Wikipedia Genre: Alternative rock, post-grunge, hard rock, grunge, pop rock
Home: Seattle
Poster Position: Headliner!
Both Weekends.
Saturday.
If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I enjoy myself some Foo Fighters. 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 again.
So, like I recently did with the Chili Peppers for last year's ACL, 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," and "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. Literally amazing. So the song has 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. Weird that they would just tack on a new song!
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. Too repetitive. You know how people have been griping about how music production has just gotten louder and louder over the 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."
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.
Unranked - Foo Fighters - 0999925. Never knew this, but the Foos have been putting out a bunch of these numbered EPs over the past few years - that mostly have a few unreleased studio tracks and then a handful of live tracks. I'm not reviewing them all by any means, but they're pretty fun. The first track on this one is a studio banger called "Iron and Stone" that just pummels the shit out of you with the drums and some heavy, rifftastic guitar. Tasty anger. Second, you get a cover of Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar," which is pretty OK (but the old Primus cover of this one is better) and that is definitely not Dave singing. The tracks I want to highlight more on here are three of the live ones. First, "Learn to Fly" is really a better song than I remember at any given time. I downloaded that track off some weird, scary website back in like 1999, before mp3s were really a big deal, and so it was part of a well-worn collection of a few songs I could find online. I still love it. Tuneful and singable and great. Also, "Stacked Actors," while I can't say I understand what it is about, is a great one to yell along to. "stacked dead actors, stacked to the rafters, line up all the bastards all I want is the truth." Mmmkay. And then the version on here of "Breakout" is also fun, in that I like the idea of myself getting to sing along at the top of my lungs, in that crowd. "Monkeywrench" (live) is the winner, although this may or may not be the right version:
Thoughts: I'm sorry, but 2015?!?!? For real? In my mind, that last headlining slot for the Foos at ACL was like 3 years ago. Time is wild man. Flat circle and all of that.
That 2015 show was really fun. Before the show, a huge curtain came down in front of the stage as the roadies got the drum kit and Grohl's huge Game-of-Thrones-with-Guitar-Necks wheelchair set up. (Grohl broke his leg a while back and couldn't walk without crutches).
From behind the curtain, Grohl started screaming (literally screaming) and getting everyone hyped up with a few power-rocker flourishes like "AUSTIN ARE YOU F'ING READY?!?!?!" Here is the deal. Dave Grohl is a freaking caricature. I think he is great, but his schtick is laid on really heavy. As the crowd hit a fevered pitch of screaming right back to Grohl, that huge curtain got sucked away in a spinning black hole and the band blasted into "Everlong" and "Monkeywrench." And it was seriously awesome. If you just let yourself go and jam out, this was insanely fun.
So many of their songs are perfect stadium rockers with huge, repetitive elements that made for a really fun sing-a-long jam. "Something from Nothing," sounded fantastic, as did classics like "My Hero" and "This is a Call." And I think Grohl is genuinely funny when doing his "Are you ready to raawwwwwwkkkk!!!" thing. So, looking forward to doing it again.
The throne from our spot
I read a pretty good Steven Hyden deep dive into the best Foo Fighters songs the other day, and he pretty much just shut down their entire discography several discs ago. Which may be a good call, but I also think it a little harsh, and it doesn't take into account the newest album that just came out a few months ago. If you are ranking the entire discs, then that makes sense, but if you are cherry-picking songs, then some of the more recent albums have some good bits on them, even if the record as a whole isn't all gold. Here is a playlist of the top 30 songs that he ranked.
So, like I recently did with the Chili Peppers for last year's ACL, 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," and "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:
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. Weird that they would just tack on a new song!
Another aside (I get to do as many of those as I want! Yay me!) - I just listened to "Monkey Wrench" again, and that part near the end where he just starts yell/chanting is so freaking awesome. Gave me literal goosebumps just now and makes me ready to run through a brick wall. So good.
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"
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 for an AOL company. 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. "Stacked Actors" makes me want to kick a hole through the floor.
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."
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. 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.
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.
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, 25+ 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 for an AOL company. 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. "Stacked Actors" makes me want to kick a hole through the floor.
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. 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.
But we will definitely get some tunes from this one as part of their live show - when they played their first post-pandemic show people online freaked out about how amazing "Times Like These" felt, for all of the people who had been locked inside for so long.
I've written so many words here, and still haven't even addressed the elephant in the room. Taylor Hawkins dying was insanely sad. For those of you reading this without background knowledge, Taylos was their kick ass drummer. Gallons of ink have been spilled about how tough it was for Hawkins to step in to a band with Grohl, the drummer for the biggest grunge band of all time (and who had played the drums himself on the first two albums), but Taylor was amazing. His drumming really does a ton of hard work in these songs, and he'll be missed. In fact, I was a little surprised to see the Foos keep going after losing Hawkins. Felt like they might just fold up shop and go home to count their millions. But they're back, baby!
