ROLLING STONE | “75 Greatest Boy Band Songs of All Time” | (75/75)
East 17, “House Of Love” (1992)
“The Stones to Take That’s Beatles, these four Walthamstow boys were tough as nails and looked like they hadn’t slept in weeks. Their debut, “House of Love,” is a typical example of their output: maximalist, fast-paced and topped with rousing messages of love and unity. Songwriter/rapper Tony Mortimer told M magazine he “put the band together based on New Kids on the Block,” though East 17 had a closer musical lineage to the stadium house of the KLF. Mortimer wrote “House of Love” as an ironic take on the rave scene’s increasing commercialization, but it’s hard to see too much cynicism in lines like “We got to stop the pain and put the wars on hold.” This utopia unfortunately dissolved in 1997 when lead singer Brian Harvey was sacked for bragging about his casual ecstasy use (“like having a cup of tea”). Mortimer then left citing exhaustion and Harvey later infamously ran himself over with his own car, claiming he had eaten “too many jacket potatoes.”
