Artist in Depth: Dead or Alive (Part 4)

With the release of Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know in 1987, Dead or Alive became dark and controversial. The album's first single "Brand New Lover" attracted no controversy and became another international success. I proved to be most successful in the United States were it peaked at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Dance/Club Play Chart were it stayed for two weeks. In the UK, it barely entered the Top 40 reaching only #31.

The album's other three singles all caused some sort of controversy. The most successful of the three, "Something in My House", reached #12 in the UK and was very gothic sounding and had a cover sleeve depicting Burns in front of a Satanic alter featuring an inverted crucifix. One remix of the song even included sound clips form The Exorcist. "Hooked on Love", which suffered from very little promotion due to what the record company felt was a "Gothic" overtone that had been added to the song in a post-production remix, barely managed to scrape into the UK Top 70. The final single, "I'll Save You All My Kisses", originally had a picture sleeve that featured Burns with a metal "Sex" belt buckle in front of his lips, but Epic covered up the word "Sex" with a sticker that said "Kiss" after retailers objected. The music video for the single was banned by MTV because of its "overtly gay" content. It showed Burns in black tights and a leather jacket singing the song from a baseball diamond while a number of men clung to a fence and ogled him, with some tearing off their shirts.

Despite the controversy stirring in the US and Europe, they continued to have chart success around the world. Also with the release of Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know, the band gained a massive following in Japan that would flourish with the release of their next two albums, Rip It Up and Nude.