worldly aspects of the love experience."
• This became a hit two years after the release of its accompanying album Light Grenades. The interest in the track was ignited by KROQ Los Angeles identifying the song as one they thought their audience would enjoy and giving it some spins. After several other modern rock stations followed suit, Incubus' record company jumped into action. KROQ music director Lisa Worden explained to Billboard magazine: "'Love Hurts' was always a song we thought could be a hit, but we pounded those earlier singles and we needed a break. A couple months ago in one of those brutal music meetings, we brought 'Love Hurts' back and by far it was the best song we heard. We're like, 'We don't care that it's old. We're putting it on,' and the song immediately started reacting."
• This climbed to the top of Billboard's Modern Rock tally on its 17th week on the chart.