I Want To Know What Love Is - Song Information

Song Information

Written by Mick Jones and produced by Jones and Alex Sadkin, "I Want to Know What Love Is" was the first single released from Foreigner's 1984 album entitled Agent Provocateur. The song features backing vocals from the New Jersey Mass Choir affiliated with the Gospel Music Workshop of America, Dreamgirls star Jennifer Holliday, and the Thompson Twins. The choir also appears in the song's music video.

"I Want to Know What Love Is" reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart on 15 January 1985, displacing Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?", and stayed there for three weeks. It reached the top of the US Billboard Hot 100 on 2 February 1985 where it stayed for two weeks. It was Foreigner's first and only pop chart topper in either country, although the band had four #1 Mainstream Rock and one #1 Adult Contemporary radio hits in the US. This was the band's third of four #1 singles on the mainstream rock chart. The song spent five weeks at #1 in Australia and also hit the top of the charts in Canada, Norway, and Sweden, peaking at #2 in Switzerland and South Africa.

The song has received positive retrospective reviews from critics, with Bret Adams of AllMusic writing: "It's not hard to see why it became Foreigner's first #1 single. Its dreamy, hypnotic feel is due in part to Lou Gramm's soulful lead vocals and the New Jersey Mass Choir's background vocals."

In 2004, "I Want to Know What Love Is" was voted #476 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. In 2006, it was included on VH1's program "Top 100 Songs of the 80's" at #65.

The song was also issued as a 12" single with a slightly longer time length of 6:23. This version contains a slightly longer intro and an extended vocal chorus/fadeout ending. The single's B-Side "Street Thunder (Marathon Theme)" is an instrumental track originally appearing on The Official Music of the XXIII Olympiad - Los Angeles 1984 and later on the band's 2-CD compilation Jukebox Heroes: The Foreigner Anthology in 2000.

Soon after Foreigner's single topped the charts, the New Jersey Mass Choir released its own similar-sounding version of the song on an album also titled I Want to Know What Love Is. Their single peaked at #37 on the Hot Black Singles chart and #12 on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart.

The Foreigner song was ranked by Billboard as the #4 Hot 100 single of 1985. It was the band's fourth Gold single in the U.S. and their first and only Gold single in the UK.

Originally consisting of three verses, a pre-chorus and a chorus, the song was extended with a bridge written by original songwriter Mick Jones specifically for Tina Arena's cover in 1998.

The song was used on the 16th episode of Miami Vice in the first season, entitled "Rites of Passage" on 8 February 1985. The song was also featured on Quantum Leap Season 4 Episode 13 (January 22, 1992). The song was made part of the videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories soundtrack in 2006, and was the background music for the game's first trailer and intro cutscene. In 2007, the game SingStar '80s included the song. The song was played in a scene in Larry The Cable Guy: Health Inspector and in the "Valentine's Day" episode of the TV show Ed. The song also features in the 1998 Swedish film Show Me Love. The song was sung twice on General Hospital in 2009; first by the character Spinelli to his girlfriend Maxie at Jake's karaoke night, and second by guests at a reception, to Spinelli and Maxie. The song appears in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. The song also has an appearance on American Dad! (Series 7 Episode 9).