TOP 40 DEBUT: December 8, 1979
PEAK POSITION: #23 (January 26, 1980)
Country music and blues, by their very nature, should have a lot in common. Both originated in the South, both favor plain-spoken lyrics and simple chord changes, both feed off hardscrabble authenticity. But genres evolve over time, and by the 1970s, country music and blues weren’t exactly on speaking terms. Nashville was becoming the increasingly slick hotbed for all things country, while “blues rock” was the new catch-all term for an increasingly louder wave of bands taking their cues from Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.
Foghat were third-generation blues rock. The core members—guitarist/vocalist “Lonesome Dave” Peverett, bassist Tony Stevens, and drummer Roger Earl—cut their teeth with the London-based outfit Savoy Brown, before splintering off to form their own band in 1971. Slide guitarist Rod “The Bottle” Price came from another British blues combo, Black Cat Bones. Struggling to find a moniker, the quartet named themselves after a made-up word in a Scrabble game.
So yes, from the very beginning, Foghat embraced everything big and dumb in rock ’n roll. Savoy, at least in their early days, treated the blues with a certain amount of reverence; Foghat simply cranked their amps to 11. Their first single, “I Just Want To Make Love To You,” took Willie Dixon’s original and stomped all over it like a drunken Brontosaurus. (It’s a 7.) Their biggest hit, “Slow Ride,” reached #20 by throwing out whatever subtlety still remained, resulting in an eight-minute orgy of greasy, sleazy sludge-rock that is, in its own way, kind of amazing. (It’s also a 9.) Which makes “Third Time Lucky” such a confusing proposition. Foghat made their bones playing unrepentant Neanderthal blues for stoned teenagers, but their second-biggest single is a bonafide country song.
1977 was Foghat's high-water mark (their live album went double platinum that year), but a lot can change in twelve months. AOR acts like Boston, Foreigner, and Journey were starting to bring an increased slickness to FM radio, while former blues rock staples had either broken up (Ten Years After) or completely jettisoned all traces of their original sound (Fleetwood Mac). Never purists in the first place, Foghat made the decision to pivot. 1978’s Stone Blue brought in KISS producer Eddie Kramer to work the boards and create a more radio-friendly sound. The in-studio clashes were epic. The title track was a modest hit. Sales stalled at 500,000. Foghat pivoted again.
Parts of 1979’s Boogie Motel, named for the Port Jefferson, NY studio where it was recorded, sound like the Foghat of old, albeit with all the grime—and personality—scrubbed away. And other parts sound like a totally different band. “Third Time Lucky” falls squarely in the latter camp. Acoustic guitars and shimmering electric arpeggios dominate. The rhythm section of Earl and bassist Craig McGregor (who joined in 1976) shares space with layer upon layer of background harmonies. Peverett practically croons. The production hews dangerously close to the crossover hits from country powerhouse Alabama.
And yet, “Third Time Lucky” mostly works. “Lonesome Dave” Peverett, known primarily as a belter, turns out to have a real affinity for twang-heavy heartbreak. And while his lyrics won’t win any awards, they read perfectly fine for a country weeper: “The first time I was a fool/ Never knew that love could be so cruel.” (The second time gets dismissed with a nondescript “again,” then somehow gets rhymed with “lucky,” which is a neat trick.) But Price is the track’s savior. His slide-guitar leads, so effective at top volume, basically transform into pedal steel lines in this context. He’s a tipsy counterpoint, the most human element in a sea of sheen, and he makes “Third Time Lucky” shine in spite of itself.
“Third Time Lucky” peaked at #23 in January 1980, nearly matching the pop heights of “Slow Ride.” But it would prove to be an outlier. Foghat never leaned into their gentler side again, deciding to go full new-wave for their next three albums. None got any higher than #92. Price would quit in 1980; Peverett followed in 1984, effectively ending the band. The original line-up reunited in 1993, thanks to the urging of uber-producer Rick Rubin, but Peverett and Price would both pass away in the early 2000s. By that point, the legacy of Foghat had already been reduced to a handful of classic-rock staples. “Third Time Lucky” wasn’t one of them.
GRADE: 6/10
BONUS BITS: Here’s Jim Carrey accepting a 1999 MTV Movie Award in full Sixties-stoner regalia (he was deep into Andy Kaufman mode at the time) and offhandedly reducing Foghat to a punchline for my entire generation.