Foo Fighters

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I enjoy myself some Foo Fighters.  I enjoyed their most recent album, I generally defended their honor against Joseph the Foo Troll, and I've mentioned them several times as examples of the remaining rock and roll bands out there. Luckily, having them come back to ACL again gives me (1) another opportunity to go enjoy their live show; and (2) a good chance to run through their entire catalog.  Hard to believe that last time they played was 2008 - thought that show was much more recent.

So, like I recently did with R.E.M., here is my take on their catalog, ordered by my preference:

The Colour and the Shape.  1997.  This whole album is excellent.  Over 2 million copies sold, nominated for a Grammy.  The hits, like "Monkey Wrench," "My Hero," "Everlong" are still being played on radio today, but even the ones that haven't been on radio, like "My Poor Brain," "Hey, Johnny Park!" or "Up in Arms" are kick ass rock and roll jams. When "Up in Arms" kicks in is great. I never bought into the band when their first album came out - I don't even really recall paying much attention to it, although I had loved Nirvana.  I remember seeing the Mentos commercial video for "Big Me," but I honestly don't remember ever even hearing the rest of the album until years later. But this disc, I bought right about the time that I moved into my first house in college.  I spent a lot of time in my room and in my car with this album, and grew to love the whole thing.  One track that has stood out to me for years is "February Stars," seen here off of their live album DVD:

I remember a road trip, driving out to deep west Texas with this album playing in my big black pickup, while my wife (maybe girlfriend at the time) slept beside me.  I was in the literal middle of no where, with absolutely zero ambient light anywhere except for my headlights, and this song came on as I was admiring the gigantic sky full of stars.  It's had a good memory for me ever since, especially when the studio version kicks in (this live version is not quite as powerful).  And "Everlong" is an on-edge, driving love song like few others I can think of.  Anyway, this album rates as a classic for me.

As an aside, the Spotify version of this album includes a track that was not on the album, strangely enough, named after the album, that is a heavily Nirvana-influenced screamer.  I like the jam, not so much the screams.

Foo Fighters.  1995.  Like I mentioned above, I never listened to this album other than the big hits ("This is a Call," "I'll Stick Around," and "Big Me") until long after it came out.  Probably around 2000 or so.  But once I found it, it has become a standard touchstone album of tunes I love to hear over and over again.  When I was in law school, I used it to get psyched up for exams, which is HUGELY nerdy, I know, like my walk-up music in baseball.  In high school, to get psyched up for lacrosse games, I would blare Smashing Pumpkins' "Geek USA" or Pantera's "Walk," so "Alone+Easy Target" and "Good Grief" just took over from where those two left off.  Here is "Good Grief"

Not the best audio quality, but you get the idea - straight-forward riffage, steady punk drumming, tuneful singing until he needs to growl "Hate It!" for the chorus.  I know that a lot of the reason that people bought this album was because "Hey, that's by the dude from Nirvana!" but I also think that this record stands out on its own.  I certainly think that the continued fame of this band, 20 years after Nirvana disappeared, means that there is more here than just nostalgia for Cobain.  That being said, I will fully admit that Cobain's skills as a song writer are markedly finer than Grohl.  But, all of that history lesson aside, this album is kick ass.

There is Nothing Left to Lose.  1999.  This album strongly reminds me of my initial post-college life.  I had moved to Dallas, traded in my sweet old 4 Runner for a big, black, manly truck that took advantage of the sub-dollar-per-gallon gas prices, and I was driving back and forth from central Dallas to Lewisville (far northwest suburb) each day for work as a programmer of online surveys.  I spent a lot of time driving back and forth, and a large chunk of that time was spent with this album.  I also spent a ton of time behind a desk with Winamp loaded onto my computer to jam tunes while I coded stuff, and can clearly remember "Learn to Fly" as one of the constant songs in my playlists.

This album sounds more polished, less raw than the first two they put out.  I think my favorite track on the album is the last one, "M.I.A."

