26 January 1985
Help me out here. These US soft rock bands of the late ’70s and ’80s are all short, squat men in blue jeans and leather jackets, throwing rawk shapes and making macho grimaces. Yet their actual sound is bland, simpering romantic balladry with a squealing guitar solo or loud snare for some sort of fibre content. Was this part of the appeal? Blue collar guys with a fist of pure emotion?
I ask because I want to know what anyone would enjoy in Foreigner or ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’. The gospel choir on this track is a notional nod to innovation and black music in an otherwise pale, stale, male sound. But this is still maudlin, contrived, histrionic mush. Maybe the simple truth is that a lot of people just like their music that way.
Anyway, factoid alert: apparently this song is about Mark Ronson’s mother. She remarried, to Mick Jones of Foreigner, who became Ronson’s stepfather and who wrote ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’ in the early stretch of their courtship. So, no ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’, no pocket money for young Mark to spend on music and gadgets, no ‘Uptown Funk’. Profound stuff.
