Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
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Mark Ronson is biased, but he think Foreigner definitely deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The “Cold As Ice” rockers earned their first nomination for enshrinement at the Hall in Cleveland this year despite being eligible since 2002 and in an Instagram video posted on Tuesday (Feb. 20), Ronson recruited some heavy hitters to help stump for his stepdad’s band.
“Everything that made me want to be a record producer came from being in the studio watching Foreigner make records. I’m still completely in awe of the sound of those first five albums. Guitars with swagger and bite. Heavy drums that groove like a mutha with the bass. Wide layers of synths. And then there’s that voice. And those songs. It’s really crazy,” Ronson wrote in the post alongside a video touting some of the band’s bona fides, including sales of more than 80 million albums and their status as one of the most-played artists on classic rock radio.
“It’s also kind of crazy that this is the first time they’ve ever been on the ballot for the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame – after 20 years of eligibility,” Ronson added, with a “WTF???” exclamation point to drive the point home.
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The arena rock “Juke Box Hero” band were formed in New York in 1976 by Ronson’s stepfather, guitarist Mick Jones, singer Lou Gramm, drummer Dennis Elliott, keyboardist Al Greenwood, multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald and bassist Ed Gagliardi. The band went on a chart-topper tear from jump with their 1977 self-titled debut album, which featured the hit singles “Cold as Ice,” “Feels Like the First Time” and “Long, Long Way From Home.” They kept the streak going on 1978’s Double Vision, which spun off rock radio staples “Hot Blooded,” “Double Vision” and “Blue Morning, Blue Day.”
The hits kept coming on 1979’s Head Games, thanks to such hits as “Dirty White Boy,” “Head Games” and “Women” and 1981’s smash 4, which included “Urgent,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You” and “Juke Box Hero.” In total, the band had nine top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 (and 22 songs total on the tally), released six multi-platinum albums and have long been considered one of the Hall’s biggest annual snubs, with fans waging campaigns for their inclusion for many years.
Despite all those hits, the band has never been nominated before, so Ronson corralled some A-list pals to stump for the the band in the accompanying video, including Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Jack Black, GNR’s Slash, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and Queens of the Stone Age singer Josh Homme.
“You want to know what love is? Love is putting Foreigner in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame… Foreigner should absolutely be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” Homme says in the video, with Grohl adding that he’s “loved Foreigner since I got their debut record… There’s one drum riff that I have used in more than a few songs,” he notes before cueing up said beat.
“I can’t believe they’re not in already, oh my God,” Smith says, as video unspools of the always excitable Black singing along to “Feels Like the First Time” before sending a personal message, complete with hand heart, “Hey, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, open the door! Foreigner’s waiting outside. Let ’em in.”
When the nomination was announced last month, Jones told Billboard, “I deeply appreciate the recognition from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (nominating) committee. It is wonderful that Foreigner has maintained its presence all these years and brought the music to our fans. Getting this news is an incredible endorsement of what we have achieved over time.”
Ronson appears in the video as well, saying there is “no way” he’d be the record producer he is today without Foreigner. The Grammy-winning producer (Amy Winehouse, Barbie soundtrack) ended his post with a list of Foreigner’s achievements, including: “Foreigner are the most played band on classic rock radio to not be in the hall of fame. They’ve been sung by our fave characters from the Simpsons, The Office, I, Tonya, Stranger Things and Wet Hot American Summer. They’ve been covered by Diana Ross and Mariah Carey (what the rock band can boast that??). They were sampled and turned into HOT FIRE by M.O.P. (remember that ‘Cold As Ice’ joint?) and Tone-Loc who used them to concoct some ‘Funky Cold Medina.’ Yes, Mick is my stepdad and I love him more than anything. But I’m also a MEGA fan just like Dave, Jack, Slash, Chad and Josh (shown here). Enjoy this video and VOTE BABY VOTE!”
The other class of 2024 RRHOF nominees include: Ozzy Osbourne, Jane’s Addiction, Dave Matthews Band, Oasis, Mary J. Blige, Eric B. & Rakim, Kool & the Gang, Sade, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, Sinead O’Connor, Peter Frampton, A Tribe Called Quest and Cher.
Check out Ronson’s video below.
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The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame released its list of nominees for the year, featuring high-profile women artists like Mariah Carey and Sade.
