Song written by Ricky and Marty Wilde. Fourth track of the album Catch as Catch Can. It was released as single, marking a successful comeback after half a year’s absence in the charts. The re-styled Kim Wilde, somewhat mocking her ‘sexy dumb blonde bombshell’ image in an extravagant leather dress managed to climb high into the charts in numerous countries.

Versions

Six different versions have been released through the years.
The album version, the 7″ version and the 12″ extended remix were all released in 1983.
In 2020, the Popfidelity Allstars Special Remix and the Popfidelity Allstars Instrumental version were released.
In 2024, Project K’s Limelight Mix was released.

Formats

‘Love Blonde’ was the first single to also be released on the 12″ format in the UK, featuring an extended remix. A limited quantity of 12″ records also contained a colour poster to add to the collectability of this item.
See also this page in the discography.

Music video

A music video was filmed to promote the single. It was directed by Mike Mansfield.
Go to this page for more information.

Live performances

‘Love blonde’ was performed live during the Catch Tour in 1983, the Rage to Rock Tour in 1985, the Another Step Tour in 1986, the German tour in December 1992, the Hits Tour in 1994, during a concert at Tivoli in Copenhagen (Denmark) in 2003, during the Live 2009 Tour, the Come Out and Play Tour in 2011 and the tour with Nik Kershaw in Australia in 2013.

Cover versions

‘Love blonde’ has been covered by Lynn Sweet and in Swedish as ‘Hon går rakt fram’ by Cotton Club.

Kim about ‘Love blonde’

‘Love blonde’ is a real tongue-in-cheek ‘up yours’ to all the poeple who take the piss out of blondes. There’s that dizzy sexual stereotype of blondes with no brains and this is just really taking the rise out of those people who think that – and the blondes who believe it. (1)

When my dad told me that he wanted to write a song called ‘Love Blonde’, I just looked at him and said, you know, give me a break, I don’t think I could handle the sort of flack I’d get, making a record with a title like that. He just said, ‘look, either you do it, or you don’t’, and that was it. I could see what he was getting at.
So I went out and bought the most over the top dress I could find, and I send it up as much as I dare because I’m not really that much of an extrovert performer in that way. It’s going to annoy an awful lot of people, I think it’s just fun, and I look upon my career as having as much fun as I can. (2)

I really wanted to do something in the style of the Fifties. But in a contemporary way. A bit like Queen with ‘Crazy little thing called love’ or ‘Runaway boys’ by the Stray Cats. My father who writes all the lyrics grew up in the Fifties. He has a closet full of old rock and roll records. And he was a big British rock idol himself, together with Cliff and Adam Faith. You can trust him with the job. Brother Ricky composed the song. To keep true to the original style, we dressed in clothes from that era. And we used an upright bass. (3)

Well, unfortunately, people don’t seem to realise sometimes that I’ve got a sense of humour. A lot of things that I do or I say are dictated by humour. It’s like this last single .. It’s a bit like a tongue in cheek. I like this image of the platinum blonde, irresistible woman, like any other woman does, but what I sing there, it is for fun. Because I’ve got a good sense of humour, I like to look at myself with humour, laugh about myself . (4)

(It’s) not about myself, but I do sing about the type of girl people take me for. It’s about all the cliches about blondes, that they’re sexy, but dumb and cool, etcetera. I think it’s a funny lyric, but you shouldn’t take it literally. It doesn’t matter to me that the media portray me as this sex symbol, or that people really see me like that. They don’t really know me, and they don’t know any better than that. As long as they buy my records and accept me as an artist, I am very satisfied. (5)

I speak about the cliches that people talk about when they talk about blondes – that they would be a bit dumb, vain and crazy. Brigitte Bardot has always suffered from that image. And I have also had to deal with this at the beginning of my career. The song is not so seriously, it’s more like a parody. (6)

I hesitated recording that song. I didn’t want to emphasize it too much. But the song was too strong to resist. I felt that it wouldn’t be a hit in England. It’s almost a crime being attractive and being able to sing too. (7)

I had kind of a problem with that at the time. Should I really be singing this song about me? And I asked dad, ‘Is it about me?’ And he said, ‘No, it’s about the mythology of the blonde sex symbol.’ I said, ‘Yes, but that’s how everyone’s perceiving me,’ so he told me to just take the piss out of it and enjoy it. And he was right, you know. It is all superficial, that side of it. So kind of acknowledging it in a song like that, because it was an unpredictable thing to do, knocks people back a bit. Most people have fun playing about with my image, talking about me, so I thought, ‘Why not do it myself?’. (8)

Credits

Flute, saxophone: Gary Barnacle
Lead guitar, backing vocals: Steve Byrd
Bass guitar, backing vocals: Mark Hayward Chaplin
Drums: Trevor Murrell
Keyboards, bass, guitar, Linn programmes, synclavier, backing vocals: Ricky Wilde
Produced by Ricky Wilde
Engineer: Pete Schwier, Will Gosling, Simon Schofield, Keith Fernley

Highest chart positions

Australia: 34
Germany: 26 (15 weeks)
Ireland: 29 (1 week)
Netherlands: 10 (7 weeks)
Sweden: 7 (8 weeks)
Switzerland: 11 (3 weeks)
United Kingdom: 23 (8 weeks)

Interview sources:
(1) Return of the love blonde, No. 1 (UK), 16 July 1983
(2) Blondes have more fun, Melody Maker (UK), 20 August 1983
(3) Kim Wilde: no sex, but sensuality, Veronica (Netherlands), 27 August 1983
(4) A blonde to love, Rock & BD (France), September 1983
(5) Singer Kim Wilde: “I dress nonchalant and that’s how I am”, Flair (Belgium), October 1983
(6) Kim Wilde: “I take all the blondes by the arm”, Mädchen (Germany), 1983
(7) Kim Wilde – the sex kitten of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Veronica (Netherlands), 7 January 1984
(8) Kim Wilde, Record Collector (UK), September 1993