Lou Gramm recently spoke with Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation about Foreigner’s recent Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction. During their conversation, Lou shares that Dennis Elliot didn’t show up because the band couldn’t perform. Lou also reveals a previous conversation with Jann Wenner that led to his dismissal.
SiriusXM's Trunk Nation, hosted by Eddie Trunk, airs daily at 3 PM, ET on SiriusXM’s Faction Talk. Audio clips and transcription below courtesy of SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation.
On why Foreigner didn't play more at RRHOF induction:
Lou Gramm: "It was mentioned to me that it was time restraints, but if you edit it."
Eddie Trunk: "If someone else is singing it, the song's getting done either way, right?"
Gramm: "I don't think anybody else sang 'Juke Box Hero', but I know they did 'Hot Blooded' and 'Feels Like the First Time'. So I thought an edited version of 'I Wanna Know What Love Is' into an edited version of 'Juke Box Hero' would've been okay. You know, but he didn't explain to me. He just said, 'No, it's not gonna work.'"
Trunk: "Having worked on some of these award shows myself over the years, in various capacities, the managers, sometimes the artists themselves, the event, they always like younger different artists kind of showing that they loved an older band. So in your case, that's a little bit how I read that as well, with the manager maybe saying “no” in that, 'Well, it looks really cool to have Kelly Clarkson or Demi Lovato up there.' Because these are younger current people who are showing how much they loved Foreigner."
Gramm: "Yeah. You know, but the thing for me is I am first and foremost a rock singer, and it is the Rock Hall of Fame. And somehow I couldn't sing a rock song at the Rock Hall of Fame when I'm being inducted? It doesn't make any sense to me, and it sticks in my craw."
Trunk: "I give you credit and the whole Foreigner camp credit, because as much as this may have been difficult and sticky, you still did the best you could given what you had to work with."
Gramm: "Dennis didn't even come."
Trunk: "Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that because that was kind of, that also became, I know, a day or so before the event the way Dennis worded it was that none of you guys were gonna be there. And then I got a note from your camp or Foreigner's camp saying, 'That's not true. Just Dennis isn't gonna be there.' So what was that about?"
Gramm: "The reason Dennis didn't come was because he found out from management a number of days before Rick, Al and I found out that we weren't gonna play. As soon as Dennis found out that we weren't performing on our night, he decided he wasn't gonna come. And we're just going, 'Dennis, come on. Come. We're gonna play. We're gonna play.' And Dennis goes, 'No, I'm not gonna come. I'm not gonna come.' And then we found out the afternoon of the show that we weren't performing. We thought we were gonna be performing, and Dennis was gonna be there, and we'd have the guitar player from the new Foreigner play mixed parts and play a couple songs. And then we found out at the last minute that it was the new Foreigner who was gonna be playing and Rick and Al would be standing there singing background vocals."
Trunk: "So Rick and Al did not play instruments at all?"
Gramm: "No. Dennis knew about it before anybody else. And he says, 'If we're not, if I'm not playing, I'm not coming.'"
Trunk: "If you would've known sooner, would you have shown?"
Gramm: "I don't know. I didn't know sooner. I didn't know sooner. And when I found out that that's why he didn't come, I even got more angrier, but not at him. It was almost like there was a fast one being played."
On wanting his induction into RRHOF:
Gramm: "I wanted to be part of the Hall, but I realized that some things you want aren't meant to be. And at that point, all my peers that were out around the same time as us and had success were already in for 15 or 20 years. And I knew that us not being in was a travesty. I didn't understand why we weren't in, but if that's what it would was gonna be then, I don't even want to think about it or talk about it, you know what I mean? That's the way I felt. But now that we're in, I'm glad we're in. Very glad."
On Foreigner's RRHOF induction after Jann Wenner's removal:
Gramm: "I heard from Phil Carson, who was one of Foreigner's managers that he and Mick went to the Hall of Fame to talk to Jann Wenner about what it was and why that Foreigner who had credentials plus to be in the Hall of Fame had not even ever been nominated yet. And apparently Jann hemmed and hawed around and didn't say too much that meant anything. And I think Phil and Mick ended up walking out of the meeting that they were in with him and immediately went upstairs to the hierarchy of the Hall of Fame and let them know what had been going on for all this time. I don't know why they didn't know that, a cold, but when they found out what Jann had been doing, they immediately dismissed him."
