Foreigner’s lead vocalist Lou Gramm recently told Rock History Music that even if he wanted to be part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the institution’s executives would not honor them as they did with their peers.
Initially, Gramm was hesitant to be a part of Foreigner, but when his band Black Sheep disbanded, he was inclined to accept the offer. However, Gramm and Mick Jones had a tumultuous relationship within the group, which resulted in two separate reunions when he left and returned. Gramm left Foreigner for good in 2002 and has recently battled health issues, including removing a benign tumor.
Gramm announced his retirement in 2019 but couldn’t leave the stage for very long. He gave a few concerts to celebrate their 40th anniversary with the band. Fast forward to 2021, the former Foreign singer will perform again indefinitely. Apart from returning to playing, the vocalist said he would want to go to the band’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
However, the musician stated that Foreigner’s old manager and Mick Jones argued with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame executives. After this incident, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame authorities said there was no possible way to accept them into the institution, no matter their impact in the industry or what they have accomplished over the years.
Lou Gramm’s thoughts on joining Foreigner for the Rock Hall of Fame:
“I would go.”
When the interviewer said the fans would want to see him, Gramm stated:
“Well, I don’t know that, I don’t know that. They’ve never said that to me. For some reason, there’s bad blood with Foreigner’s old management and Mick because Mickey and our old manager didn’t think that we should have been in the Hall of Fame when they had all our peers in and were now moved on to another generation of rockers, and they completely ignored us.
So Mick and our manager went in there and had a big blowout with the head of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a couple of the executives there. It ended up that they told Mick and our manager, ‘I don’t care what you’ve done. I don’t care what you do. It’ll be a cold day in hell when you’ll be in the Rock Hall of Fame.’ That’s what they accomplished.”
You can watch the video below.
