Some of us are commemorating June 2007 as the 30th anniversary of the release of "Star Wars," a date that has definitely gone down in America's pop culture infamy.

For those less interested in galaxies far, far away, but still hooked on the sounds of 30 summers ago, June 2007 marks another milestone: the anniversary of the first-ever Foreigner radio hit, "Feels Like the First Time."

It's a hit certain to be a cornerstone of the band's first Central Illinois concert in several decades, at 7 p.m. June 24 in the U.S. Cellular Coliseum (along with old Top 40 cronies Styx).

Part of the soundtrack to the summer of "Star Wars," the hard-driving anthem worked its way to No. 4 before the hot weather cooled down (at which time, its apt encore, "Cold As Ice," was conditioning the airwaves).

And it paved the way for another dozen or so hits over the next decade, most of them practically defining the classic- rock sound of the '70s and '80s.

When all this was happening, Jason Bonham was playing the scene-stealing part of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham's precocious 10-year-old son.

Though Jason is Foreigner's drummer for the 21st century, this is now and that was then.

Back in the 20th century, Bonham was like any other 10-year-old kid, even if he did hail from the U.K.: He was hot to see "Star Wars."

He was also in New York with his dad, who was performing at Madison Square Garden that June. Foreigner was also in town, if memory serves him right.

Bonham, who has been drumming out the beats for hits like "Juke Box Hero" for over three years now, says his Foreigner awareness seriously kicked in around four years later.

"I think I became aware of them definitely around the '4' album," says Bonham of the band's definitive summer-of-'81 release, which spawned two of the band's greatest hits, "Urgent" and "Waiting for a Girl Like You."

He became a true believer in the vocal powers of Foreigner's lead vocalist Lou Gramm.

In fact, the lead singer of Bonham's first band, Airrace, sounded like Gramm, but was only about half his size. So he was nicknamed Half-A-Gramm.

"That had nothing to do with drugs, by the way," says Bonham, who was a mere 17 at the time. "We just wanted to be like Foreigner."

Flash forward another nine years, to Bonham's 1990 nuptials - the one where the wedding reception featured Led Zeppelin survivors Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones jamming away.

The official wedding song?

Foreigner's "Waiting for a Girl Like You" from "4."

"It's really strange how things have come full circle," muses Bonham, now 40 - or eight years older than his father was when he died an alcohol-related death at 32. "If somebody had told me then that I'd be playing with Foreigner someday, I would have said, 'Really? How's that gonna happen?'"

He's being modest, of course.

The son of John has been carving out his own identity from the word go: At age 4, he was seen in the Led Zeppelin concert film, "The Song Remains the Same," drumming away with his dad.

By his teen years, he was playing with bands like Airrace and Virginia Woolf, and joining Zep guitarist Page's "Outrider" album and tour.

A solo album, "The Disregard of Timekeeping," and a hit single, "Wait for You," pushed him into the big-time in 1989.

That was followed by a period drumming for former Bad Company lead singer Paul Rodgers. Then came another band, Motherland, in the mid-'90s, along with more solo work.

His highest profiled gigs were co-starring as one of Mark Wahlberg's band mates in the 2001 film "Rock Star" and as one of the music-making housemates (along with Ted Nugent, Skid Row's Sebastian Bach and Anthrax's Scott Ian) in last year's VH1 reality series, "SuperGroup."

The Foreigner gig came along in 2004, when the group's founding father (and last original member), Mick Jones, invited Bonham on board.

Despite being the youngest member, Bonham thinks his name has helped smooth things along.

"Well, having my history with the name thing, I get let off lightly," he laughs.

Though he never planned on it being a permanent deal, here it is three summers later, and he's still the man banging the skins on "Dirty White Boy," "Head Games," "Hot Blooded," "Urgent" and all the other crowd favorites. (Taking the role of lead singer from Gramm, who first exited the band as far back as 1988, is Kelly Hansen, who came aboard around the same time as Bonham.)

"It was a kind of weekend warrior thing in the beginning," Bonham admits. "I really had no idea at the time when we were practicing that it would continue. At the time I was still in the band UFO, so I'd be playing a show one night with Foreigner and the next night with them."

But it has continued. And he's loving every classic rock minute of it - a passion, he insists, that infects the entire band (besides Jones, Hansen and Bonham, there's Thom Gimbel, Jeff Pilson and Jeff Jacobs).

