"What Is Love" is a 1993 dance track by the singer Haddaway, popular with club DJs. Recorded in the early 1990s, it later experienced a revival as the song from the Saturday Night Live "Roxbury Guys" sketches, which were later made into the 1998 feature film A Night at the Roxbury.

The song peaked at #2 in the United Kingdom and Germany, but it reached #1 in thirteen other countries, all of them European or Asian. In the United States the song reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #12 in Australia. The song is currently the 62nd best-selling single of all time in Germany.

Cover versions

• In 2006, Finnish band Leningrad Cowboys recorded a hard rock cover of the song on their album, Zombies Paradise.
• Spanish singer Jose Galisteo, a contestant in the fifth season of the Spanish reality television series Operación Triunfo, covered the song for his 2007 debut album Remember.
• The song was given an industrial makeover by the band The MDP.
• Finnish Dark Wave Rocker Kinetic Control put it on their debut album Lack Of Divine Inspiration.
• Irish shoegaze band Razor Stilettos covered the song live at a gig supporting The Coronas.
• The song was covered on Hermes House Band's Rhythm of the Nineties album in 2009.

Sampling

Haddaway's song was sampled by Atlanta crunk/hip-hop group Crime Mob on a song also called "What Is Love". The track was leaked to the Internet in late 2006, and appeared on their second album Hated On Mostly, released March 2007.

Parodies

• The song has been covered by The Gossip, with lead singer Beth Ditto changing the lyrics to "When Is Lunch?, Baby I'm Hungry".

References or appearances in other media

Films and television

The song has appeared in:

• the 1993 Tamil movie Gentleman. The dance in the film was based on the one from the Saturday Night Live Roxbury Guys sketch and its subsequent movie.
• the 1994 "Life of Brian" episode of the television show My So-Called Life.
• the 1998 comedy film A Night at the Roxbury and was the main song that the two characters loved.
• the 2003 movie Just Married.
• the Northern European versions of the 2005 computer animated film Madagascar (replacing "I Like to Move It").
• Season 3, Episode 8 ("The Merger") of the American version of "The Office", where it was sung by Steve Carell and Ed Helms portraying Michael Scott and Andy Bernard, respectively.

Computer and video games

The song has appeared in:

• Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore.
• a mod for the computer game Knytt Stories known as "Don't Eat The Mushroom", where if the player chooses to eat the mushroom, the song plays over a long sequence of strange scenes.

Commercials and movie trailers

The song has been used in:

• the trailer for the 1994 film Monkey Trouble.
• a Diet Pepsi Max commercial during Super Bowl XLII in the United States that also featured Chris Kattan, who played one of the brothers in the Roxbury sketches and movie, telling people who are bobbing their heads to the beat to "Stop it!".
• an Australian Dairy Farmers Moove flavoured milk advertisement, where a guy sings the song to a girl.

Other media

The song has been used:

• as Jeff Duncan's theme song in WCW .
• in "Evolution of Dance", a clip from a video made by American motivational speaker Judson Laipply.
• as the background music for the previous night's NBA highlights on NBC's NBA Showtime in the mid-to-late '90s. The music video featured clips from Metropolis. Since 1994, it has been played prior to the opening pitch of every Tulane Green Wave home baseball game.
• as an internet meme via the internet community YTMND (You're The Man Now, Dog), often as a juxtaposition with an animated GIF of the Roxbury Guys.
• as bumper music on The Mark Levin Show, syndicated in the United States
• in a mash-up by DJ Otter II "What is Numa Numa" with the song Dragostea din tei

Track listings

"What Is Love"

; CD single

1. "What Is Love" — 4:28
2. "Sing About Love" — 3:12

; 7" single

1. "What Is Love" — 4:28
2. "Sing About Love" — 3:12

; CD maxi - France

1. "What Is Love" (7" mix) — 4:29
2. "What Is Love" (12" mix) — 6:40
3. "What Is Love" (club mix) — 5:02
4. "Sing About Love" — 4:36

"What Is Love - Remix"

