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Foreigner
Posted by Laila Hanson on 29-May-08 @ 01:03 PM|
YEARS OF EXISTENCE: 1976-1987; 1991 until whoever has the good sense to make them stop YEARS OF DECENT EXISTENCE: 1979-81 BEST RECORDS: Foreigner (1977), Head Games (1979), 4 (1981) WORST RECORDS: Double Vision (1978), Agent Provocateur (1984), Inside Information (1987), Mr. Moonlight (1995) GO DOWNLOAD: "Cold As Ice," "Feels Like The First Time," "Long, Long Way From Home," "Urgent," "Rev On The Red Line" FILE UNDER: Not Cooler Before You Were Born, Exhibit A SIMILAR SOUNDING DINOSAURS: Journey, Boston, Styx-the usual fodder that curls VH1 suit Michael Hirschorn's toes and keeps his kids in private schools. THE MUSIC: You would think that guys with the rock pedigree of Mick Jones and Ian McDonald would have created the coolest, weirdest, iridescent rock band. Nope. The former Spooky Tooth guitarist (Jones) and original King Crimson horn player/synth op (McDonald) instead created Foreigner just before the '77 British punk explosion. Jones enlisted singer Lou Gramm to front the band; to paraphrase '80s punks Fang, the money rolled right in, with multi-platinum albums and a stack of anthemic FM radio staples. It was a good 10-year run for these gibrones, but when Gramm departed in 1987 for a solo career, the band adjourned. Jones cranked Foreigner back up in '91 with a different lead singer to the acclaim of nobody. When Gramm and Jones made up a few years later and reconvened the original band for 1995's Mr. Moonlight album, it was over. See, everyone was all fawning over the "genius" of Pearl Jam by then. WHAT THEY SAY: "As pure rock craftsmanship goes, Foreigner was as good as it got in the late '70s." -AllMusic WHAT I SAY: Foreigner were one of the prime movers of Tax Exile Rock, a genre where British bands can't get arrested in their own country, so they head toward the States for affirmation (cf. Asia, Bush, the Fixx. The Police escaped this particular curse only after their third album.) WHY YOUR (GRAND)PARENTS LIKE THEM: Foreigner erected a psychic skyscraper in the bustling metropolis of Lowest Common Denominator, USA, by churning out sappy greeting-card sentiments ("I Want To Know What Love Is," "Waiting For A Girl Like You") that aided your dad and his bros in the virginity-removal exercises of your mom and all her friends. When that didn't work, Jones & Co. delivered "empowering" rawk jams ("Dirty White Boy," "Double Vision," "Hot Blooded") that sounded good cranked up in the high school parking lot-unless Dad was driving an AMC Pacer (Google it-that's one fugly car). CURRENT WHEREABOUTS: Foreigner-with a lineup including Jones, drummer Jason Bonham and Jeff Pilson (from musical brain surgeons Dokken)-totally rocked CN8 cable network's "Celebrate '08" special this past New Year's Eve! I think it's safe to say you and I were someplace cooler that night. -Jason Pettigrew |
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