Asia - Heat Of The Moment

Asia are an English rock group formed in 1981. The band was labelled a supergroup and included former members of veteran progressive rock bands Yes, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Uriah Heep, U.K., Roxy Music, Wishbone Ash and The Buggles. Since 2007, there have been two distinct groups using the Asia name: a reunion of the band's original line-up performing as Asia, and Asia Featuring John Payne as a continuation of the pre-2006 Asia line-up, initially featuring three of its members.

Asia began with the apparent demise of Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, two of the flagship bands of British progressive rock. In early 1981, Wetton and former Yes guitarist Steve Howe were brought together by A&R man John Kalodner and Geffen Records to start writing material for a new album. By this point, progressive rock bands such as Yes and Emerson, Lake and Palmer had folded, so many qualified musicians were available for this proposed group. They were eventually joined by drummer Carl Palmer, and finally by Howe's recent Yes cohort, keyboardist Geoff Downes.

The band's first recordings, under the auspices of Geffen record label head David Geffen and Kalodner, were considered disappointing by music critics and fans of traditional progressive rock, who found the music closer to radio-friendly Album-oriented rock. However, Asia clicked with fans of popular arena acts such as Journey, Boston and Styx.

Rolling Stone gave Asia an indifferent review, while still acknowledging the band's musicianship was a cut above the usual AOR expectations.

Asia's eponymous debut album, released in March 1982, received considerable commercial success, spending nine weeks at number one in the U.S. album chart and selling over 4 million copies in the US alone. The album sold over 10 million worldwide. The singles "Only Time Will Tell" (#17) and "Heat of the Moment" (#4) became huge Top 40 hits, with the latter cracking the Top Five, and the former remaining a stadium favourite at U.S. sporting events. "Sole Survivor" also received heavy air play on rock stations across the US, as did "Wildest Dreams".

The band's best performing single, and perhaps their most recognised and popular hit song, "Heat of the Moment", climbed to #4 on the American Top 40 charts, having debuted on the AT40 on May 1, 1982, and spent a total of 12 weeks in there.

In the US, the band did extremely well, selling out every date on their debut tour, which began in theatres but quickly expanded into arenas because of high ticket demand. Asia would go on to receive a Grammy nomination as Best New Artist of the Year. MTV also played Asia videos on heavy rotation—as many as 5 times a day. Billboard named the Asia debut as album of the year. Asia's logo and cover art were handled by illustrator Roger Dean of Yes and Uriah Heep fame.

“ Heat of the Moment" is the first single released from their 1982 eponymous debut. The song was the most popular of the album, and a big hit in the USA, peaking at #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart and #4 on the Billboard Top Singles chart. It was written by John Wetton and Geoff Downes. "Heat of the Moment" is featured at the beginning of another Asia song called "Don't Call Me" as a dialing number from a telephone.

The lyrics contain the line, "And now you find yourself in 82". While this is often interpreted to refer to the year 1982, Wetton has said that it refers to a location. However, in live versions, Wetton has often substituted the current year for "82" in the second verse and rhymed it with another word.

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