Musical Monday - I Want to Know What Love Is by Foreigner

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: February 2, 1985 through February 9, 1985.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: The week of February 2, 1985.

#1 on the U.K. Chart: January 19, 1985 through Fabruary 2, 1985.

This song is another example of an instance in which a band's most successful song is not, in my opinion, their best song. In fact, I Want to Know What Love Is isn't even Foreigner's best ballad - that would be Waiting for a Girl Like You. Of course, power ballads weren't what made Foreigner a great band. The real crime is that they had so many great songs like Cold as Ice, Double Vision, Hot Blooded, Urgent, and Juke Box Hero, but it was this treacly piece of pabulum that turned out to be their most successful hit.

This is a pattern that is repeated over and over again: There are rock bands that create fantastic song after fantastic song, but it is only when they produce some bland and boring fluff that they are truly rewarded. I don't blame Foreigner for putting out this puffball of a song, I blame popular culture for waiting until they did so to reward them with a number one hit.

I mean, seriously, not only is I Want to Know What Love Is not one of Foreigner's "A List" songs, it isn't even one of their "B List" songs. It's barely hanging on to their third tier by the skin of its teeth. It is barely album-filler quality. And this is what turned out to be their biggest hit? The world is just inexplicably stupid sometimes.

Previous Musical Monday: Like a Virgin by Madonna

Subsequent Musical Monday: I Know Him So Well by Elaine Paige and Barbra Dickson

Previous #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Like a Virgin by Madonna

Subsequent #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Careless Whisper by Wham!

Previous #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Like a Virgin by Madonna

Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Easy Lover by Phillip Bailey and Phil Collins

Previous #1 on the U.K. Chart: Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid

Subsequent #1 on the U.K. Chart: I Know Him So Well by Elaine Paige and Barbra Dickson

List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989

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