Asia – Heat Of The Moment
#quotefromthe80s
And when your looks are gone and you're alone
How many nights you sit beside the phone
What were the things you wanted for yourself
Teenage ambitions you remember well
#Asia #HeatOfTheMoment
In early July 1982, a beautiful song was released that introduced a new concept to the 80s, the idea of supergroup.
Since then, supergroup is the definition for those groups where each member comes from another equally famous group or has an importnat solo career – and almost always returns to it sooner or later. In fact, one of the characteristics of supergroups is that they often have a limited life in time; sometimes because they are real musical projects with a completion date, and sometimes because the success simply lasts the space of an album or a little more.I would probably say that the life of supergroups is shorter and less intense than the life of standard pop groups.
Probably the first supergroup of the 80s was Asia, which consisted of two members of Yes (one of them was Geoff Downes, who together with Trevor Horn had formed Buggles, authors of Video Killed the Radio Star). With them was Carl Palmer, obviously from Emerson Lake and Palmer, and finally there was John Wetton, singer and bass player of King Crimson. Wetton was perhaps the least famous of them all, but in practice much of the credit for Heat of the Moment goes to him.
In the 80s we saw several other supergroups, for example The Power Station who sang Some Like it Hot, with John and Andy Taylor of Duran Duran, Robert Palmer who was a bit of a free hitter, and Tony Thompson of Chic. The Traveling Wilburys should also be mentioned, who perhaps carried a history that was too heavy, as they were formed by Bob Dylan, Beatles’ George Harrison, Tom Petty, Ray Orbison, and Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra.
Heat of the Moment is definitely a song between rock and metal, full of energy, but in reality it is also a very romantic song, where the protagonist apologizes from the very first verse for treating his partner badly. Maybe we were expecting a sweeter melody for a song like that, but that’s it. By the way, they chose the perfect title for a song released in early July, even if in 1982 global warming was not an issue yet.
Among other things, the song was born from a real personal feeling of John Wetton, who wanted to dedicate these words to his girlfriend Jill, who later became his wife (their marriage lasted about ten years).
Heat of the Moment was the last song that Asia composed for their album, which itself was called Asia, and in a way it was not a coincidence; in fact, it became a bit of a tradition even on the following Asia albums. Leaving the most important song for last, they had the chance to dedicate all of the time only to the final song.
The video for Heat of the Moment was absolutely intriguing, and it’s built using a grid that resembles a wall of linked screens. In the video, images of Asia alternate with images relating to the lyrics of the song, and the feeling is not only very pleasant and fluid, but for 1982 it was also absolutely groundbreaking.
The idea came from the directors Godley and Creme, who had left 10cc years before, and were establishing themselves among the leading video directors of the 80s. In fact, they also directed Every Breath You Take by The Police, Girls on Film and A View to a Kill by Duran Duran, Victims by Culture Club, The Power of Love by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Fade to Grey by Visage, and many others. In short, they were absolute protagonists of the videography of the 80s.
Heat of the Moment reached the top ten in many countries, and definitely managed to go beyond the history of their performers, if it is true that Asia made other albums without ever replicating the success of this song, which still remains a great memory of the 80s after so many years.
Asia on Wikipedia
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