Foreigner's Overdue Induction Ends in Bitterness and Confusion

November 10, 2024 11:38 AM Filed in: 2024 Ceremony | Controversy

We've said this before, but it bears repeating: The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has the unique ability to simultaneously honor and insult an artist's career. Guns N' Roses, KISS, Steve Miller, and Dire Straits have all had inductions that somehow turned into a slap in the face. This year's inductee with that distinction is Foreigner.

Sidenote: In another recent example, Mariah Carey, after being nominated for "Music's Highest Honor™" this year, noted in an interview that "my lawyer got in before me," referring to Allen Grubman's 2022 induction, which spoke volumes about the credibility and priorities of the Rock Hall in just a few words.

Prior to 2024, Foreigner had been eligible for over 20 years without ever appearing on a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ballot. Band members were frequently asked about their snub, and they seemed resigned to it never happening. But buoyed by the ouster of their perceived blacklister, Jann Wenner, and an unprecedented publicity push from their management and Mick Jones's son-in-law, Mark Ronson, there was renewed hope to get them inducted. Ronson recruited a star-studded lineup (including Nominating Committee member Dave Grohl) to make the case for them in a video widely shared on social media.

The campaign worked, not only with the fans, who lifted Foreigner to third in the Fan Vote standings, but with actual voters with ballots. The outcome seemed inevitable enough that Lou Gramm was already talking about the performance at the ceremony a month before voting ended. But just a few days after the inductees were announced, Gramm revealed there were negotiations with Rock Hall producers about their induction ceremony segment length.

Gramm understood that "I Want to Know What Love Is" had to be one of the songs in the ceremony, but he clearly wanted "Juke Box Hero" played as well, as a rock song counterpoint to the ballad that would better mark the occasion of being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

About three weeks before the induction ceremony, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced many of the presenters and performers who would be at the ceremony (Foreigner was also listed as performing). They announced that Demi Lovato, Sammy Hagar, Slash, and Chad Smith would be performing a tribute to Foreigner. A week later, Kelly Clarkson was added to the list of artists in the Foreigner segment. Yes, that's three announced singers, and performances are usually only three songs, so how would Foreigner fit into that?

At this point, Foreigner (and their management), should have known what the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame producers were doing, which is marginalizing the band in their own induction. Despite the fact that none of Foreigner's members who were getting inducted are currently touring with "Foreigner," Gramm was clearly interested in performing with a mix of original and new members.

Two days before the ceremony, in a sign that things were starting to unravel, Dennis Elliott, the band's original drummer, posted on Facebook that he was skipping the event.

Dear Foreigner Fans & Friends, Don't look too hard, we will not be there. We were finally given the schedule last night, and it is not to our satisfaction. So we are staying home. We have been asking for this for weeks, and they have waited until the very last minute to send it knowing we were all packed and going to bed.

Elliott was referring to himself and his wife, not the entire band, but it seemed clear that the issue with the "schedule" was likely due to his reduced involvement in the performance. A followup article from Billboard, included a pathetic attempt at damage control from "sources in Cleveland," that suggested Elliott wasn't coming because he was told his wife couldn't walk the red carpet. At the same time Elliott revealed he wasn't coming, it was confirmed that Mick Jones also wouldn't attend due to his health issues associated with Parkinson's. That left only Lou Gramm, Al Greenwood, and Rick Wills as inducted members to represent the band at the ceremony. (Ed Gagliardi and Ian McDonald were also posthumously inducted.)

At the ceremony, Sammy Hagar gave a 7 1/2 minute induction speech before introducing Demi Lovato to sing "Feels Like the First Time" with Slash, Chad Smith, and some of Foreigner's touring band backing her up. Hagar reemerged to lead the tribute performance of "Hot Blooded." For the last song, Kelly Clarkson came out to take the lead on "I Want To Know What Love Is," before Lou Gramm finally emerged for the second verse.