; CD single - France

1. "What Is Love" (eat-this mix - radio edit) — 4:19
2. "What Is Love" (refreshmento extro mix) — 3:52

; CD maxi

1. "What Is Love - Remix" (eat-this mix) — 6:54
2. "What Is Love" (tour de trance-mix) — 6:00
3. "What Is Love" (7" mix) — 4:27

"What Is Love - Reloaded"

; CD maxi

1. "What Is Love - Reloaded" (video mix) — 3:16
2. "What Is Love - Reloaded" (reloaded mix) — 6:09
3. "What Is Love - Reloaded" (what is club mix) — 6:39
4. "What Is Love - Reloaded" (Jens O.'s hard remix) — 5:32
5. "What Is Love - Reloaded" (radio edit) — 2:56
6. "What Is Love - Reloaded" (lunaris remix) — 6:21

Certifications

Country	Certification	Date	Sales certified
Austria	Platinum	October 19, 1993	30,000
Germany	Platinum	1993	300,000
Sweden	Gold	July 19, 1993	10,000
UK	Gold	July 1, 1993	400,000
U.S.	Gold	November 9, 1993	500,000

Charts

Chart (1993)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	12
Austrian Singles Chart	1
Belgian Singles Chart	1
Danish Singles Chart	20
Dutch Singles Chart	1
European Singles Chart	1
Finnish Singles Chart	1
French Singles Chart	1
German Singles Chart/www.charts-surfer.de/musiksearch.php">German Singles Chart Charts-surfer.de (Retrieved February 26, 2008)	2
Irish Singles Chart	1
Italian Singles Chart	1
Norwegian Singles Chart	1
Spanish Singles Chart	1
Swedish Singles Chart	2
Swiss Top 100 Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	11
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	4
U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40	15
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales	6
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play	9
Chart (1993)1	Peak position
Swiss Singles Chart	15
Chart (2003)2	Peak position
Austrian Singles Chart	49
Dutch Singles Chart	100
German Singles Chart/www.charts-surfer.de/musiksearch.php">German Singles Chart Charts-surfer.de (Retrieved February 26, 2008)	51
Swiss Singles Chart	92

¹ "What Is Love - Remixes"

² "What Is Love - Reloaded"

End of year chart (1993)	Position
Austrian Singles Chart	3
Swiss Singles Chart	2

References

1. Best-selling singles of all time in Germany Musicline.de (Retrieved May 17, 2009)
2. Austrian certifications ifpi.at (Retrieved August 17, 2008)
3. German certifications musikindustrie.de (Retrieved August 17, 2008)
4. Swedish certifications Ifpi.se (Retrieved September 11, 2008)
5. UK certifications Bpi.co.uk (Retrieved August 17, 2008)
6. U.S. certifications riaa.com (Retrieved August 17, 2008)
7. australian-charts.com - Haddaway - What Is Love
8. Haddaway - What Is Love - austriancharts.at
9. danishcharts.com - Haddaway - What Is Love
10. dutchcharts.nl - Haddaway - What Is Love
11. lescharts.com - Haddaway - What Is Love
12. Irish Singles Chart Irishcharts.ie (Retrieved February 26, 2008)
13. norwegiancharts.com - Haddaway - What Is Love
14. swedishcharts.com - Haddaway - What Is Love
15. Haddaway - What Is Love - hitparade.ch
16. UK Singles Chart Everyhit.com (Retrieved February 26, 2008)
17. Billboard Allmusic.com (Retrieved February 26, 2008)
18. "What Is Love - Remix" Hitparade.ch (Retrieved February 10, 2008)
19. "What Is Love - Reloaded" Hitparade.ch (Retrieved February 10, 2008)
20. "What Is Love - Reloaded" Hitparade.ch (Retrieved February 10, 2008)
21. "What Is Love - Reloaded" Hitparade.ch (Retrieved February 10, 2008)
22. 1993 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved August 17, 2008)
23. 1993 Swiss Singles Chart Hitparade.ch (Retrieved August 17, 2008)

External links

• What Is Love? on Discogs