Love Is on the Way

Album: The Lizard (1992)
Charted: 12
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Songfacts®:

  • Saigon Kick guitarist Jason Bieler wrote this song about living in the moment of love. "It was more evoking a mood than it was a specific story," he said in our 2014 interview. "The whole thing, including the lyrics, was written in one or two passes over a microcassette recorder."
  • Saigon Kick was formed in Miami in the late '80s. They signed with the Atlantic Records subsidiary Third Stone and released their debut, self-titled album in 1991. That album had modest success, but their second release, The Lizard, housed their big hit: the power ballad "Love Is on the Way."

    The song wasn't released as a single until radio stations in Florida started playing it and the requests poured in. A video was made that got plenty of spins on MTV, and suddenly the group was in the public eye. The song isn't typical of their sound, however, and while established rockers like Def Leppard and Guns N' Roses could issue ballads with impunity in 1992, "Love Is on the Way" tagged Saigon Kick with the label of hair metal balladeers.

    This proved to be a problem for lead singer Matt Kramer and bass player Tom Defile, who both left the band before their next album. Guitarist Jason Bieler, who wrote the song, was more pragmatic, seeing it as an opportunity to keep making music.
  • This is a completely acoustic song. Led by the acoustic guitar, there is no drum beat, but occasional tympani flourishes.
  • The band never had another hit; the closest they came was their follow-up single "All I Want," which bubbled under at #111 in the US. Saigon Kick released three more albums before splitting up in 2000. In 2013, they began touring again with original lead singer Matt Kramer, appearing on bills with Avenged Sevenfold and Chevelle.

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