Foreigner Thought This Big Early Hit Was Far Too Pop for Their Debut Album in 1977

Foreigner was at the very beginning of their career when they released “Cold As Ice” in 1977. The song was written by band members Lou Gramm and Mick Jones,. Cold As Ice” is on the band’s eponymous debut. It is Foreigner’s second single.

A scathing lyric, the chorus of “Cold As Ice” says, “You’re as cold as ice / You’re willing to sacrifice our love / You never take advice / Someday you’ll pay the price, I know.”

“Cold As Ice” follows “Feels Like The First Time”, Foreigner’s debut single. Surprisingly, Jones later reveals he thought “Cold As Ice” was too pop to be included on the record, let alone become a hit single.

“It’s a strange, quirky little song, basically a pop song written back to front,” Jones tells Louder. “The structure is unusual. It starts with the title, and it’s only further down the line that you realize that the pre-chorus is actually the chorus. I knew it was the poppiest song we’d done, which I was a little worried about. But everybody seemed to dig it.

“I didn’t see it being indicative of the direction of Foreigner,” he continues. “So it was a bit of a surprise addition to the album. But one thing I wanted to do with Foreigner was to show that the band had some versatility. And this was definitely different and a bit commercial, not just another hard rock song.”

How “Cold as Ice” Made It on Foreigner’s Debut Album

The success of “Cold As Ice” is especially interesting, since the song was never supposed to be on their debut project. In fact, the record was seemingly completed. However, producer Gary Lyons was unhappy with one of the songs on the record.

“I can’t remember the title of the track, but this didn’t fit in with the rest of the album,” Lyons recalls. “I had to come back to London to do something with Elton John and Kiki Dee, so I suggested to the band that they should try to write another song to replace it.”

Jones immediately went home and began playing the riff for what became “Cold As Ice”. Band member Ian McDonald reveals that the weather seemed to cooperate with Foreigner recording “Cold As Ice”.

“Gary and I were in there all night working on the vocals,” McDonald remembers. “And when we got out of the studio we discovered that a blizzard had been raging. Everywhere was covered in snow, and we heard on the radio that it had been the coldest night in New York on record! Somehow that seemed to be a good omen for the song.”

Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images

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