"Making Love Out of Nothing at All" is a power ballad written and composed by Jim Steinman and first released by the British/Australian soft rock duo Air Supply for their 1983 compilation album Greatest Hits. It reached number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks (behind "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler, giving Steinman a consecutive peak of two songs). The song has been covered by other artists.
Background and recording
The song is a reworking of the main title theme from the 1980 film A Small Circle of Friends, for which Jim Steinman wrote the score. It was first recorded by Air Supply, giving them a number two hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. for three weeks.
The song was subsequently released as a new track from their 1983 greatest hits album. The B-side of the single is "Late Again". They have included the song on their numerous greatest hits and live albums, and recorded an acoustic version for their 2005 album The Singer and the Song.
Steinman offered the song, along with "Total Eclipse of the Heart", to Meat Loaf for his Midnight at the Lost and Found album; however, Meat Loaf's record company refused to pay Steinman for the material so Meat Loaf ended up writing compositions for the album himself. Steinman's songs were then offered to Bonnie Tyler and Air Supply. However, in an interview with journalist Mick Wall shortly after the release of Meat Loaf's 2006 album Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose, Steinman stated: "I didn't write [Total Eclipse of the Heart] for anyone but Bonnie." Steinman believed that CBS were expecting him to write something similar to "It's a Heartache", but he had different ideas.
By 1983, Air Supply had changed much of its classic musician line-up, both in the recording studio and on tour. But Steinman, known for his lavish, rock-opera-ish type productions, used Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band members Roy Bittan on keyboards and Max Weinberg on drums, to musically underscore the recording with like energies. Rick Derringer, who was previously the guitarist for the McCoys and Johnny Winter, provided the electric guitar solo that made the sound of "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" stand so drastically apart from most other Air Supply songs. In an interview, Hitchcock and Russell confirmed Hitchcock did his vocals in one take. When Steinman asked "What do we do next?" Russell replied "We go home".
Music video
Two versions of the music video were produced. The initial version begins with a couple driving to an airport; the man (Graham Russell) is "leaving for a tour" and asks the woman (played by Graham Russell's real-life spouse, Jodi Russell) to join him:
After the man leaves and boards the plane, a Learjet 35, the band flies off to their destination. The remainder of the video intersperses Air Supply onstage with various scenes of the man and woman's relationship. Hitchcock and Russell leave their dressing room for the stage; as they sing with the band, the woman is shown packing to leave. Nevertheless, she changes her mind and does a u-turn on the freeway, and now drives to the airport. She meets Russell at the side of the stage near the end of the song and they embrace. This version was filmed entirely in Los Angeles, with the concert sequences shot at the Forum and the airport scenes done at Van Nuys Airport.
The subsequent official version is set in 1960s New York City and involves a Marine and a young woman and the various challenges they encounter in their relationship, interspersed with scenes of the band singing the song.
Chart history
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Personnel
Russell Hitchcock - lead vocals
Graham Russell - backing vocals
Rick Derringer - electric guitar
Sid McGinnis - acoustic guitar
Steve Buslowe - bass
Roy Bittan - synthesizers and piano
Eric Troyer, Rory Dodd, Holly Sherwood - backing vocals
Max Weinberg - drums
+ In initial releases of Air Supply's 1983 Greatest Hits album, Steve Buslowe was not included as the bassist in the album credits. However, this error was corrected in future pressings.
Bonnie Tyler version
The song was later covered by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler on her album Free Spirit. It opens with a wordless choral vocal followed by sounds of thunderclaps and a bell before the melody begins, played on piano. Over the piano section is an excerpt from "Un bel dì vedremo", the aria from Puccini's Madama Butterfly, sung by Tyler's mother Elsie Hopkins.