Remembering the sounds Foreigner

Sometimes you remember the strangest things. When I was in elementary school, I was talking to my friend and neighbour named Mike. At that point in our lives he was much more into music than I was. He was singing on the playground one day, and I kind of joined in.

“We should start a band,” I joked.

Mike nodded.

Since he was Dutch and I was German, I suggested we call ourselves “The Foreigners”. It sounded good to him.

The next day he broke the news to me. He had mentioned this to his older brother and sister and they told him the news.

“There’s already a band with that name.”

That was my introduction to Foreigner.

The first song of their’s I actually heard regularly was a stirring ballad, accompanied by a choir, that stood a top the charts for weeks.

Earlier this week Foreigner was named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

That brought back these memories and much more.

“I Want to Know What Love is”
It would be five years before I found my way to the actual band. I started really getting into music in the Fall of 1984, and got a ghetto blaster for Christmas that year. In about mid-November, I started hearing this amazing ballad that was just powerful. The vocals were striking and they were backed up by this beautiful choir.

The song was “I Want to Know What Love Is”, from the album "Agent Provocateur", and it went all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. For their efforts Foreigner was nominated for Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal for “I Want to Know What Love is”.

When I was in Grade 11, I started writing this semi-autobiographical play. I wanted to use contemporary music in it, so I scoured the airwaves and ultimately came up with a soundtrack. The first single on the second side is “I Want to Know What Love is” by Foreigner.

The cover of Foreigner's 1984 album "Agent Provocateur".

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Provocateur_%28album%29

(May be subject to copyright)

Agent Provocateur
By then, I was listening to LA-107 FM, a radio station broadcasting from Lethbridge. They had an album oriented rock format, which meant they played multiple singles from the same album, not just the most recent release.

Every Monday night LA-107 had a a top 20 album countdown, and that was where I first heard “That Was Yesterday”, the second single from the album “Agent Provocateur”. I actually liked it as much as “I Want to Know What Love is”, because it has a cool sound.

“That was Yesterday”, went all the way to number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

I also heard the third single “Reaction to Action” on the top 20 album countdown on LA-107. Interestingly, I had started to watch “Good Rockin’ Tonite” on Friday nights on CBC Channel 9 on peasant vision. The show had a singles and albums countdown. When Terry David Mulligan was scrolling through the album countdown, he went through it pretty quickly. As he blew by “Agent Provocateur”, which was in the middle of the pack, he said “Reaction to Action” was the latest single. I finally felt like a true music fan, because I knew what he was talking about. “Reaction to Action” peaked at number 54 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Interestingly, “Agent Provocateur” was an album that did not have a title track. I used to keep a mental list of the other ones around at the time that didn’t. They included “Songs From the Big Chair” by Tears for Fears; “No Jacket Required” by Phil Collins; “Sports” by Huey Lewis and the News”; “Secrets of Association” by Paul Young; and “Language of Attraction” by Animotion, to name a few.

I eventually bought a copy of “Agent Provocateur” at a flea market. I could feel the record was warped. After I got my sister to record it, you could hear the warp on the tape she made of the record.

Body of work
Another feature LA-107 FM used to run was a spotlight or profile of a particular band. One night, I had the radio on and they highlighted Foreigner. That’s when I discovered something interesting. Not only had they been around awhile, but I recognized quite a few of their songs before “I Want to Know What Love is”.

To accentuate the point, I came across their greatest hits album “Records” in the vinyl section of Comic City in Lethbridge. The album cover looked like an old tabletop juke box, with each slot containing the name of a song I had heard before. I bought that record, and it sits in my garage as we speak.

Between those two sources, I got an instant primer to Foreigner’s body of work.

In 1977, they released the debut album “Foreigner” with the singles “Feels Like the First Time”, which went all the way to number four on the Billboard Hot 100; and “Cold as Ice” which peaked at number six. I later considered “Cold as Ice” for the soundtrack of my play. I went so far as to copy out the lyrics from one of my cousin Fred’s “Circus” or “Hit Parader” magazines, but ended up not using it. “Long, Long Way from Home” was the third single, peaking at number 20.

Foreigner was nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist for their efforts.

In 1978, Foreigner released “Double Vision”, and the singles “Hot Blooded” which peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100; and the title track “Double Vision”, which peaked at number two. “Hot Blooded” also appeared on the soundtrack for the movie “Vision Quest” in 1985.

They released their third album, “Head Games” in 1979, and the singles “Dirty White Boy” which went all the way to number 12; and the title track “Head Games”, which peaked at number 14.

Their fourth album, simply titled “4” or “Foreigner 4”, came out in 1981, yielding the singles “Urgent”, which peaked at number four; “Waiting for a Girl Like You”, which spent 10 consecutive weeks at number two, a record, but could just not get to the top spot; and “Juke Box Hero”, which peaked at number 26.

Foreigner garnered their second Grammy nomination, this one for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, for their work on “Foreigner 4”. The album also spent 10 weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart.

In the Fall of 1986, St. Joseph’s School, which I attended for Grades 1 to 9, held their annual penny carnival and flea market. I went there with my friend David Perlich, whose sister still went to that school. I ended up buying three used tapes – “Money Talks” by Trooper; “Run for Cover“ by Straight Lines…and “Foreigner 4”.

“Agent Provocateur” was Foreigner’s fifth album.

Follow up
To be honest, after “Agent Provocateur”, I had thought Foreigner had run its course, especially after I discovered all their older material.

Then, they released their sixth album, “Inside Information” in December of 1987. By then, I had gone off to university and did not follow music as closely.

However, the TV in our lounge always seemed to default to MuchMusic,. Consequently, I discovered Foreigner had a new single out, and by extension a new album.

That single was “Say You Will”, which caught my ear because it sounded like a Foreigner song. Lead singer Lou Gramm had those distinctive vocals. “Say You Will”, went all the way to number six on the Billboard Hot 100.

The second single, “I Don’t Want to Live With Out You” was released in March of 1988. Its time on the radio coincided with my return home from university for the summer. By then, I did not have much of a social life, and listened to music, and the charts, a lot more. “I Don’t Want to Live Without You”, another ballad in the tradition of “I Want to Know What Love is” and “Waiting for a Girl Like You”, peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100.

“I Don’t Want to Live Without You” also could be heard on the soap opera “Days Of Our Lives”.

“Inside Information” is the last album recorded by the Foreigner’s 1980s core lineup of Lou Gramm, Mick Jones, Rick Wills, and Dennis Elliott. “I Don’t Want to Live Without You” is the band’s final top 10 hit to date.

Parting thoughts
It has always been hard to categorize Foreigner. At times they have this hard rock, bordering on heavy metal sound. Then they unleash these amazing power ballads.

Whenever I listened to “Records”, I got to hear the full breadth and depth of their music.

Lou Gramm’s vocals are a highlight, but the band is just as good.

Their music occupies a unique place in my heart, because they span junior high right through to my first year of university. They are a part of that sound track.

I am glad they were finally elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, because they have the body of work to back it up.