{"id":333299,"date":"2025-12-24T13:19:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T13:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/333299\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T13:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T13:19:11","slug":"the-greatest-rock-ballad-of-all-time-the-classic-song-that-set-a-record-by-holding-the-number-two-spot-in-the-us-for-10-weeks-without-ever-hitting-the-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/333299\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe greatest rock ballad of all time!\u201d: The classic song that set a record by holding the number two spot in the US for 10 weeks without ever hitting the top"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEST OF 2025:<\/a> Join us for our traditional look back at the news and features that topped MusicRadar’s charts in 2025.<\/p>\n

The legendary rock band Foreigner were named in in reference to their Anglo-American line-up and the band\u2019s magical chemistry came from the special relationship between Mick Jones, a British guitarist, and Lou Gramm, a singer born in Rochester, New York. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jones, Foreigner\u2019s leader, was a brilliant songwriter and in Gramm, he had the perfect foil \u2014 a voice with grit and soul, reminiscent of Free and Bad Company legend Paul Rodgers.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Jones created Foreigner as a classically styled hard rock band made for radio, and the first, eponymous album was launched at an opportune time.<\/p>\n

While punk rock was big news in 1977, the year\u2019s biggest selling acts included Fleetwood Mac, Peter Frampton and Boston. The Foreigner album sold four million copies in America, with two top ten hits in Feels Like The First Time and the spine-tingling Cold As Ice.<\/p>\n

Second album Double Vision was another big seller, with raunchy anthem, Hot Blooded reaching number three in the US and finding an unlikely fan in John Lydon, the former Sex Pistols singer, who said that the song made him \u201cjump around like a lunatic\u201d.<\/p>\n

Foreigner\u2019s momentum continued with 1979\u2019s Head Games and its thumping hit Dirty White Boy. But it was with their fourth album \u2013 released in 1981, and titled simply 4 \u2013 that they reached their peak.<\/p>\n

Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here. <\/p>\n

Jones had co-produced Head Games with Roy Thomas Baker, famed for his work on classic albums by Queen<\/a>, Journey and The Cars. On the 4 album, Jones teamed up with Robert John \u2018Mutt\u2019 Lange<\/a>, the producer of AC\/DC\u2019s Highway To Hell and Back In Black. And together, they honed Foreigner\u2019s sound to perfection.<\/p>\n

There was heavy rock power in the album\u2019s opening double-whammy: Nightlife, crackling with after-dark energy, and Juke Box Hero, a high-tension, crunching anthem carrying the dreams of every wannabe rock \u2019n\u2019 roll star.<\/p>\n

The intensity continued in Urgent, its funky groove given added sizzle with a wild sax solo from Motown legend Jr. Walker.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Break It Up is this album\u2019s Cold As Ice.<\/p>\n

Girl On The Moon is the album’s best-kept secret \u2013 a deep cut that should have been a hit single, with a dreamlike quality and clever, tasteful guitar licks from Jones in the verses.<\/p>\n

And in the ballad Waiting For a Girl Like You the extraordinary emotional depth in Lou Gramm\u2019s vocal was enhanced by sighing backing vocals from Lange, and subtle, drifting synthesizer textures from Thomas Dolby, a wizard of electronic music who had a hit in 1982 with She Blinded Me With Science.<\/p>\n

Waiting for a Girl like You – YouTube
\n\"Waiting<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Waiting For A Girl Like You \u2013 acclaimed by Justin Hawkins of The Darkness as \u201cthe greatest rock ballad of all time\u201d \u2013 set a record by holding the No.2 spot on the US chart for 10 weeks without ever hitting No.1.<\/p>\n

But the album did make it the top, and went on to sell more than seven million copies in the US alone.<\/p>\n

Foreigner\u2019s biggest hit came in 1985 with another ballad, the gospel-influenced I Want To Know What Love Is, which hit number one on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

But what they created in 4 \u2013 released in the same year as Journey\u2019s Escape \u2013 was a perfect AOR album.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEST OF 2025: Join us for our traditional look back at the news and features that topped MusicRadar’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-333299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}