On Saturday (Feb. 10), the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced their full list of nominees for 2024. Fans and observers noted that women artists made up a significant amount of the nominees list, with Mariah Carey, Cher, Sade and Sinead O’Connor being included among the inductees for the first time. Mary J. Blige was also among the inductees after being nominated previously.
The rest of the list includes A Tribe Called Quest (who were nominated last year as well), Dave Matthews Band, Eric B. & Rakim, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Jane’s Addiction, Kool & the Gang, Lenny Kravitz, Oasis and Ozzy Osbourne. In order to be considered, nominees have to have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years before the year they are selected for nomination. The final list of inductees, which are voted on by over 1,000 figures from the music industry along with artists and historians, will be announced in April. The 2024 induction ceremony will take place at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.
The addition of these notable women musicians to the nominees’ list is a definitive response to criticism of the Hall’s past decisions. “It is something that has come up in the past,” said Rock & Roll Hall of Fame President and CEO Greg Harris during an interview. “And quite frankly, in recent years, the nominating committee and the voting body have definitely been electing more diverse members.”
“We continue to work to recognize and honor the impact and influence of female artists by inducting more into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” the Hall of Fame wrote in the press release about the nominees. “As our past three inductee classes have shown, we are committed to making a difference in this area.” According to data released by the institution, from the inception of the Hall in 1986 to 2020, 13% of inductees were women and 37% of them were people of color. From 2021 to 2023, those numbers rose – 33% of inductees were women, and 48% were comprised of people of color.
Count former Oasis singer, solo star and proprietor of one of rock‘s most legendary bored-to-death stares Liam Gallagher as someone unimpressed by his band’s inclusion on the 2024 short list for nomination into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The notoriously tetchy singer who went solo after older brother and chief Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher split the band in 2009 summed up his dyspeptic feelings about the nod in a short, sharp tweet in which he wrote, “F–ck the Rock n Roll hall of fame its full of BUMBACLARTS.” The latter is a Jamaican slang term frequently employed by Gallagher on his socials when peeved to express his disdain in no uncertain terms.
At press time a spokesperson for the RRHOF had not returned Billboard‘s request for additional comment on Gallagher’s tweet.
When someone commented with a reminder to Oasis fans to choose the group in the RRHOF fan vote since, at the moment, Oasis was “losing stratospherically” to this year’s other nominees, Gallagher responded, “Don’t waste your time Rkid as much as it’s appreciated it’s all a load of bollox.” He later wrote a comment on another post suggesting the Britpop superstars really do deserve the award. “I appreciate that you do but I honestly feel there’s something very fishy about those awards,” Gallagher wrote in one of dozens of snarky, humorous replies.
To be fair, someone else resurfaced a 2021 response Gallagher posted to someone asking his thoughts on Oasis’ possible induction into the Rock Hall, to which the singer said, “Not interested in any of that.”
At press time Oasis had just over 23,500 votes from fans, with Ozzy Osbourne leading all vote-getters (39,848), followed by Peter Frampton, Foreigner, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Lenny Kravitz, Mariah Carey and Kool & the Gang. The only acts below Oasis currently are Sinéad O’Connor, Sade and Jane’s Addiction. This year’s roster of nominees also includes Mary J. Blige, Eric B. & Rakim and A Tribe Called Quest.
Gallagher’s pointed response was quite different from one of his fellow irascible British rock peers, metal god Ozzy Osbourne, who said he was “deeply honored” to be considered as a solo act after already being enshrined with Black Sabbath. Foreigner singer Mick Jones also said it was an honor, calling the nomination an “incredible endorsement” of the band’s achievements over the past 45+ years and guitar great Frampton said he “screamed” when he found out. In the past, the Sex Pistols’ John Lydon and Guns N’ Roses’ Axl Rose have thrown cold water on their bands’ induction and a number of key band members have been conspicuously absent at inductions of Black Sabbath, Jefferson Airplane and Van Halen.
Gallagher would certainly not be the first potential inductee to say they’d prefer not being enshrined in Cleveland. Back in 2022, country superstar Dolly Parton initially “respectfully” declined the Hall’s nomination, later reversing course and accepting the honor, as well as releasing her first rock album, Rockstar.
The 2024 nominees will be decided by a voting body of 1,000+ “artists, historians and members of the music industry,” per a press release. The Rock Hall’s Class of 2024 will be announced in late April.
