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Foghat are a British rock band who had their peak success in the mid- to late-1970s. Their style can be described as "blues-rock," dominated by electric and electric slide guitar. The band has achieved five gold records. The group remained popular during the disco era, but their popularity waned in the early 1980s.

History

The band initially featured Dave Peverett ("Lonesome Dave") on guitar and vocal, Tony Stevens on bass, and Roger Earl on drums. After leaving Savoy Brown in December 1970, they added Rod Price on guitar/slide guitar and formed Foghat in January 1971. Their 1972 album Foghat was produced by Dave Edmunds and had a cover of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want to Make Love to You" which received much airplay, especially on FM stations. The band's second self-titled album was also known as Rock and Roll for its cover photo of a rock and a bread roll, and it went gold. Energized came out in 1974, followed by Rock and Roll Outlaws and Fool for the City in 1975, the year that Stevens left the band after objecting to their endless touring schedule. Stevens was replaced temporarily by producer Nick Jameson in 1975 when the band recorded Fool For The City. In the next year, he was replaced by Craig MacGregor and the group produced Night Shift in 1976, a live album in 1977, and Stone Blue in 1978, each reaching "gold" record sales. Fool for the City spawned the hit single "Slow Ride" (which reached number 20 on the US charts), but the greatest sales figures were for Foghat Live, which sold over 2,000,000 copies. More hits followed: "Drivin' Wheel", "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (from the live album), "Stone Blue" and "Third Time Lucky (The First Time I Was a Fool)". But Rod Price, unhappy with the group's still constant touring and the shift away from their hard boogie sound towards a more New Wave influenced Pop direction, left the band in November 1980. After months of auditions he was replaced by Erik Cartwright by February 1981.

After 1978, Foghat record sales began to slip, and their last album for the Bearsville label, Zig-Zag Walk in 1983, only briefly touched the charts at #192. MacGregor quit in 1982 and Nick Jameson returned to play on In the Mood For Something Rude and Zig Zag Walk before turning things over to Kenny Aaronson(1983) and then Rob Alter(1983-1984). MacGregor returned in 1984.

After Dave Peverett left in 1984 and went back to England, the group disbanded. But Earl, along with MacGregor and Cartwright reformed the group in 1986 with a new singer/guitarist Eric (E. J.) Burgeson and continued touring as Foghat into the early nineties. MacGregor (1986-1987, 1991), Eric's brother Brett Cartwright (1987, 1988-1989, 1992) and Jeff Howell (1987-1988, 1989-1991, 1992) alternated on bass during that time. And Phil Nudelman (1989-1990) and then Billy Davis (1990-1993) took over from Burgeson. Dave Crigger joined on bass in 1992-1993.

Lonesome Dave himself had returned to the U.S. by 1990 and formed his own Lonesome Dave's Foghat that featured Bryan Bassett (ex Wild Cherry), Stephen Dees (bass) and Eddie Zyne (drums). Dees and Zyne had played with Hall & Oates, among others. Former Molly Hatchet bassist Riff West succeeded Dees in 1991 and Rod Price even did the odd guest appearance.

In 1993, at the urging of producer Rick Rubin, the original lineup reunited. Though Rubin ultimately proved to be unavailable to produce their comeback project, the group went ahead anyway and released a studio album entitled Return of the Boogie Men in 1994 and a live album entitled Road Cases in 1998. The final album of the decade, King Biscuit Flower Hour from the syndicated radio show of the same name, was released in May 1999, and consisted of live recordings from 1974 and 1976.

After being back together six years, the original lineup once again ended after Price decided to retire from touring for good. Bryan Bassett (who had been playing with Molly Hatchet in the interim) was brought back on guitar.

The 2000s saw the death of founding members Dave Peverett and Rod Price. Peverett died on February 7, 2000 from kidney cancer at the age of 56, and Price died on March 22, 2005 at the age of 57 from a heart attack. As of 2005, Tony Stevens has been replaced again by Craig MacGregor. In 2006, a follow up to the best-selling Live album was released - Live II.

