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The Foremen
The Foremen
Origin	Los Angeles
Genres	Folk music
Years active	1990–1996
Labels	Reprise Records
Members	Roy Zimmerman, Kenny Rhodes, Doug Whitney, Andy Corwin

The Foremen were a satirical folk music band from Los Angeles founded by Roy Zimmerman. They were known for their politically charged lyrics, which usually discussed United States politics from a left-wing point of view, such as by mocking Rush Limbaugh.^[1]

History

Zimmerman originally started the band in 1990, after seeing a Wayfarers album in the bargain bin at a record store. He then recruited Doug Whitney and Andy Corwin—a guitarist and bassist, respectively—to join his newly formed band.^[2] The band released a live album, Sing it Loud, on Metaphor Records, and were signed to Reprise Records after Jim Ed Norman, then head of the Warner Bros. Nashville label, heard them at a party. Norman was so impressed that he signed the Foremen to a recording contract on Reprise, one of Warner Music's subsidiaries,^[2] and went on to produce their debut album.^[1] It was on Reprise that they released both of their studio albums, Folk Heroes (1995) and What's Left (1996). They also released a single from the former album, "Ain't No Liberal", in 1995, which featured an image of Republican politician Phil Gramm on the cover.^[3] Reprise promoted the single by sending copies of it to presidential candidates in the 1996 US Presidential election, and mocking presidential candidate Pete Wilson in the single's cover art. Reprise's then-president, Howie Klein, admitted that their motivation for doing this was to provoke a "counterattack" from one of the politicians they were mocking.^[4] In February 1996, the band performed a song mocking Oliver North, entitled "Ollie, Ollie, Off Scot Free", on North's own radio show. While the band was nervous prior to this performance, North's reaction was not as negative as they had expected. He didn't care very much what the song said, only that it was about him, according to Zimmerman. North also described the band as a "very weird group" and agreed to pose for a picture with them.^[5]

Style

Zimmerman has said that the political views expressed in his band's songs are influenced in part by the activism popular in the 1960s, and has named "Tom Lehrer and Phil Ochs and, to a lesser degree, I guess, [...] Pete Seeger and the honest-to-God activism that was going on in music at that time [i.e. the 1960s]" as his band's influences.^[1] Whitney has also described the band as "partly a goof on the lesser folk groups of the late '50s,"^[6] while Billboard magazine has compared the satirical aspects of the Foremen's music to Allan Sherman.^[7] Jim Walsh has concurred with Zimmerman that the Foremen's music resembles that of Phil Ochs, as well as naming Steve Goodman as one of their influences.^[8] Mark Jenkins of the Washington Post wrote that "Though the Foremen's "Folk Heroes" arrives with an endorsement from '60s musical satirist Tom Lehrer, it's not especially folkie—nor so biting as Lehrer's best."^[9]

Discography

Studio albums

Folk Heroes (Reprise, 1995)
What's Left? (Reprise, 1996)

Live albums

Sing it Loud! (Metaphor, 1994)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Hurst, Jack (15 December 1995). "Foremen Lean To The Left And To Humor". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 13 May 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
^ ^a ^b Harris, Craig. "Foremen Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
^ "The Foremen Take Shot At Phil Graham". MTV News. 14 January 1996. Archived from the original on April 5, 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
^ Hochman, Steve (23 September 1995). "Poppin' Up: Foremen Leap Into Political Arena With 'No Liberal'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
^ Hurst, Jack (11 October 1996). "Politics Liberally Applied". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 13 May 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
^ Crisafulli, Chuck (25 November 1994). "What's Funny, Fractured and Folk?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
^ Rosen, Craig (28 September 1996). "Pioneering Warner Bros. Remains Comedy Kingpin". Billboard. p. 105. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
^ Walsh, Jim (18 August 1996). "Record Reviews Folk". Times Union. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
^ Jenkins, Mark (1996-01-19). "Predictable Foremen". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2017-07-30.