Foreigner was founded in 1976 by British and American musicians, including Mick Jones, Ian McDonald and Lou Gramm. In the Netherlands, most of their hits charted lower than in the United States, but nevertheless Cold as Ice, Waiting for a Girl Like You (featuring Thomas Dolby), I Want to Know What Love Is (recorded with the New Jersey Mass Choir, who later released their own version), That Was Yesterday, I Don't Want to Live Without You and Say You Will are also considered classics in the Netherlands. Almost everyone sings along effortlessly to the chorus of 'I Want To Know What Love Is', but Foreigner singer Lou Gramm does have some issues with the song. He finds the song far too soft. Lou Gramm initially did not want to sing the song and it took Jones quite some effort to convince him to include a gospel choir. It was the first single from the 1984 album Agent Provocateur, which also features the hit 'That Was Yesterday'.
Mick Jones, stepfather of producer Mark Ronson, and Lou Gramm released solo albums in 1989 after which the latter temporarily left the band to perform with Shadow King. In 2002 they were seen in the Netherlands during Night of the Proms; Gramm had gained a few kilos due to medication after the removal of a brain tumour. In 2003 he called it a day for good; his place was successively taken by Chaz West and Kelly Hansen (among others Slash's Snakepit). Jason Bonham, son of the late John Bonham, sat behind the drums from 2004-08 and in 2007 was his own support act at the Led Zeppelin reunion concert.
Ian McDonald died at the age of 75 at home in New York City on 9 February 2022.
Foreigner is nowadays one of the world's best-selling bands of all time with worldwide sales of nearly eighty million albums.
Top 2000
In the 24th edition of the Top 2000, Foreigner is listed with the following positions:
Sunday Morning Classic
On 15 January 2023, the album “4” was central to our Sunday Morning Classic. You guessed it, the fourth studio album by Foreigner.
In the 1980s, we were overwhelmed with Adult Oriented Rock (AOR), radio-friendly rock for a broad audience. Representatives such as Boston, Journey, Styx, Survivor and REO Speedwagon were very successful and sold millions of albums (especially in the USA!). The ballads did particularly well and Foreigner was very strong in that area.
The album starts off well with Night Life. A wonderful opener. Also Break it Up, I'm Gonna Win, Luanne, Girl on the Moon and Woman in Black as lesser-known tracks are well worth hearing. The best track on the album is Jukebox Hero. Exciting build-up and a powerful climax with a strong guitar riff and a mighty chorus. The choir in the background ('got stars in his eyes') gives it a majestic, almost Queen-like vibe that contrasts nicely with Gramm's powerful delivery. Jones also delivers a very strong solo performance here: raw and not too technical.
Add those three hits and you have a cracking album! It's no surprise that this album flew off the shelves in the millions at the time. An album of American muscle rock.
Source: NPO and Wikipedia Photo: Andreas Lawen, Fotandi and Stolz at Bulgarian Wikipedia.
