What You're Missing

"What You're Missing"
Single by Chicago
from the album Chicago 16
B-side	"Rescue You"
Released	January 1983 (1983-01) [1]
Recorded	1982
Genre	Pop rock
Length	4:10
Label	Full Moon
Songwriters	Joseph Williams Jay Gruska
Producer	David Foster
Chicago singles chronology
"Love Me Tomorrow" (1982) "What You're Missing" (1983) "Stay the Night" (1984)

"What You're Missing" is a song by the American rock band Chicago. It was released in 1983 as the third and last single of their thirteenth studio album Chicago 16 . It was written by American songwriters Joseph Williams and Jay Gruska.

"What You're Missing" peaked at No. 81 on the Billboard Hot 100. ^{[2] [3]}

Reception

Something Else! Reviews described "What You're Missing" as a powerful and fitting opener for Chicago 16, calling it "the right track to open the album, and perhaps their best or at least most in-your-face opening track since their earliest albums." The reviewer praised producer David Foster for transforming Joseph Williams's original demo into a full-band arrangement complete with a bright keyboard fanfare, noting that the song perfectly captured the band's rebirth and transition into the polished, radio-friendly pop-rock sound that defined Chicago's 1980s era, representing "a new Chicago — a Chicago for the 1980s." ^[4]

Personnel

Chicago

• Peter Cetera – bass, lead and backing vocals, BGV arrangements, rhythm arrangements
• Bill Champlin – keyboards, guitars, backing vocals, BGV arrangements
• Robert Lamm – keyboards, backing vocals
• Lee Loughnane – trumpet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet
• James Pankow – trombone, horn arrangements
• Walter Parazaider – woodwinds
• Danny Seraphine – drums, rhythm arrangements

Additional personnel

• Chris Pinnick – guitars
• Steve Lukather – guitars
• David Foster – keyboards, synth bass, rhythm arrangements, additional horn arrangements
• David Paich – synthesizers
• Steve Porcaro – synthesizers, synthesizer programming

Charts

Chart (1983)	Peak position
US Billboard Hot 100 [5]	81

References

1. "Chicago – What You're Missing". DutchCharts.nl. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
2. "Billboard Hot 100 Chart for January 29, 1983". Billboard. Retrieved October 31, 2025.
3. "Chicago – What You're Missing (single)". elpee.jp. Bee-Media. Retrieved October 31, 2025.
4. Perplexio (17 August 2019). "Chicago – What You're Missing". Something Else! Reviews. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
5. "Chicago Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved October 31, 2025.