Foghat

I belong to a music group on Facebook, and a few days ago someone posted about Foghat, which reminded me that they were one of my favorite bands in the mid-1970s. Then I watched a few YouTube videos (about 5 times each!) and decided I needed to write about them here.

When I first latched on to rock music in 1967, my favorite bands were the Beatles (duh!), the Beach Boys, and probably the Monkees. As the Beatles winded down their career in 1970, the Grass Roots soon filled the space on my music radar for a few years.

In the mid-1970s, I became acquainted with Kiss and Foghat through my younger brother's 8-track tapes. I soon bought Foghat's Live LP (which went platinum).

The classic Foghat lineup was "Lonesome" Dave Peverett (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Rod Price (lead guitar), Tony Stevens (bass), and Roger Earl (drums). All but Price had been in Savoy Brown before leaving to form Foghat in 1971.

Their 5th album "Fool for the City" was released in 1975 and included the title track, and also "Slow Ride". (I think this was the 8-track that my brother had back then.)

Although "Slow Ride" was their biggest hit, that song seemed too slow (no pun intended) for me. I always liked "Fool for the City" best, followed by "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (mostly because of the dueling guitars on the intro and the driving bass line).

They had some great songs, but the band seems to have been forgotten over time. They broke up in the 1980s, then two splinter groups formed. Finally, the original lineup got back together for a while in the 1990s.

Here are 3 must-see videos:

Fool for the City (1975) (Peverett, Price, Earl; Craig McGregor on bass)

I Just Want to Make Love to You (1997 video) (Peverett, Price, Stevens, Earl)

Sweet Home Chicago (1999 video) (Peverett, Stevens, Earl; Bryan Bassett on lead guitar)

The change in singer Dave Peverett's appearance in just the 2 years between the 1997 video and this 1999 video is startling. 5 months later, he died from cancer at age 56.

Rod Price passed away in 2005. Drummer Roger Earl still tours with a new Foghat lineup.