Former Foreigner singer Lou Gramm and current vocalist Kelly Hansen can agree on at least one thing: The band's exclusion from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is unfair.

Gramm shared his thoughts on Foreigner's Rock Hall exclusion in a recent appearance on The Rock Shop With Ralph. "It's not anything to do with our music or the amount of hits or notoriety or anything like that,” he said. "It's a personal thing that we're not in there."

He continued: "It's a personal vendetta between the gentleman who owns Rolling Stone and Mick [Jones, co-founding guitarist]. It's very juvenile, the whole thing, and I don't think it's gonna get any better. I think it's gonna stay that way. I think we're being made an example of."

Although Gramm did not name names, he was almost certainly talking about Rolling Stone co-founder and former owner Jann Wenner, who co-founded the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation in 1983 and served as its chairman until 2020. (Wenner, for his part, told Marc Maron in 2022 that he had "nothing against Foreigner – in fact, I was very good friends with Mick Jones … but, you know, Foreigner's name has never come up in a nominating committee to be nominated.")

When asked if Gramm thought his former cohort belonged in the institution, the singer said, "Of course I do. The original Foreigner [lineup]. I put an exclamation point at the end of that."

Gramm echoed the sentiments of his replacement, Hansen, who has fronted Foreigner since 2005. "As an entity, I find it unusual that a group of people can have an arbitrary standard from which they decide who is in this substantial sounding-titled Rock & Roll Hall of Fame," Hansen recently told the Houston Press.

"They cite as one of their criteria as 'influence.' Well, how many people have picked up a guitar and tried to learn 'Cold as Ice' or 'Hot Blooded'? Or sing 'I Want to Know What Love Is' in a karaoke bar?" he continued. "This band has sold 80 million-plus records. And that's real records, not streams or downloads! That is the definition of influence!"

Foreigner Albums Ranked

It's hard to imagine rock radio without the string of hit singles Foreigner peeled off in the '70s and '80s.

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