Even though it wasn't the big hit like "Learn to Fly" (or "Breakout," to some extent), its a good example of them showing both their soft side as well as bulking up on melodic rock.  Another good album, although it doesn't enter the Classics conversation for me.  Although it did win the Rock Album Grammy for 2001.

An aside: Does anyone else remember Winamp?  Their motto was "It Really Whips The Llamas Ass" and AOL bought the company at one point, so it was the choice mp3 player at the time.  Funny memory.

Wasting Light.  2011.  Hard to believe this is their most recent album other than the Sonic Highways project.  I liked this one quite a bit even though I never felt like it got much recognition when it came out.  Well, but then, by reading what the Internet has to say, I see that this album won five Grammy awards and debuted at number one on the Billboard charts.  Maybe I was the only one to feel like it was slighted.  The opening track, "Bridge Burning" cranks up with that opening riffage and Grohl screaming "These are my famous last waaaaaaaaards" before a damn fine harmonic rock song breaks out.  The hit from this album was "Rope," which has some funk elements to it from that off-beat style, but is a fine rocker, especially when it kicks in around the 3 minute mark.

I remember feeling like a kid when this would come on the radio - even thought I owned the album, I'd get excited when I got to hear someone playing it.  Remember that feeling?  There is no song in the world that better recalls that feeling for me than Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover" from 1990.  Man, I wanted the radio to play that song so badly.  Back to Wasting Light, this is another good album.

One by One.  2002.  Another one with some big wattage hits still played on the radio ("All My Life" or "Times Like These"), but I can't say this one clicked as well with me.  Songs like "Low" and "Burn Away" rock hard, but "Tired of You" is boringly plain.  They also play more with real harmony, like on "Halo" or "Lonely as You," which is cool.  I dig "Lonely as You."    From reading history on this album, the band recorded an entire album of music that wasn't working for them, so they almost broke up, but then scrapped that other album to make this one instead.  The album won the Grammy for Best Rock Album of 2004.

Sonic Highways.  2014.  I already spent some time talking about this one.  Fine album, but still feel like they missed a chance to really embrace each region's music.  "Something for Nothing" kicks ass.

In Your Honor.  2005.  An odd album, in that they decided to put out two discs, one that is all hard rock and one that is all acoustic.  Actually lost Best Rock Album, which seemed impossible after they locked down that category for a few years.  I wonder if Grohl was wanting to do an MTV Unplugged episode like he did with Nirvana but just did it on his own instead.  A couple big hits from this one, although I think "Best of You" is just annoying.  Not that good.  You know how people have been griping about how music production has just gotten louder and louder over the past few years?  I feel like the rock side of this album is just cranked up to 11 so that they can differentiate the two sides of the album.  Other than "Best of You," I think the other radio song from this one was "DOA."

I don't recall any of the acoustic songs making it to the radio, and don't see that any of them are listed as official singles.  They are fine songs, but I feel like the band could have cut half of the songs on these discs and just made one really strong album.  "Friend of a Friend" or "Over and Out" could have been dropped and no one would have noticed at all.  That being said, it is cool to hear them do this more acoustic thing to show that they are more than just the blaring crunch.  The guitar noodling on "On the Mend" is really nice, and the Norah Jones-assisted "Virginia Moon," while a weird thing for the Foos to do, is kind of cool too.

Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.  2007.  One of their biggest hits, "The Pretender," spent months on top of the charts, and this one also won Best Rock Album Grammy award.  "Long Road to Ruin" was also a single with radio play off of this album.  The disc is kind of a weird one, in that it still has the hard rock pummeling or Grohl scream-o of the other albums (check "Let it Die") but then also goes acoustic for more of the In Your Honor-style tunes.  They also fire up a bluegrass breakdown for the Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners, which is odd but actually pretty good.  But overall, this album just doesn't stick with me all that well.  When I listen again, I like some of the songs (the build-up and spiraling jam on "But, Honestly" is great) all over again, but I wouldn't be able to recall most of these songs without listening to the album again.

I'm pretty excited to see them come back for ACL.  And I'm also pumped that they won't be able to play Sunday night because of a concert scheduled for that night in Georgia.  So we'll get them on one of the other nights when I'm not fully exhausted.