3/19/2023 0 Comments Foreigner hits![]() ![]() ![]() Foreigner's self-titled debut was issued in 1977 and became an immediate hit on the strength of the hit singles "Feels Like the First Time," "Long, Long Way from Home," and the aforementioned "Cold as Ice," as the album would eventually go platinum five times over.įoreigner avoided the dreaded sophomore slump with an even stronger follow-up release, 1978's Double Vision, which spawned such further hit singles as "Hot Blooded" and its title track, and the album stayed in the Top Ten for a solid six months. ![]() Jones found immediate songwriting chemistry with Gramm (one of the first songs they wrote together was the eventual hit "Cold as Ice"), resulting in the newly formed band taking the name Foreigner and signing a recording contract with Atlantic Records. Jones soon assembled a group consisting of ex-King Crimson sax player Ian McDonald and ex-Ian Hunter drummer Dennis Elliot (both of whom were British), along with New York musicians Al Greenwood (keyboards), Ed Gagliardi (bass), and Lou Gramm (vocals), the latter of whom was previously a member of an obscure '70s outfit called Black Sheep. It wasn't long before Jones felt the urge to be part of another rock outfit as he sought to put together a band that would be able to combine elements of rock, progressive, R&B, and pop into a single, cohesive style. By the mid-'70s, Jones relocated to New York City, where he was briefly a member of the Leslie West Band and served as an A&R man for a record company. The band's leader from the beginning was British guitarist Mick Jones, who first broke into the music biz as a hired gun of sorts, appearing on recordings by George Harrison and Peter Frampton, and as part of a latter-day version of hard rockers Spooky Tooth. As musical trends changed, so did the band: they added new wave elements to their sound, worked with Mutt Lange on 1981's 4, and moved into an adult style on ballads like "Waiting for a Girl Like You" and their biggest hit, 1984's "I Want to Know What Love Is." Though the band's recording career stalled when Gramm left the band in the late '80s, different incarnations of the band continued touring and their presence can still be heard daily on rock radio, while their blend of hard rock and soft ballads proved influential to bands ranging from Soul Asylum to One Direction. Their first two albums - 1977's Foreigner and 1978's Double Vision - were a double shot of exceedingly catchy songs and slick production that topped the charts and spawned a number of huge singles. Built around the songwriting skills and fiery guitar riffing of Mick Jones and the arena-filling vocals of Lou Gramm, Foreigner's hooky style of AOR caught on in a big way in the late '70s. ![]()
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