Songfacts®:

• Bad English is best known for their #1 hit "When I See You Smile," but they were far from one-hit wonders. "Price of Love" was the follow-up single, and it rose to #5 in the US.
  
  The song was written by lead singer John Waite and keyboard player Jonathan Cain, who were in a band called The Babys in the late '70s. Cain joined Journey, and Waite launched a solo career, scoring a #1 hit with Missing You. When Journey went on hiatus, Cain and his bandmates Neal Schon and Deen Castronovo joined Waite and another former Babys member, Ricky Phillips, to form Bad English. They released two albums before calling it quits.
• In this song, Waite is addressing a girl, letting her know that they've had some rough times, but he's willing to stick it out, since that's the price of love.
  
  "It's sort of a song about a vulnerable male," Jonathan Cain said in his Songfacts interview. "John Waite's character was always the bad boy of rock. It was just a song that said, 'Forgive me. I still love you, but I've got these bad habits, I go out and mess up stuff.' Like so many men do."