Foreigner and Styx Never Even Considered for Rock Hall, Says Boss
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame co-founder Jann Wenner said Foreigner and Styx have never even been considered for induction.
Wenner, who founded Rolling Stone magazine, added that bands from the same era, including REO Speedwagon and Boston, have also never been discussed by those tasked with choosing inductees.
In a new episode of the WTF podcast, host Marc Maron asked, “Are there bands – and I know you’ve been accused of this before – are there bands you will not, you know, indulge at all? ... There’s been talk of you maybe stifling some people’s membership into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame that feel like they deserve it.”
Wenner replied, “There is talk of that, but I don’t control that. I’m not on the nominating committee.” Asked specifically about Foreigner, he said, “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.”
You can listen to the interview below.
Maron also asked about REO Speedwagon, Boston and Styx, but Wenner said none of them had been mentioned either. “No, that whole era, it doesn’t come up,” he noted. “I grew up in that era, I went to high school in that era,” Maron replied. “Well, you’re not gonna get in the Hall of Fame either!” Wenner joked. He went on to cite another example: “Bon Jovi – it took years for him to get in.”
Elsewhere in the episode, Wenner reflected on Almost Famous, the 2000 movie written by Cameron Crowe based on the director and writer's experience of being commissioned to write for Rolling Stone at a young age. “I always think of it as a love letter at Rolling Stone and to those days, and to who we all were,” he said.
"That's what Rolling Stone reporters did, more or less: They’d go out and hang out on the road for a while, hang with the band, get into it because they love the band," Wenner explained. "It was a true story and a true story about Cameron."