"Break It Up" was the fourth single taken from the album '' 4'' by the band Foreigner. The song was written by Mick Jones and the first to feature a

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that was not available on one of their albums, a live version of their hit, " Head Games."

Background

The song has a more melodic, slightly ballad-oriented sound mixed with their traditional hard rock. ''

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'' contributor Kurt Loder described the song as a "classic cruncher." ''

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'' called it "another dose of bluster from the band that, along with

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, virtually created pomp rock" but said that there is "nothing here that the band hasn’t done before," specifically comparing it to " Cold as Ice." ''

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'' described it as a "melodramatic mid tempo rocker forceful enough for the band's earliest AOR allies and melodic enough for pop formats."

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"Mutt" Lange wanted to use a

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for timing the drum part. Foreigner drummer Dennis Elliott got fed up about that so eventually he and Jones recorded the basic track themselves with Elliott on drums and Jones on piano. According to Jones "Then we turned round to ‘Mutt’ and said, ‘Okay? Happy now?!’ We wanted to prove the point that this band could play and keep time, too."

Chart performance

"Break it Up" reached number 26 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Cover versions

*Norwegian

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

/ heavy metal singer Jørn Lande has covered this song on his first album '' Starfire''.

References

1982 singles 1981 songs Foreigner (band) songs Songs written by Mick Jones (Foreigner) Atlantic Records singles Song recordings produced by Mick Jones (Foreigner) Song recordings produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange {{1980s-rock-song-stub