It’s been announced that Foreigner will be the band for the VMworld 2009 party this year and I have seen many negative comments about VMware’s choice. Personally I like the choice, I grew up listening to Foreigner in the 1980’s and there was many a time that I was cruising around in my Camaro with the windows down cranking Juke Box Hero or Hot Blooded on my cassette player. Over 20 years later I still have the lyrics for Juke Box Hero stuck in my head. Foreigner was a big band in their day, they had many hits including 16 top-40 hits and 9 top-10 hits which is pretty damn good achievement for a band. Here’s a bit of history about Foreigner:
- Formed in 1976 by English musicians (Mick Jones, Ian McDonald and Dennis Elliott, American musicians (Al Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi) and an American singer (Lou Gramm). Mick Jones who is the lead guitarist is the sole original band member, Lou Gramm left in 2003 to pursue a solo career.
- Jason Bonham, the son of late Led Zeppelin drummer, John Bonham played drums for Foreigner from 2004 – 2008.
- They have released 8 albums, the last one in 1994, and have sold over 50 million albums world-wide, their albums are listed below:
- 1977 – Foreigner, #4 on U.S. charts, 5x multi-platinum
- 1978 – Double Vision, #3 on U.S. charts, 7x multi-platinum
- 1979 – Head Games, #5 on U.S. charts , 5x multi-platinum
- 1981 – 4, #1 on U.S. charts, 6x multi-platinum
- 1984 – Agent Provocateur, #4 on U.S. charts, 3x multi-platinum
- 1987 – Inside Information, #15 on U.S. charts, platinum
- 1991 – Unusual Heat
- 1994 – Mr. Moonlight
- Their 16 top 40 hits and 9 top 10 hits including the following well-known songs:
- Cold As Ice
- Double Vision
- Head Games
- Waiting for a Girl Like You
- Feels Like the First Time
- Urgent
- Dirty White Boy
- Juke Box Hero
- Long, Long Way From Home
- Hot Blooded
- I Want to Know What Love Is (#1 hit)
- Say You Will
So yes they are an older band who’s last album was released in 1994 and they currently only have one original band member but who cares, they have lots of great songs, they put on a good show and I’m sure they will really rock the VMworld party. So instead of all the negative comments and whining please show some appreciation that VMware stepped up and chose an original band to play this year instead of a cover band like last year. I know everyone’s musical tastes vary and you definitely can’t please everyone but the VMworld party planners tried to book an original band that they thought would please the majority of attendees and I think they did a good job. Some of you might not be old enough to remember Foreigner so I say give them a try before you criticize them, there is a good chance you’ll like them. And for those that simply don’t like Foreigner, there are alot of other clubs in San Francisco that you can go to that night that might be playing the type of music you enjoy, you can always go check them out instead.