The total length of the Foreigner segment at the ceremony was 30 minutes, divided between speeches, a 5-minute video, and the three songs. Lou Gramm performed on stage for two of those minutes.

After the dust settled from the ceremony, Lou Gramm went on Eddie Trunk's radio show and discussed the event, and said he was told it was "time constraints" that the band didn't get to perform together (emphasis ours):

Eddie Trunk: "If someone else is singing it, the song's getting done either way, right?"

Gramm: "I don't think anybody else sang 'Juke Box Hero', but I know they did 'Hot Blooded' and 'Feels Like the First Time'. So I thought an edited version of 'I Wanna Know What Love Is' into an edited version of 'Juke Box Hero' would've been okay. You know, but he didn't explain to me. He just said, 'No, it's not gonna work.'"

Trunk: "Having worked on some of these award shows myself over the years, in various capacities, the managers, sometimes the artists themselves, the event, they always like younger different artists kind of showing that they loved an older band. So in your case, that's a little bit how I read that as well, with the manager maybe saying “no” in that, 'Well, it looks really cool to have Kelly Clarkson or Demi Lovato up there.' Because these are younger current people who are showing how much they loved Foreigner."

Gramm: "Yeah. You know, but the thing for me is I am first and foremost a rock singer, and it is the Rock Hall of Fame. And somehow I couldn't sing a rock song at the Rock Hall of Fame when I'm being inducted? It doesn't make any sense to me, and it sticks in my craw."

Trunk: "I give you credit and the whole Foreigner camp credit, because as much as this may have been difficult and sticky, you still did the best you could given what you had to work with."

Gramm: "Dennis didn't even come… The reason Dennis didn't come was because he found out from management a number of days before Rick, Al and I found out that we weren't gonna play. As soon as Dennis found out that we weren't performing on our night, he decided he wasn't gonna come. And we're just going, 'Dennis, come on. Come. We're gonna play. We're gonna play.' And Dennis goes, 'No, I'm not gonna come. I'm not gonna come.' And then we found out the afternoon of the show that we weren't performing. We thought we were gonna be performing, and Dennis was gonna be there, and we'd have the guitar player from the new Foreigner play mixed parts and play a couple songs. And then we found out at the last minute that it was the new Foreigner who was gonna be playing and Rick and Al would be standing there singing background vocals."

Trunk: "So Rick and Al did not play instruments at all?"

Gramm: "No. Dennis knew about it before anybody else. And he says, 'If we're not, if I'm not playing, I'm not coming.'"

Trunk: "If you would've known sooner, would you have shown?"

Gramm: "I don't know. I didn't know sooner. I didn't know sooner. And when I found out that that's why he didn't come, I even got more angrier, but not at him. It was almost like there was a fast one being played."

To quote Paul McCartney from his Foreigner campaign video, what the fuck?

PaulWTF

Rock Hall producers simply decided, that despite being willing and able, they didn't want Foreigner to perform themselves, and then had the tenacity to not let the band know until day or two before the ceremony (Gramm says it was that afternoon!). Instead, they plugged in artists with no personal connection to the band simply to add more contemporary star power to the marquee, without regard to the artist they were supposedly trying to honor, or to the fans who went to Cleveland to see them perform.

The Hall of Fame's relatively recent obsession with collaborations reached a new low this year. Producers are chasing Grammys-style "moments" with unexpected duets and collaborations at the expense of honoring the artists who are receiving their lifetime achievement award. Why should half of Cher's time taken up with Dua Lipa? Why can't Chaka Khan perform a single song by herself instead of sharing the stage with H.E.R., Sia, and Common? What is Dave Grohl doing out there with Lionel Richie? You're now getting living, actively performing inductees, who are forced to share the stage with (in some cases) marginal artists who have no business being on a Hall of Fame stage.

And yes, of course this is because the TV networks want to make the show as big as possible, but the Rock Hall needs to keep in mind they are there to honor the inductees, not serve Disney shareholders. These people have waited a lifetime for this. Stop with the iHeart Music awards bullshit already, and do right by your inductees.

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