Check out Gallagher’s tweet below.
Fuck the Rock n Roll hall of fame its full of BUMBACLARTS LG x— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) February 12, 2024
Peter Frampton was taking a bathroom break during a recording session at home in Nashville when his managers called to tell him he was included on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ballot — for the first time ever.“I screamed — not like a girl, but I did scream. I said, ‘You’re kidding me!’” Frampton tells Billboard via Zoom, with a laugh. “My band leader Rob [Arthur] was in my music room at the time, ’cause we were doing a video… He came running, ‘What the hell’s going on!’ He thought something was wrong. “So, anyway, it was a very good day.”Frampton’s long-awaited appearance on the ballot — he’s been eligible since the early ’90s based on his first recordings — is good news for a legion of fans that have long been lobbying for him and protesting his exclusion from even the Rock Hall ballot. In fact, Frampton notes, “A lot of those fans feel more outraged about it taking so long for me than I am. So they can all rest easy now; at least my name’s in the hat.”“I never expect anything,” adds Frampton, who for several years has been battling degenerative Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM). “I’m a realist. I understand there have been criticisms of the past Rock Hall administration for bizarre choices, which I agree there were. And, yes, my career is what it is, and whatever anybody thinks about it I do feel I deserve [to be inducted].” However, he cautions, “This isn’t it, you know? I’ve still got to get the votes.”Frampton credits his nomination in part to 2023 Rock Hall inductee Sheryl Crow. She included him in last year’s ceremony in her performance with Stevie Nicks, which Frampton says “stirred the pot big-time and made people aware — including some of the board members, I think. They thought I was already in.”Frampton’s Rock Hall credentials are unquestioned, certainly. A younger classmate of David Bowie‘s at Bromley Technical School in England, where Frampton’s father was a teacher, he began playing from the time he was an adolescent and began touring in 1964 with his band The Preachers, whose recordings were produced by the Rolling Stones‘ Bill Wyman. As a member of The Herd, Frampton was named “The Face of 1968” by the British teen magazine Rave, and a year later he was part of the original Humble Pie, in which he spent three years before going solo.Along the way Frampton also played on George Harrison‘s All Things Must Pass, and he did sessions for The Who‘s John Entwistle, Harry Nilsson and Jerry Lee Lewis. Frampton’s first solo album, Winds ofChange, came out in 1972, and it was of course the iconic Frampton Comes Alive! album in 1976 that made him a global star, with estimated sales of more than 20 million copies worldwide and an induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Frampton lost his rock credibility after that, however, with his I’m in You album and an ill-advised starring role in the 1978 film adaptation of The Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.“I was trounced on, rightly so, for being the pop star. I became this teenybopper thing,” Frampton acknowledges. But Frampton continued to record and got a boost from Bowie, who featured Frampton on his 1987 album Never Let Me Down and in the band for the subsequent Glass Spider Tour, which reminded the world he was first and foremost a guitar player. Back in rock ‘n’ roll favor, he also won his first Grammy Award in 2007 for the previous year’s instrumental album, Fingertips.
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“I have had so many wonderful helping hands along the way,” Frampton says. “Yes, my career has been my own, but I really have had some helping hands, wonderful helping hands, along the way that went to bat for me.”Frampton adds that the Rock Hall nomination is so fresh that “I haven’t quite realized what I feel it means yet. I’m still in the troughs of ‘Really?!’” But as “a super, super fan of other great talent,” he says the nomination, and the potential of an induction, mean a great deal to him.“It’s a heady kind of thought, really,” Frampton explains. “If I do make it, to be on the same level these artists that are the be-all and end-all, as far as I’m concerned, is pretty incredible.” Among those as well is fellow first-time nominee Foreigner, whose founder Mick Jones played on “All I Wanna Be (Is By Your Side)” on Wind of Change. “I’m so thrilled to hear that Foreigner got on [the ballot] ’cause Mick and I have been friends for a lifetime.”Frampton says he’ll do some modest campaigning — mostly reminding fans to participate in the Rock Hall’s public vote — when he sets out on his Never EVER Say Never Tour on March 3 in Greensboro, N.C. He’s been busy of late as well: he and his son Julian, who’s also a musician, recently appeared on the Fox TV reality show We Are Family , and Frampton is among the 60 musicians playing on Mark Knopfler‘s new version of his 1983 instrumental “Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero,” a fundraiser for the U.K.’s Teenage Cancer Trust that comes out Feb. 19.During the summer, meanwhile, Frampton says he’ll continue work on both a new album of original songs — his first since Hummingbird in a Box in 2014 — and a documentary that’s been in process for several years.Rock Hall inductees are expected to be announced during early May, with the ceremony taking place this fall in Cleveland, on a date to be determined. Disney+ will again telecast the event.
