Foreigner obtained their first Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame nomination this 12 months, little question a second of vindication for the long-overlooked rockers.
The nomination additionally raised an attention-grabbing prospect: If Foreigner will get inducted and their common touring lineup performs on the ceremony, then zero of the members onstage will truly enter the Corridor’s 2024 class.
Foreigner’s Rock Corridor nomination extends to classic-era members Dennis Elliott, Ed Gagliardi, Lou Gramm, Al Greenwood, Mick Jones, Ian McDonald and Rick Wills. Of these seven members, solely Jones stays within the band’s present lineup, and he has taken a largely behind-the-scenes position lately as his well being has prohibited him from touring commonly.
Jones will certainly attempt his finest to carry out on the Rock Corridor if his band is inducted, however he could be doing so alongside a half-dozen ineligible members — a few of whom have been within the band for much longer than the precise nominees. Bassist Jeff Pilson has been with the group since 2004, whereas lead singer Kelly Hansen has fronted Foreigner since 2005.
READ MORE: Rock Corridor 2024 Nominees Roundtable: Surprises, Snubs and Extra
Why Aren’t Foreigner’s Present Members Nominated for the Rock Corridor?
Regardless of their roughly two-decade tenures in Foreigner, Pilson and Hansen are not included within the Rock Corridor nomination as a result of they weren’t a part of the band’s vital or industrial heyday. Each members solely carried out on Foreigner’s most up-to-date album, 2009’s Cannot Gradual Down.
Pilson beforehand said that he did not count on to get inducted into the Rock Corridor as a member of Foreigner. “I feel sometime Foreigner will get inducted,” he instructed Misplaced Straws in 2021. “I do not assume I’ll, nor essentially ought to I, however I feel the band will, and I do assume the unique guys actually do deserve their due.”
READ MORE: Why Judas Priest Could not Get Richie Faulkner Into the Rock Corridor
Kelly Hansen Has Publicly Advocated for Foreigner’s Rock Corridor Induction
Hansen has repeatedly advocated for the Rock Corridor to induct Foreigner, who had been allegedly blackballed for years as a consequence of a “private vendetta” between Jones and disgraced co-founder Jann Wenner, who was ousted from the board of administrators final 12 months. “As an entity, I discover it uncommon {that a} group of individuals can have an arbitrary normal from which they resolve who’s on this substantial sounding-titled Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame,” Hansen just lately instructed the Houston Press.
“They cite as one in all their standards as ‘affect.’ Effectively, how many individuals have picked up a guitar and tried to study ‘Chilly as Ice’ or ‘Sizzling Blooded’? Or sing ‘I Need to Know What Love Is’ in a karaoke bar?” he continued. “This band has bought 80 million-plus data. And that is actual data, not streams or downloads! That’s the definition of affect!”
Foreigner Albums Ranked
It is exhausting to think about rock radio with out the string of hit singles Foreigner peeled off within the ’70s and ’80s.
Gallery Credit score: Jeff Giles
