Urgent (song)

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"Urgent"
Foreigner Urgent album.jpg
Single by Foreigner
from the album 4
B-side"Girl on the Moon"
ReleasedJune 22, 1981 (1981-06-22)
RecordedEarly 1981
GenrePop rock, funk rock
Length3:57 (single)
4:29 (album)
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)Mick Jones
Producer(s)Robert John "Mutt" Lange, Mick Jones
Foreigner singles chronology
"I'll Get Even With You"
(1980) 		"Urgent"
(1981) 		"Waiting for a Girl Like You"
(1981)
Music video
"Urgent" on YouTube

"Urgent" is a song by the British-American rock band Foreigner, and the first single from their album 4 in 1981.

Recording[]

Foreigner went into the Manhattan studio with producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, best known at the time as producer for hard rock band AC/DC. Foreigner's sound wasn't quite as heavy, and the band worked with then-unknown Thomas Dolby to program and play synthesizer. Dolby's work can be heard on "Urgent", along with a saxophone solo by Motown artist Junior Walker.

Personnel[]

Additional personnel[]

Chart performance[]

The song entered the U.S. pop charts the week ending July 4, 1981, and reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, holding that spot for the entire month of September.[1] "Urgent" hit #1 on the Billboard Rock Tracks chart, a position it held for four weeks.[2]

"Urgent" was the most successful single from the 4 album on album-oriented rock radio, though it was outsold by the album's later single, "Waiting for a Girl Like You", which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1981 and remained at that spot through the end of the following January, for a total of ten weeks, being certified Gold. 4 went Gold and Platinum during the chart run of the "Urgent" single. The album has since been certified multi-platinum by the RIAA, for selling over six million copies in the U.S. alone.[3]

The song was Foreigner's second-best-selling single (after "I Want to Know What Love Is") in both Canada and Sweden, reaching #1 in Canada in September 1981 and #20 in Sweden in March 1982.[4] In Australia, "Urgent" peaked at #24 in November 1981, but remained in the Top 50 for 24 weeks. In the UK, the song reached only #54 upon its first release in 1981. In 1982, after "Waiting for a Girl Like You" went Top Ten there, "Urgent" was re-released, this time reaching only slightly higher, peaking at #45.[5]

Chart history[]

Track listings[]

  • 1981: "Urgent" b/w "Girl on the Moon" (Atlantic 3831) US 7" single
  • 1981: "Urgent" b/w "Girl on the Moon" (Atlantic 11665) UK 7" single
  • 1982: "Urgent" b/w "Head Games" (live) (Atlantic 11728) UK 7" single
  • 1982: "Urgent" b/w "Head Games" (live)/"Hot Blooded" (live) (Atlantic 11728) UK 12" single

Other versions[]

Foreigner performs a live version of the song on the 1993 album Classic Hits Live.

A live concert version by the 2005 incarnation of the band, featuring Kelly Hansen on vocals, can be heard on the release Extended Versions.

Shannon version[]

"Urgent"
Single by Shannon
from the album Do You Wanna Get Away
ReleasedSeptember 30, 1985
Recorded1984
GenreSynthpop
Length5:10
LabelMirage/Emergency
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Chris Barbosa, Mark Liggett
Shannon singles chronology
"Stronger Together"
(1985) 		"Urgent"
(1985) 		"Stop the Noise"
(1985)

Electropop/R&B singer Shannon recorded a version of the Foreigner hit for her 1985 album Do You Wanna Get Away. Foreigner's label, Atlantic Records, distributed Mirage, the label for the Shannon release.[17] The song was the album's fourth single, peaking at #68 for two weeks on Billboard's R&B Singles chart in November and December 1985.[18] A 12" remix of the mid-tempo track was not the major dance hit of her previous releases.

Track listings[]

12" Single

  1. Urgent - 5:10
  2. Do You Wanna Get Away - 4:54

Charts[]

Chart (1985) Peak
position
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard) 68
UK Singles Chart 84[19]

Radio DCS[]

Austrian band released a cover version of the song on their debut album I Try My Best To Mainstream and entered the European alternative charts (WEEK 49 . December 3, 2012) at position #8.

See also[]

  • List of RPM number-one singles of 1981
  • List of Billboard Mainstream Rock number-one songs of the 1980s

References[]

  1. ^ Top Music Charts - Hot 100 - Billboard 200 - Music Genre Sales
  2. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 234.
  3. ^ RIAA - Gold & Platinum - August 12, 2008
  4. ^ swedishcharts.com - Foreigner - Urgent
  5. ^ polyhex.com UK Singles Chart runs
  6. ^ "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  7. ^ "Foreigner singles". The Official Chart Company. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
  8. ^ "Foreigner Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
  9. ^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  10. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 234.
  11. ^ Cash Box Top 100 Singles, September 19, 1981
  12. ^ polyhex.com UK Singles Chart runs
  13. ^ The 1981 Top 100 Singles chart is identified by the RPM Year-End article "Top 100 Singles (1981)". RPM. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  14. ^ "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  15. ^ Musicoutfitters.com
  16. ^ Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 26, 1981
  17. ^ Atlantic Records Story
  18. ^ Top Music Charts - Hot 100 - Billboard 200 - Music Genre Sales
  19. ^ officialcharts.com

External links[]

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