But Here We Are. 2023. Speaking of losing Hawkins, the first post-Hawkins disc was released in June 2023 and picks up the general Foos' sound right where they left off. I'm ranking it here, although I'm not sure if I really believe that just yet. Hard to tell with a discography lasting 20+ years and then a new entry. But the album itself deals with a lot of the heavier elements of life, in that Grohl is obviously dealing with two devastating deaths in rapid succession, as his mother died a few months after Hawkins. If you know Grohl's history, he was very close to his mother, and so these deaths were likely crushing, and you can hear it in these lyrics. Just the opening salvo of "Rescued," the album opener and lead single, gets you the mood: "It came in a flash/It came out of nowhere/It happened so fast/And then it was over." Or "The Glass," where he more expressly sings about having to live without his friend. The thing that you get here overall though is a return to the classics. This sounds like the old Foos, without the weird detours into silliness or caricature. They just fully engage the power-chord machine and pounding drums and tear into the real deal rock and roll here.
Nothing maudlin or subtle about that tune - they aren't pausing their normally scheduled program - they just kick in and blast phasers at 11. Catchy and full of generic platitudes. I dig it. And most of the album tracks that feel, up until the last two songs. "The Teacher" and "Rest" aren't acoustic sad songs or anything, but they just more explicitly dig into his sadness even as they chug along with rock aggression. "You showed me how to breathe, never showed me how to say goodbye." Those two songs show alot about what this album is actually about, despite all the bombast and arena-ready choruses.
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. Too repetitive. You know how people have been griping about how music production has just gotten louder and louder over the 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.
Foo Fighters - Concrete and Gold. 2017. The thing is that I understand some of the criticism against the Foos, they frequently lapse into the realm of cheesy lyrics and tired tropes. Their sound has been done before. Dave Grohl seems cheesy. Yo comprende. But when I listen to the first song on this album, which is a cock-tease of epic proportions at only 1:22 long, I can't help but feel a primal need to raise my arms in the air to flex and crack the sky with my primal scream as the song goes from a short acoustic plucked ballad and then erupts into a Pink Floyd meets Queens of the Stone Age wall of sound riff factory turned up to 11 that still gives me goosebumps after listening to it about 40 times.
The portion from 1:00 to 1:14 is the absolute shit. I need that to be the backing track for a 30 minute long song that I listen to until I die of a stroke from clenching my fists and forcing all of the blood in my body to my junk. Death by rock boner. But sadly, right when you think this is about to be an epic classic rock throw down, that ten seconds of bliss is over and the song is done. I got my daughters to listen to this with me the other day, hoping they would feel the innate ROCK POWER slither into their veins. Nope. This is way too high level for their puny brains. The hit from the album is the less amazing "Run," which has 108 million streams on Spotify.
Grampa fight! And a Thriller-esque grampa dance scene at the end! OK song, I'd like it better without the screaming bits, but the underlying track is good. I can say the same about most of the other tracks on here, like "La Dee Da" or "Arrows," although I think I can do without "The Sky is a Neighborhood." Overall, the album is fine, sounds pretty much like their other recent stuff - a classic rock-style record.
Foo Fighters - Medicine at Midnight. 2021. I wanted to rank this one higher - I don't purely hate their new stuff, but I just couldn't figure out a way to move it up. I sort of love it though, that they just keep doing this same thing, despite becoming a punchline for a lot of the cool kids in music who think it's lame to enjoy the straight-forward rock earnestness that these guys still push on us every few years. I still dig it. I know it isn't revelatory - they are derivative of loads of things that came out before them - and many of these songs are indistinguishable from their last few albums. I'll readily admit that his lyrics leave something to be desired - he spends a lot of time trading in generic deep thoughts and tropes - but he's always been like that. "There's got to be more, to this, than that!" lines up well, as a yell-along chorus, with oldies like "It's times like these time and time again!" And so instead I just take pleasure in the joys of guitar and drums and the occasional howl of pain to signify an important moment. And so in that vein, you get the opening salvo of "Making a Fire," chock full of backing choir "nah nah nah nah nahs," groovy drums, and chunky riffs to go along with a chorus that soars like a good Foo jam should break out with. Digging that one. "Shame Shame" was the initial single, but "Waiting On A War" is the one I keep hearing on the radio. That one is at 39.5 million streams.
Just sooooooo sincere. The treacly strings over the acoustic intro. But then, in pure Foo fashion, you get halfway through and they ramp up for the ... oh no, wait, they keep the strings, and now add in some soaring woaaaahs to really schmaltz it up. The rockin' outro doesn't kick in until 3:10 on this one, but it delivers. At the same time, the visuals in the video for that rockin' outro part are like what my 10 year old thinks of when she thinks of kids rebelling. Oh, they were running fast! And someone broke a piece of glass! And someone peed! He shot the finger! SO HARD!