Personnel

Discography

• 1972 Foghat
• 1973 Foghat (Rock 'n' Roll)
• 1974 Energized
• 1974 Rock and Roll Outlaws
• 1975 Fool For The City
• 1976 Night Shift
• 1977 Foghat Live
• 1978 Stone Blue
• 1979 Boogie Motel
• 1980 Tight Shoes
• 1981 Girls to Chat and Boys to Bounce
• 1982 In the Mood for Something Rude
• 1983 Zig-Zag Walk
• 1994 Return Of The Boogie Men
• 1998 Road Cases (live)
• 1999 King Biscuit Flower Hour (Live)
• 2001 Road Cased Version 2 (live)
• 2001 Extended Versions (live)
• 2003 Decades Live
• 2003 Family Joules
• 2006 Live II

Trivia

Template:Trivia

• The band's namesake was Junior Foghat, an imaginary friend of Dave Peverett's childhood
• In the documentary film Spinal Tap Goes to 20, members of the band claimed that the plot and many of the incidents in This is Spinal Tap were based on Foghat.
• Drummer Roger Earl sported one of the biggest mustaches among rock stars. To the dismay of many fans, he decided to shave it off before many of later reunion concerts.
• The TV show Still Standing has a character that plays in a Foghat tribute band.
• Their song "Slow Ride" was featured in the 1993 American movie Dazed and Confused. It has also been used in an episode of Malcolm in the Middle, an episode of Seinfeld, an episode of That '70s Show and an episode of Family Guy, where a scene from Dazed and Confused is mocked when the "evil monkey" rolls and smokes a joint while lying on the bed with his headphones on. It was also featured in the TV series Dexter in 2006, in the episode "Father Knows Best", when Dexter and friends are cleaning the house he inherited. The song pulls station owner Jimmy James out of a coma in an episode of NewsRadio. It was featured in the K-DST classic rock radio station of the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and an advertisement for the Honda Odyssey, and also an ad for Carl's Jr. The song was also used in the movie Wild Hogs, released in 2007. It is also featured in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, and it's considered one of the easiest songs.
• Most if not all tracks from Foghat Live are featured as party music in the 1981 action-thriller film Nighthawks, starring Sylvester Stallone, Rutger Hauer, Billy Dee Williams and Lindsay Wagner - though the actual score is by Keith Emerson.
• In the music video for Yo La Tengo's "Sugarcube", the members of Yo La Tengo are sent to "The Academy of Rock" by their record company. There, one of the teachers informs them of the "Foghat Rule", which is that any fourth rock album must be double live. It was actually their 7th album that was their first live album.
• In the Fox TV series King of the Hill, Bill Dauterive says, "I made most of my life decisions at a Foghat concert... I stand by them."
• Roger Earl had a famous but brief fling with Swedish actress and Bond girl Britt Eklund.
• On Larry the Cable Guy's CD A Very Larry Christmas, Foghat is mentioned in the track "The Christmas Story". The main character in that track, Bejesus, was special because he was conceived at a Foghat concert in the third row during the song "Slow Ride".
• In the 1996 comedy Kingpin, Claudia tells Roy Munson, "Your act is about as fresh as a Foghat concert. It really bites, Roy."
• During the 1999 MTV Movie Awards cememony, Jim Carrey, dressed as a hippy, accepted his "Best Male Performance" award by imploring the network, "Would it kill you to play a little Foghat?"
• In the Simpsons episode, "Like Father, Like Clown", the radio talk show host interviewing Krusty the Clown's father can be seen wearing a Foghat T-shirt.
• The Estate of Lonesome Dave opened a store in late 2007 called 'Loentz's Emporium' as well as a Myspace site called Myspace.com/foghatmusic
• In an episode of the popular TV sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, Robert's brother-in-law, Peter, gets upset when his parents decide to kick him out of the house and when he finds out that they are throwing away his music, he says "Mama, what are you doing with my Foghat records?", implying the fact that Peter listens to Foghat.
• In The Beastie Boys video for "Hey Ladies!" MCA (Adam Yauch) inserts a Foghat 8 track cassette into the dash player.
• Foghat are no longer allowed to stay at the Radisson chain of hotels after the band threw a television out of their 8th story window at the Radisson in Toronto.

Notes and references

Template:Citations missing

External links

• 2007 Roger Earl Interview
• Official Website of original Foghat
• Official Website of current Foghat

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