128. Softer Than Charmin

128. "I Want to Know What Love Is" by Foreigner

Here's the soft rock yin to my heavy metal yang.

If you'd asked me in 1981 if Foreigner would ever make a soft rock song that was better than "Waiting for a Girl Like You," I would have said definitely not. Foreigner 4 was the soundtrack to my first summer of lifeguarding at Lava Hot Springs, and "Waiting for a Girl Like You" is associated with so many girls in bikinis that it would have taken a soft rock monster hit like no other to surpass it.

"I Want to Know What Love Is" is such a monster. It's a gigantic Stay-Puft marshmallow man wrapped in whipped cream floating atop a fluffy cotton-ball cloud.

It came out around Christmas during my freshman year at Ricks, and it was such a big hit that it quickly received the most coveted musical honor any musician at that time could ever hope for--it was played on Miami Vice Season 01, Episode 16: Rites of Passage!

Now, if you're willing to watch a crap-load of commercials to get access to it (for freeeee!), you can see the part of the episode with the song by clicking on the link below and forwarding to the 34:40 mark. (Spoiler: A drug dealer kills somebody with a drug overdose.)

http://www.nbc.com/classic-tv/miami-vice/video/rites-of-passage/n30553

This song hit #1 on the charts in a lot of different countries, which inevitably meant other people would sing covers of this song in a vain attempt to stop their careers from freefalling into oblivion, including Maria Carey and Wynonna Judd. In Australia, Tina Arena recorded a version of this song with one of the guys from Foreigner that co-wrote it. It includes some lyrics the guy wrote specifically for Tina's release of the song, so it's a little different. But I still like it. And the video is worth watching for just one scene alone. (You'll know which scene it is when you see it.)



But probably the best bad cover of this song is a duet by Tom Cruise and Malin Åkerman--a Swedish-Canadian actress--that they sang as part of the movie Rock of Ages. It's worth a look, but I highly recommend you watch it without the kids around though--partly because of the sexual content and partly because small children should not be exposed to Tom Cruise. Ever.



Why is this song on my list? First of all, it's just a damn good song. The singing, the lyrics, the instrumentation, the back-up choir, the oodles and oodles of 80s synthesizer sounds--it all blends together so well that it's guaranteed to trigger sentimental feelings for the people we love. Second, according to my 18-year-old college kid memory bank, it came out after I'd sworn off dating and going to dances, so it is untainted by memories of unrequited love, which means its one of the few pre-mission love songs that I can enjoy without thinking of any specific girl that dogged me. Third, I'm not to proud to admit it--I've always wanted to know what love is. And now I think I want Malin to show me on an air hockey table.