But also, this album has some bits that sound totally out of place - the start of "Medicine at Midnight" sounds very slick and drum-track-y. Each time it starts I think a new album has started. But then a few minutes in, it sounds like Gary Clark Jr. stops in for a guitar solo (that isn't credited on Spotify, just sounds like him). "Cloudspotter" uses what sounds like a toy cowbell for some jenky little swing during the verses. Also, some of the guitars on "Love Dies Young" sounds like these guys felt like giving The Cure a shot at jamming with them. But, while I generally enjoy the album, I don't hear anything in this that is going to be added to the list of Foo's best songs. They'll just add some into the concert rotation for the next thirty years and only true fan weirdos will remember which album they came from.
Foo Fighters - St. Cecilia. 2015 EP, recorded during their Austin time for the Sonic Highways cross-country circle-jerk (which bummed me out for its lack of variance, although it was touted as highlighting genres from each zone of America). Again, this EP holds nothing in it that would make you tie to Austin, except the title (a boutique hotel off of South Congress).
There you've got a radio-ready prime Foos song ("St. Cecilia"). The rest of the EP has my favorite ("Sean"), a propulsive pogo-ing rocker that sounds exactly like 92% of all other Foo music of the past decade, a rough punk rocker ("Savior Breath"), an acoustic alt-country-tinged-rocker probably about some decoration in the yard of the hotel ("Iron Rooster"), and another radio-ready rawk song ("The Neverending Sigh"). You could put any of these on the radio today, and everyone would know who is playing and they'd probably generally like the song. Which is not a terrible thing, and this is a good taste of what else they had going when they cut "God is my Witness" for the Austin track.
There you've got a radio-ready prime Foos song ("St. Cecilia"). The rest of the EP has my favorite ("Sean"), a propulsive pogo-ing rocker that sounds exactly like 92% of all other Foo music of the past decade, a rough punk rocker ("Savior Breath"), an acoustic alt-country-tinged-rocker probably about some decoration in the yard of the hotel ("Iron Rooster"), and another radio-ready rawk song ("The Neverending Sigh"). You could put any of these on the radio today, and everyone would know who is playing and they'd probably generally like the song. Which is not a terrible thing, and this is a good taste of what else they had going when they cut "God is my Witness" for the Austin track.
Foo Fighters - Songs from the Laundry Room EP. This EP was released in 2015, and has two demos of songs from the Foo Fighters days ("Big Me," "Alone + Easy Target"), one cover of an 80's empowerment anthem ("Kids in America"), and a previously unreleased track ("Empty Handed"). This was an exclusive record day store release on vinyl that the band decided to make widely available (presumably after a bunch of suckers plunked down $30 for the vinyl). No thanks on the "Kids in America" cover, yes please to the demos, and I'm OK with the new tune, a 1:47 minute blast of fuzzy early Foos renaissance. Kind of a cool little EP, but nothing terribly special.
Unranked - Foo Fighters - 0999925. Never knew this, but the Foos have been putting out a bunch of these numbered EPs over the past few years - that mostly have a few unreleased studio tracks and then a handful of live tracks. I'm not reviewing them all by any means, but they're pretty fun. The first track on this one is a studio banger called "Iron and Stone" that just pummels the shit out of you with the drums and some heavy, rifftastic guitar. Tasty anger. Second, you get a cover of Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar," which is pretty OK (but the old Primus cover of this one is better) and that is definitely not Dave singing. The tracks I want to highlight more on here are three of the live ones. First, "Learn to Fly" is really a better song than I remember at any given time. I downloaded that track off some weird, scary website back in like 1999, before mp3s were really a big deal, and so it was part of a well-worn collection of a few songs I could find online. I still love it. Tuneful and singable and great. Also, "Stacked Actors," while I can't say I understand what it is about, is a great one to yell along to. "stacked dead actors, stacked to the rafters, line up all the bastards all I want is the truth." Mmmkay. And then the version on here of "Breakout" is also fun, in that I like the idea of myself getting to sing along at the top of my lungs, in that crowd. "Monkeywrench" (live) is the winner, although this may or may not be the right version:
Fun project.
Definitely ranked last, very much on purpose. Dee Gees - Hail Satin / Foo Fighters - Live. This is some deeply goofy shit, with the Foo Fighters playing five classic Bee Gees songs together in relatively pitch-perfect recreations of the originals. It's funky and funny for a little bit, and then the falsetto fest starts to grate a little bit. "You Should Be Dancing" and "Night Fever" are pretty solid, but "More Than a Woman" is where the bit goes too far. Unsurprisingly, the top track is the first one, which people checked out and got enough from. Feels like the joke could have been accomplished with just one tune, thrown out into the world as a lark, rather than creating a full on EP of it.
They are soooo serious in that video, which definitely makes it more funny. Funny for a sec and now they can move on. Then you get five "live" versions of tracks from Medicine at Midnight. I say "live" because it sounds like they aren't live in front of an audience, but more just raw cuts the guys put together in the studio before they got polished up by the producer. Although "No Son of Mine" pretty much just sounds like I remember the studio version sounding? "Making a Fire" has been in super heavy rotation on the radio here in Austin recently, which is odd, but also a good thing. I guess it's just the new single and I haven't been paying attention. More rock and roll for me!
I'll absolutely go see their show. Top priority one for me. Sorry Shania Twain!
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