Foreigner’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination feels like the first time indeed for the veteran rock band.
The group’s appearance on this year’s ballot is its first ever, despite being eligible since 2002. With worldwide record sales of more than 80 million and nine top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 (including “Feels Like the First Time,” Cold As Ice,” “Hot Blooded,” “Urgent” and “I Want to Know What Love Is”), Foreigner has long been considered one of the Rock Hall’s biggest snubs by critics and commentators as well as fans.
“I deeply appreciate the recognition from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (nominating) committee,” Mick Jones, who founded Foreigner during 1976 in New York, tells Billboard via email. “It is wonderful that Foreigner has maintained its presence all these years and brought the music to our fans. Getting this news is an incredible endorsement of what we have achieved over time.” Jones and original Foreigner vocalist Lou Gramm were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013.
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Phil Carson, an executive at Atlantic Records when it signed Foreigner and the band’s manager since 2004, calls the nomination “fabulous” — and overdue. “Oh, of course it’s been frustrating, and I do know that many of the nominating committee members have put Foreigner on the list, but we just never got in,” Carson says, noting that the late Rock Hall co-founder Seymour Stein was an ardent supporter. This year, Carson says, “the usual suspects who have always been in our court voted, and I guess there was just that little bit of extra credibility of people that surround Foreigner, surround Mick, helped.”
Since the release of the Foreigner debut in 1977, the group has logged six multi-platinum albums and 22 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, including one chart-topper in 1985 (“I Want to Know What Love Is”). The band, which has gone through lineup changes throughout its career, went on hiatus during the early 2000s but re-formed during 2004 with Kelly Hansen as frontman and former Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson. Several of the original and principal members have participated in sporadic reunions and guest appearances, while founding bassist Ed Gagliardi passed away in 2014 and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald died in 2022.
Jones has stopped touring with the group due to health reasons but continues to oversee and participate in its operations.
Foreigner fans have waged campaigns to get the band onto the Rock Hall ballot for many years, though Jones has stayed out of the fray while quietly lamenting the snub. He previously told Billboard that, “I’m not thinking about it much. I know we’re getting a lot of support from a lot of places; obviously the fans who are kind of, ‘Let’s induct Foreigner to the Hall of Fame’ and all those kinds of things. And lots of other people seem to think we should be in there. I think it’s down to the panel and whatever mood they happen to be in and whatever style of music they award…. But I’m quite happy with what I’ve achieved and the songs speak for themselves. Whether it happens or not, I’m still a happy man.”
Carson says Foreigner will promote the nomination via its website and social media to encourage fans to participate in the public vote. The current incarnation of Foreigner, meanwhile, launched a farewell tour last year that will resume with a second leg this year. It’s scheduled to finish in North America during the summer of 2025, but Carson says demand from other territories may push the end date into 2026.
The Bible tells us it’s more blessed to give than to receive, but when it comes to awards and honors, most artists would rather be the inductee than the inductor. Five of this year’s nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame have helped to induct other honorees at past ceremonies. Three did the […]
Here we go again. On Saturday (Feb. 10) morning, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced this year’s nominees, unveiling 15 artists who are in contention to join the Rock Hall’s Class of 2024. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The 2024 Rock Hall nominees are: […]
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame‘s primetime airing on ABC was a hit on New Year’s Day, drawing 13 million total viewers and a 0.38 rating among people people aged 18 to 49, according to Nielsen data. The Jan. 1 airing, which was the ceremony’s first time on a broadcast network after decades on HBO, […]
Under the stellar leadership of John Sykes, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has broadened its definition of what constitutes rock and roll to include, well, pretty much anything that has a young, contemporary, rule-breaking attitude and spirit.
Which makes us wonder why Cher has never even nominated for the Rock Hall. She has always had a young attitude, even today, at age 77. Telling the Rock Hall to “you-know-what themselves” as she did last week on national TV, is a pretty rock and roll thing to do.
