Mick Jones spent his early career working as a studio guitarist in London and played on records by George Harrison, Peter Frampton, and the band Spooky Tooth. He moved to New York to work in the recording industry but quickly decided he was more interested in forming a band that fused elements of progressive rock, pop, and rhythm and blues. He recruited two fellow Brits—instrumentalist Ian McDonald (who played with King Crimson on their debut album, Court of the Crimson King) and drummer Dennis Elliot (from Ian Hunter's band)—as well as several New York musicians: Al Greenwood (keyboards), Ed Gagliardi (bass), and Lou Gramm (vocals). They named the new group Foreigner because half the band was, in fact, foreign. Gramm and Jones quickly discovered they worked remarkably well as a songwriting team; the group's eponymous debut album produced several Top Ten hits in the United States and contained several more that would later become AOR favorites. Their rapid ascent on the charts established them as one of top "arena rock" bands of the late 1970s. Their sophomore effort was even more successful, as was their third, but the band members—especially Jones and Gramm—were unsatisfied. For their next effort they hired producer Mutt Lange, who had just produced the multi-platinum Back in Black for AC/DC. The resulting album, 4, was Foreigner's biggest to date and produced three hits that stayed on the charts for months in 1981.
A number of bands formed in the late 1970s had a difficult time adjusting to the new realities of the 1980s: MTV, the heavy use of electronic instruments, and the implosion of arena rock under the assault of punk and new wave. Foreigner successfully reinvented themselves, but perhaps did so too well. The band produced additional hits—the over-the-top gospel-influenced "I Want to Know What Love Is" (recorded with the Jersey Mass Choir) was their most successful single, but it also confused fans, many of whom were attracted by the hard rocking 4. Gramm and Jones disagreed about the future direction of the band; their songwriting partnership crumbled, and Gramm finally left the group in 1987. Jones established himself as a major producer in his own right—he helmed Van Halen's 5150 and Billy Joel's Storm Front—but neither he nor Gramm was satisfied with the music they made with their new bands. In 1991they reunited on the advice of executives at Atlantic records, Foreigner's label, and are still together.
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The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Yardbirds, the Who, Spooky Tooth
Must Haves:
 "Cold as Ice"
"Hot Blooded"
"Juke Box Hero"
"Urgent"
"Waiting for a Girl like You"
Survivor, Night Ranger, Def Leppard, Pat Benatar
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