Love/Hate was formed in 1985, when Jizzy Pearl joined Jon E. Love, Skid Rose, and Joey Gold, in an 1980s influenced electronica band called Dataclan, after their previous lead singer walked out while playing in Japan. 1986 the band renamed themselves as Love/Hate from a song they played at the time called Love and Hate. Their debut album Black Out In The Red Room was recorded in 1989 and released in March 1990. It reached No. 154 on the billboard 200. After a small club tour they supported Dio on an arena tour, their biggest to date, but were unpopular with the Dio fans. At this time the video for the single "Why Do You Think They Call It Dope?" was receiving good rotation on MTV, chiefly on Headbanger's Ball, and they went on tour with AC/DC to a much better reception. On this tour they first played in the UK, where they were very well received.