"We're very approachable," he says. "If we're walking around (the venue) and you come up to us to say hi, we're not gonna be a-holes about it. We love you."

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At a glance

What: Foreigner and Styx

When: 7 p.m. June 24

Where: U.S. Cellular Coliseum, 101 S. Madison St., Bloomington

Tickets: $33 and $40

Box office number: (866) 891-9992

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Who's who?

When they take to the stage of Bloomington's U.S. Cellular Coliseum next weekend, veteran rock groups Foreigner and Styx will be bringing a collective 60 years-plus pop music history with them. While each band's sound remains distinct unto itself, their respective career trajectories bear certain similarities, especially in terms of the ups and downs.

Can you keep them all straight?

To see how well, see if you can answer the following questions (the answers are at the end).

Which band?

1. Which band came first?

2. Which band has had the most members during its history?

3. Which band has retained the largest number of founding members?

4. Which band has lost the most members to mortality?

5. Which band lost its signature lead singer to a solo career first?

Which member(s)?

6. Who were the "foreigners" in the original Foreigner lineup?

7. Sibling rivalry could have only occurred between who in what band?

8. Which member of which band came out to his bandmates as being gay and HIV-positive, then left the group temporarily?

Which song?

9. "A gathering of angels appeared above my head …"

10. "Someday you'll pay the price …"

11. "Himitsu wo shir tai …"

12. "Like it never did before …"

13. "Rumor has it, it's the end of paradise …"

14. "Seeing double, double …"

15. "You're my …"

16. "Emergency … emer … emer … emer …"

17. "The jig is up the news is out …"

18. "In my life there's been heartache and pain …"

Feels like the first time

19. The first Top 10 hit for Foreigner was ….

20. The first first Top 10 hit for Styx was …

21. The first band name for Foreigner was …

22. The first band name for Styx was …

23. The first defection from Foreigner was …

24. The first defection from Styx was …

25. The first Foreigner album to bomb was ….

26. The first Styx album to bomb was …

The best of times

27. The biggest-selling Foreigner album of all time is …

28. The biggest-selling Styx album of all time is …

Jukebox hero

29. The Foreigner album with the most Top 20 radio hits is …

30. The Styx album with the most Top 20 radio hits is …

Answers

1. Styx, which began life as a Chicago bar band in 1961, 15 years before Foreigner

2. Foreigner, whose 12 members, past and present, beat Styx's 10

3. Styx, with two (Chuck Panozzo, James Young), beats Foreigner, with one (Mick Jones)

4. Styx, with two (John Panozzo, John Curulewski), beats Foreigner, with none

5. Styx, with Dennis DeYoung's solo career beginning in 1984 with "Desert Moon"; Foreigner's Lou Gramm waited until 1988

6. Brits Mick Jones, Ian McDonald and Dennis Elliott; Lou Gramm, Al Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi were New Yorkers

7. Styx, with its brotherhood of Chuck and John Panozzo

8. Styx's Chuck Panozzo, circa 1998 (he returned and remains, as his health permits)

9. Styx's "Come Sail Away"

10. Foreigner's "Cold as Ice"

11. Styx's "Mr. Roboto"

12. Foreigner's "Feels Like the First Time"

13. Styx's "The Best of Times"

14. Foreigner's "Double Vision"

15. Styx's "Lady"

16. Foreigner's "Urgent"

17. Styx's "Renegade"

18. Foreigner's "I Wanna Know What Love Is"

19. "Feels Like the First Time," 1977 (No. 4)

20. "Lady" (1975, No. 6)

21. Foreigner

22. The Tradewinds

23. Bass player Ed Gagliardi, circa 1979

24. Guitarist John Curulewski, circa 1975

25. 1991's "Unusual Heat," which peaked at No. 117 on U.S. charts

26. 1999's "Brave New World," which peaked at No. 175 on U.S. charts

27. 1981's "4"

28. 1981's "Paradise Theatre"

29. tie, 1977's "Foreigner" and 1978's "Double Vision," with three apiece ("Feels Like the First Time," "Cold As Ice," "Long, Long Way From Home" and "Hot Blooded," "Double Vision" and "Blue Morning, Blue Day")

30. tie, 1981's "Paradise Theatre" and 1983's "Kilroy Was Here," with two apiece ("Best of Times," "Too Much Time on My Hands" and "Mr. Roboto," "Don't Let It End").