Thanks to Foreigner’s April Fool’s Joke… April Fool’s Day lives! It’s so hard these days to do a proper April Fool’s Day joke. Laws and litigation issues make it ridiculous. Big Jim had a great idea. Thanks to him, we did have an April Fool’s Day prank on WCSX. We made up a city for City of the Week… the non-existent Rock Town Shores. French fur trader, Roc Jaque, founded Rock Town Shores. I thought it was fun and very creative, but radio used to do some crazy stuff.
In the old days, we would have broadcast “live” from the fictional Rock Town Shores and Bob Seger would have come out of retirement to play a show there. lol These days, you can’t tell anyone to go anywhere or do anything because it, quite honestly, isn’t worth it. One person complains and your co-workers and bosses end up having irate people because you lied to them. #truth.
Old School Radio April Fool’s Day
I worked at a station in Maryland where they did a format flip saying their new call letters were WOMB and playing a ton of Sarah McLachlan and Fiona Apple. People lost their minds. The listeners bought it hook, line, and sinker.
Another time, the same station said Eric Clapton would be downtown at a specific location and they sent out a PRESS RELEASE! 150 people showed up and none of them were mad (mostly). Instead, the station gave away several autographed guitars in random drawings for the “fools” that showed up.
Foreigner pulled an amazing April Fool’s Day joke. They posted on social media announcing their nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Check it out:
The fans went wild!
Foreigner has been eligible since 2002 and still no nomination? WTH? Here’s an excerpt from the second post, “Mick founded Foreigner in 1977 and went on to conquer the world with as many Billboard top ten hits as Fleetwood Mac, just one less than the Eagles, and more than Journey and most of the heritage band Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame alumni.”
Here’s the full follow-up post letting everyone in on the “joke.”
I Don’t Want to Be a Hater
I have been trying to not hate on the RNR Hall of Fame. No longer do I hold the idea that all the artists will be rock artists. I kinda get that part… kinda. But when another example of a tragically missing band comes up, it makes it hard not to call BS. Foreigner should be in the Rock Hall and they are not the only ones. Foreigner and Styx have never been considered for the Rock Hall. That’s messed up.
Meanwhile, George Michael and Cyndi Lauper are leading the fan vote with Warren Zevon a not-so-close third. Not that the fan vote really counts for much anyway. sigh. Well, good joke, Foreigner! Sad that it’s a joke, but here we are. Like I said, they’re not the only ones.
Rock Hall Snubs: 45 Artists Never Nominated with 5+ Years of Eligibility
