Only Time Will Tell Heat Of The Moment Sole Survivor Asia

Only Time Will Tell Album: Asia (1982)
Heat Of The Moment Album: Asia (1982)
Sole Survivor
by Asia

Asia keyboard player Geoff Downes and lead singer/bass player John Wetton wrote Only Time Will Tell, which finds a man learning that the woman he loved never loved him in return, only using him for her own gain. He walks out on her, refusing to live a lie, and predicting that she will probably have a lonely future, but "only time will tell."

John Wetton explained that the songs he wrote came from personal experience, and were often very vivid. In this song he's saying, "I know this new guy is not as good as I am, but only time will tell. But you're making a big mistake."

The lyrical kiss-off led some to accuse Wetton of misogyny, but he points out that Only Time Will Tell follows a dialogue he started in the song "Heat of the Moment," where he apologizes for past transgressions.

John Wetton was a member of the band Wishbone Ash when he started working on Only Time Will Tell. This was toward the end of 1980 when that band was recording their Number the Brave album at Criteria Studios in Miami, and Wetton would stay late after sessions to work up ideas, many of which ended up on the first Asia album. During this time, Wetton's musical hero John Lennon was killed, which made the experience even more vivid.

The video for Only Time Will Tell was directed by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme (Godley & Creme), who also did Asia's video for "Heat of the Moment." Both videos broke up the screen into smaller boxes, with "Only Time Will Tell" showing the band members inside TV sets. A gymnast also shows up throughout the video doing some slow motion tumbling; this didn't make a lot of sense, but did make for an interesting visual, which in 1982 worked very well (first gymnast on MTV!). In a Songfacts interview with Godley, he explained: "We just felt it would look interesting - it's as simple as that. I don't think we were driven by it having any meaning initially. It was just the memories that came to mind as a device that might look rather interesting and it felt like the music felt to a degree."

Godley & Creme would later direct some of the most acclaimed videos of the era, including "Every Breath You Take" by The Police and "Rockit" by Herbie Hancock.

Asia featured an all-star lineup: John Wetton from King Crimson, Steve Howe from Yes, Carl Palmer from Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and Geoff Downes from the Buggles and Yes. Wetton and Downes wrote this song, which describes an intense relationship between a young couple, and questions what will happen when they get older.

Saying sorry in song became commonplace in the hair metal era, but in 1982 you rarely heard a rocker apologize, as it was considered wimpy. Heat Of The Moment, however, begins with contrition, as Wetton sings: "I never meant to be so bad to you."

"The whole song is just an apology," Wetton said.. "It's just saying I f--ked up. I hold my hand out and I got it wrong. I never meant it to be like that. I didn't want it to be like that. And so I'm sorry."

There was a specific person John Wetton was singing about on this track: his girlfriend Jill, who would later become his wife. The couple divorced after 10 years of marriage.

John Wetton wasn't concerned about macho posturing when he wrote Heat Of The Moment; he was trying to bare his soul in the manner of one of his songwriting idols: Joni Mitchell. This first-person, emotive style was typical of Mitchell and a big influence on this and the other songs on the first Asia album.

Heat Of The Moment is the group's biggest hit. Asia scored another US Top 10 on their next album with "Don't Cry, but disbanded in the late '80s and never returned to the Top 40 upon their return. Later Asia material was more true to their progressive rock roots and not likely to chart.

At one point, Heat Of The Moment had a little bit of country in it. Geoff Downes explained: "John [Wetton] had a chorus part that was actually in a different time signature from the one that ended up on the recording. It was like a country song. He just had the chorus part, and I had a verse part, as well. So, we just put the two together one afternoon, we wrote the middle bridge section the following day, and that was it.

The song was really put to bed like that. John wrote all the lyrics, and the rest is history. It was actually the last song we wrote for the album, funny enough. And it became a big hit single."

Heat Of The Moment was featured in the movie The 40 year old Virgin. The main character in the film (played by Steve Carell) has an Asia poster on his wall, which helps explain why he's a 40 year old virgin.

John Wetton of Asia told us that he's a big fan of the film and loved the scene where Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen accuse Carell of being gay because of his poster.

Heat Of The Moment was featured in an episode of the TV show South Park where Cartman is talking to Congress about stem cell research after his friend Kenny dies. He starts singing this song, and the entire congress joins in.

Heat Of The Moment song was featured in the video game Guitar Hero Rocks the '80s, allowing people to play along with this song with a virtual guitar.

John Wetton started writing this song in 1980 when he was a member of the band Wishbone Ash, which were recording their album Number the Brave at Criteria Studios in Miami. When sessions would end around 6pm, Wetton would stay late in the studio and come up with ideas, many of which made their way onto the first Asia album. "I couldn't waste a studio like that with the best time in it," he told us.

This was the last song the band recorded for the album, but it ended up being the first single. The same thing happened on the next two Asia albums, as the final songs recorded were the first singles: "Don't Cry" on Alpha (1983) and "Go" on Astra (1985). Wetton thinks this is because the band tended to be very focused by the last song.

"Sole Survivor" is a song written by Geoffrey Downes and John Wetton, it is the third track and third single from the band's 1982 eponymous debut. It was Asia's second single for the U.S Mainstream Rock Charts that reached the Top Ten. The single also peaked at #75 in Germany and #91 in the UK.

Sole Survivor was covered by Japanese power metal band Galneryus for their 2008 cover album, Voices from the Past II. It was also used in some of the foreign versions of the 1982 Japanese anime Future War 198X.

In 2000, the song was referenced in satirical newspaper The Onion with a brief article titled "Sole Survivor of Air Crash Has Asia's 'Sole Survivor' Stuck in Head".

Billboard said that it "[underlines] a mix of instrumental rock drama and bittersweet lyrics."

PopMatters critic Dennis Shin rated the song's music video as one of "20 ’80s music videos that have aged terribly," saying that it "looks old as dirt, and a couple of the talking mullets on stage look like Joe Dirt."