Battle For Heaven And Earth

Khan is taken aback by the never ending struggle of Mick Jones versus Lou Gramm.

Foreigner. Lou Gramm. Since the beginning of time...or 1987...these two forces that once stood proudly together became destined to fight for gravelly throated melodic rock superiority. This came to mind (in much less overblown dramatic fashion) while I was reorganizing my CDs and decided to redo my homemade greatest hits discs. I put Gramm's solo tracks on the same discs as Foreigner because to me there isn't a lot of stylistic difference between the two - some difference but not a lot. Then I noticed of Gramm's three solo releases, they all coincide with timing of a Foreigner release. He even matched the fifteen year gap from 1995 to 2009 by waiting to release a new solo disc until this year (Foreigner's last album before this year was 1994's Mr Moonlight - the last Foreigner album with Gramm singing also). Gramm's new album is called Lou Gramm Band (creative titling there!) while Foreigner (with singer Kelly Hansen) has put out Can't Slow Down (not the Lionel Richie record).

So here we are, 2009 as Mick Jones and Lou Gramm duke it out in the music scene once again. One ring to rule them all! Lou has upped the ante this time by calling on the big man (not Clarence Clemons) to help out as he has recorded a Christian rock album. Jones, not to be outdone, has called on the all powerful Wal Mart to back him up. Both sides are loaded for bear, as Khan said "To the last I will grapple with thee. With my last breath I will spit at thee..." He probably would have said more but Khan died at that point just before the Genesis device exploded (not the band Genesis). So here we go Lou Gramm's song "Baptized By Fire" against Foreigner's "Can't Slow Down" locked in a chart battle that doesn't really exist anymore since neither have been on the pop charts for decades. But hopefully it made for a fun post. And then for even more fun, a video clip from the classic Jones / Gramm years of Foreigner in the form of the awesome "Break It Up". The video is pure Foreigner magic.