Appearing on The Kelly Clarkson Show on Friday Dec. 15, Cher said “And I’m not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!.” After the studio audience let out a collective groan, Cher told them it was okay with her. “You know what, I wouldn’t be in it now if they gave me a million dollars. I’m not kidding you. I’m never going to change my mind. They can just you-know-what themselves,” Cher said to applause.
Who can really blame her for feeling that way after so many years of being bypassed? Sonny and Cher, as a duo, and Cher solo, have been eligible for the Rock Hall since 1990 – which was 25 years after their breakthrough hits, “I Got You Babe” and “All I Really Want to Do,” respectively.
Some of the female artists who Cher paved the way for, with her irreverence and artistic boldness, are already in the Hall – most notably Madonna. When Madonna was still in grade school, Cher became adept at turning controversy to her advantage. As Sonny Bono once said “She liked to do things for the shock they created. She still does. She’ll create some controversy and then tell her critics to stick it.” Sound familiar?
It’s a safe bet that the Rock Hall will embrace Miley Cyrus soon after she becomes eligible in 2031. Like Cher, Cyrus has had an unorthodox career, with some missteps and head-scratching moves, but also flashes of brilliance.
Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour and accompanying film, with its focus on fashion and style, shows Cher’s influence. Lady Gaga’s entire career owes a debt to Cher.
The Rock Hall’s expansion of its definition of rock and roll was essential if the Hall was to avoid becoming a museum recognizing a niche genre; the sound of a previous generation. But it has made it far harder to get a sense of who qualifies as rock and roll and who doesn’t. If ABBA, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston and Dolly Parton are in, what’s the rationale for leaving Cher out?
Cher is still active. She released her first Christmas album on Oct. 20. It features duets with Cyndi Lauper, Michael Bublé, Tyga and Rock Hall members Stevie Wonder and Darlene Love. And as her blast at the Rock Hall shows, Cher still knows how to speak her mind and attract attention.
Here are 12 reasons Cher belongs in the Rock Hall.
Sonny & Cher were part of the mod pop/rock scene of the mid-1960s.
Image Credit: George Wilkes/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Cher vehemently doesn’t want to be a member of any club that doesn’t want her. The “Believe” legend said so in no uncertain terms on Friday’s (Dec. 15) Kelly Clarkson Show, when the host asked how a legend who has scored No. 1 hits over seven decades is somehow not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
With a sly smile, Cher corrected Clarkson’s claim that she’s the only act to ever have that kind of chart dominance across the decades, noting that she’s not, technically, alone. “Two of us have,” Cher said, with Clarkson replying, “Are you gonna say a band? Don’t say a band.”
“It’s a band,” Cher noted of her fellow chart champs the Rolling Stones, as Clarkson clarified that that doesn’t count. “It took four of them to be one of me,” the 77-year-old icon added with a twinkle in her eye, prompting Kelly to jump out of her seat and clap. “And I’m not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!” Cher added.
After the studio audience let out a collective groan, Cher told them it was okay. “You know what, I wouldn’t be in it now if they gave me a million dollars. I’m not kidding you,” she said, laughing that she almost dropped an f-bomb in her answer.
“I’m never going to change my mind. They can just you-know-what themselves,” Cher said to applause, while casually noting that she “changed music forever” with her 1998 dance pop hit “Believe,” one of the best-selling singles of all time and the track that is widely credited with introducing the world to AutoTune.
Cher’s first holiday hit, “DJ Play a Christmas Song,” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart last month (and topped the Adult Contemporary Chart this month), making her the first female artist to have a top hit for seven straight decades; that milestone put her in rarified air with the Stones, who have had at least one new No. 1 hit on the Billboard charts in every decades between the 1960s and 2020s.
A spokesperson for the RRHOF had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment at press time.
Cher’s first No. 1 hit was 1965’s “I Got You Babe” with late partner Sonny Bono and she has been eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame since 1991.
While Cher has not been nominated to date, it’s worth noting that last year country icon Dolly Parton was nominated fro the RRHOF and initially turned down the offer. She later accepted and was inducted in Nov. 2022 alongside Eminem, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, Judas Priest and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis; she followed up by releasing her all-star, chart-topping first rock album, Rockstar, album last month.
Watch Cher on the Kelly Clarkson Show below.
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