Foreigner star Lou Gramm dismissed current trends in rock music and said only a miracle could save the genre.
And he argued that the hits that made Foreigner one of the world’s most successful bands would be ignored in the modern world.
“[T]he rock that’s in the charts right now is not of my liking,” Gramm told Classic Album Reviews in a recent interview.
READ MORE: Lou Gramm Says Foreigner Nearly Ended After ‘Head Games’
“I don’t even know if I would call it rock. … I don’t even know what to call it. It’s just more commercial and middle of the road and poppy – very poppy.
“And I think it’ll take almost a miracle to get real rock back on the radio, like it was years ago. I mean, ‘Hot Blooded’ and songs like that would never be played now, ever.”
He added: “And I’m hoping that it can be steered back to something that will at least accommodate the good rock musicians and songwriters.”
How Foreigner Dealt With the Punk Era
Gramm was also asked how Foreigner navigated the change in trends that came about with the punk and new wave years of the late ’70s.
“It was kinda fun to let it all hang out and get into that frame of mind and that frame of playing, too. I don’t think we tried to be a punk band, but we revelled in that influence.”
Confirming he’d been a punk fan, he continued: “There were some great songs out there, even though the genre was not considered to be up to the rest of rock ‘n’ roll styles.
“Even though it was a little simplistic, I thought it had everything that good rock ‘n’ roll song[s] contained.”
While he added that he’d been “not as much” a fan of the Sex Pistols, he sang the chorus of “Should I Stay or Should I Go” to demonstrate his appreciation of the Clash.
Foreigner Albums Ranked
It’s hard to imagine rock radio without the string of hit singles Foreigner peeled off in the ’70s and ’80s.
Gallery Credit: Jeff Giles
