Robbed hit of the week 10/14/19 - Foreigner's "Until The End Of Time"...
from the album Mr. Moonlight (1994)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #42
This week's "robbed hit" comes from the bi-continental arena-rock band Foreigner, who had scored their most recent top-40 hit in the spring of 1988 with "I Don't Want To Live Without You". After that, and with both lead singer Lou Gramm and guitarist/songwriter Mick Jones releasing solo albums, Gramm decided to leave Foreigner to pursue the solo bit stronger. Jones, however, returned to the band, hiring new vocalist Johnny Edwards, and releasing a new album Unusual Heat in 1991. Despite having a top-5 rock radio hit with "Lowdown And Dirty" (#4 Mainstream Rock), the record compared to their 80s work was a definite disappointment, not even reaching the top half of the albums chart in Billboard magazine. Edwards was dismissed shortly after, and Gramm and Jones reconciled as he rejoined the band, recording a trio of tracks for a new compilation (which ignored the last album), with new track "Soul Doctor" going to #5 on the rock radio list in 1992. Two years later, Foreigner re-emerged with a new studio album, Mr. Moonlight. After an initial stiffed single in "White Lie", the "B-side" offered to rock radio, "Under The Gun", placed them on the Mainstream Rock radio chart at #28 (it also got to #55 in Canada). I'm sure they intended the third release to be the big winner, though. "Until the End Of Time", a powerballad written by Gramm and Jones with bass player Bruce Turgon, fit in the mold of their previous love song successes, and even sported a name feature with guitar legend Duane Eddy from the 50s getting a credit, although for the life of me I cannot spot his touch on this...
Although "Until The End Of Time" did become a respectable hit on "easy listening" radio, peaking at #8 on Billboard magazine's Adult Contemporary format chart, the single stopped just short of the pop top-40 in May of 1995. Internationally, the single did much better in Canada, reaching #13, while stalling down at #86 in the UK. A third song from Mr. Moonlight, "All I Need To Know", ended up being a Canadian top-40 hit at #36.
The band continued for a while as a touring act, though health trouble with Gramm made it tough to perform, and eventually he left again in 2003. Gramm has since been shuffling people in and out of the band since mostly for concerts, though the act with singer Kelly Hansen released one more studio album, Can't Slow Down, in 2009, scoring a pair of Adult Contemporary hits with "When It Comes To Love" (#19) and "In Pieces" (#21). They were expected to tour with Gramm guesting again, but he had to bow out due to his health.
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And here's the band live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno...
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