This month, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame rectifies a wrong that many rock fans will celebrate with their lighters in the air – the band Foreigner will finally be welcomed in. The English-American rockers, with hits like Cold As Ice, Hot Blooded, and Waiting For A Girl Like You, topped the charts in the 1970s and 1980s but never made it into the hall, much less a ballot, until last year, despite being eligible for more than 20 years.
“It’s just been a long wait and I know that we’ve done enough in our career to warrant induction,” said Al Greenwood, keyboardist and a founding member. “I’m not bitter about it. I mean, we’re finally getting in and that’s great.” Foreigner, led by singer Lou Gramm and guitarist Mick Jones, recorded nine Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and six Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200, including 4, which spent 10 weeks in the top spot in 1981.
Foreigner were nominated for three Grammys and their songs have been heard on everything from Miami Vice and The Simpsons to Arrested Development and Stranger Things. Tone-Loc sampled Hot Blooded to create Funky Cold Medina. “We weren’t the best looking band in the world. We weren’t the most dress-conscious band in the world. But Mick and Lou came up with some very, very strong songs and that’s what’s kept it going,” said bassist Rick Wills. “Sixteen top 30 hits isn’t too shabby.”
The belated embrace by rock’s establishment has a bittersweet taste, since original bassist Ed Gagliardi and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald have died and Jones has been sidelined by Parkinson’s disease. The band will be inducted on October 19 in Cleveland, Ohio, in the US.
Foreigner, led by singer Lou Gramm (Image via Getty)
Foreigner were among the top vote-getters when the fans voted, nabbing almost 528,000 votes or 12.54%. They will join Mary J. Blige, A Tribe Called Quest, Kool & the Gang, Ozzy Osbourne, Dave Matthews Band, the late Jimmy Buffett, MC5, Dionne Warwick, Alexis Korner, the late John Mayall, and Big Mama Thornton in the class of ’24.
“I think a lot of the talent that is in this class has been waiting on the outside as well as Foreigner,” said Greenwood. “I’m just so thankful that I’m in this class with such incredible talent.” The band got a public push from Jones’ son-in-law Mark Ronson, who recruited musical friends such as Sir Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Slash, Jack Black, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith.
Foreigner in their heyday offered varied songs – the ballad I Want To Know What Love Is is very different from Urgent – but many have endured to become the backbone of classic rock playlists. A new line-up, dubbed Foreigner 2.0, attract tens of thousands a night on tour. Jones started the American-British band in 1976 in New York City, selecting each of its members, the first being Greenwood, whom he had never met.
