- Joined
- Jul 15, 2008
- Messages
- 34,045
- Reaction score
- 64,120
- Points
- 148
I'll flesh out my dislike for Foreigner, specifically because I have paperwork to do this week and I prefer long-winded takes on old rock bands to work. Foreigner albums when I was a kid were definitely in the same "silo" of music as Van Halen and Journey. I knew that I was supposed to like them because I like all these other bands... but something didn't click. I had the same feeling when I bought Bad Company Greatest Hits. I know I should like this because I like these other bands, I'm not really liking this... what is causing me to want this disc out of my collection?
I can now look back and say that the innovation and individuality was super low and the genre they worked in - corporate rock - kind of lent them to safe, self indulgent themes. Here's another song about having fun and getting your rock off. Here's another song about how great it is to be in a band. Here's the slow song about how hard it is on the road. Here's a love ballad, and on it goes. I knew they were a bunch of musicians thrown together by the record company to create hits, but the soul wasn't really there like a band who formed in high school and just kept at it, finding their voice. It's like a classic rock sweatshop churned out safe hits along with their alcolytes REO Speedwagon.
I do enjoy some of the musicianship on a few tracks. Urgent is a good example of their talent overshining this feeling I have that they didn't really have fun making music. But that silo of music, like Bon Jovi, is going to get people into the HOF and interested because a lot of their fans are looking for that validation. I just keep that hit machine silo separate from the "This band is so ahead of the times and pushing the boundaries" silo, or the "Check this out, the Rock Hall really is becoming more diverse" silo.
I think Foreignor's first album was their best - "Long Long Way from Home" is probably my favorite song of theirs. Not really a huge fan of Lou Gramm's voice in general, though.
I always did prefer Bad Company to Foreignor - Paul Rodgers has a fantastic voice.
And Oi, guess which band contributed a founding member to both Foreignor and Bad Company? Here's a hint - they can't stand you.