Sam Sodomsky's Phish reviews are very good, though. And I think this Foo Fighters review (not by Sodomsky) has some good lines, and ends extremely strong:
On the other side of every Foo Fighters song is a darker, wilder, more interesting world that Grohl has cordoned off out of self-preservation. Instead, he writes music out of a sense of duty and fear, knowing that choosing the wrong path could end the healthy, inspiring enterprise he has worked tirelessly to create. As the Foo Fighters’ legacy becomes tied with epic and communal live shows steeped in their long and narrow canon, it feels like a bellwether for rock’n’roll itself. Where rock once held limitless sway over pop culture, now the fate of traditional arena rock rests in a band whose music suggests they are terrified of seeing it die, gripping their songs so tight that they are strangling the life out of them. Foo Fighters’ greatest achievement, “Everlong,” still outshines every other song in their catalog, because it is their guiding principle: to remain in perpetual motion, to never stop feeling this good, to sing along with you forever. But everything dies, baby, that’s a fact.
― babe for the weekend (morrisp), Monday, 8 February 2021 19:27 (three years ago) link
well written but i really can't stand equating the health of rock music with the new foo fighters or jack white record
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 8 February 2021 19:30 (three years ago) link
I read it as the health of the Foo Fighters brand
― Evan, Monday, 8 February 2021 19:32 (three years ago) link
well, it's "the fate of traditional arena rock," and seems like a fair observation(?)
― babe for the weekend (morrisp), Monday, 8 February 2021 19:38 (three years ago) link
(I guess it does say "rock'n'roll itself" before that)
true
― Evan, Monday, 8 February 2021 19:43 (three years ago) link
The one time I saw the Foo Fighters live it certainly felt "communal" but it was far from "epic." If I had to sum up its vibe in a single word, I would say it felt "contractual."
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 8 February 2021 20:45 (three years ago) link
I've seen them twice, once opening for the Chili Peppers in 2000 and again in 2005 for the Foozer tour with Weezer. I thought they were much better in 2000 but clearly more interested in being "fun" by 2005.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 8 February 2021 20:52 (three years ago) link
lol Josh
"we just wanted to get back to basics - five guys, in a room, under contract"
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Monday, 8 February 2021 20:54 (three years ago) link
I saw them twice at E3 parties, they were good for that type of event
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 8 February 2021 20:55 (three years ago) link
I know lots of people forgive the Foos because Grohl is a nice guy, but I forgive the Foos continued existence because it makes me happy that Pat Smear ended up with such a payday.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 8 February 2021 21:06 (three years ago) link
yeah that is cool
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 8 February 2021 21:08 (three years ago) link
I am all about Pat Smear gettin’ paid
― We’re Up All Night To Get Lochte (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 8 February 2021 22:22 (three years ago) link
Watching the band perform on the Inaugeration thing, my wife & I made the obligatory "can you believe it?" Pat Smear remark
― babe for the weekend (morrisp), Monday, 8 February 2021 22:31 (three years ago) link
For someone who likes best of you but has basically avoided these guys but is curious, what are five undeniably great ff songs? Read a piece on prince who said he thought they could really do justice to his rock material so I guess there has to be something there.
― candyman, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 09:22 (three years ago) link
my five fave Foos jams:
AuroraEverlongGeneratorExhaustedAlone + Easy Target
I think the first three albums are pretty great, but I can definitely agree with what the reviewer above says about there being a wild, dark and unpredictable world that Dave is consciously cordoning off. I don't think it takes much imagination to figure out why, but Foos are the very antithesis of "dangerous".
― Ray Cooney as "Crotch" (stevie), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 10:21 (three years ago) link
Also most of the five tunes I chose above are pretty unabashedly power-pop ballads. I think Dave is pretty great at writing those, being steeped and schooled in classic rock trope and cliche. At his best he revitalises those tropes and cliches, but I can't remember the last Foos album that wasn't a couple of inspired highlights and a lot of tracks that simply don't need to exist.
― Ray Cooney as "Crotch" (stevie), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 10:22 (three years ago) link
Thanks. I've see them live on TV and always thought they were good but left it at that. I imagine their greatest hits comp (is there any point to those anymore?) would be the perfect ff album.
― candyman, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 11:02 (three years ago) link
I guess so - but I'm a fan of the album tracks on the first three.
― Ray Cooney as "Crotch" (stevie), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 11:08 (three years ago) link
Their greatest hits comp notably omits I'll Stick Around, which is irritating.
― peace, man, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 11:26 (three years ago) link
(the omission, not the song)
― peace, man, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 11:27 (three years ago) link
On the other side of every Foo Fighters song is a darker, wilder, more interesting world that Grohl has cordoned off out of self-preservation. Instead, he writes music out of a sense of duty and fear
see no this is exactly the kind of bullshit I was talking about. you don't actually know why dave grohl writes music and claiming you do makes me think you're full of shit.
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 12:37 (three years ago) link
"nobody can read anybody's minds so no-one should hazard a guess why anyone does things" is an interesting take on a website where users claim to know the reasons and secret impulses of others on a daily, hourly, minutely basis
― Ray Cooney as "Crotch" (stevie), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 12:40 (three years ago) link
"hazarding a guess" oh is that what he's doing there
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 12:43 (three years ago) link
On the other side of every Larson review is a funnier, truer, more insightful world that Larson has cordoned off out of insecurity. Instead, he writes music reviews out of a sense of duty and fear.
wow such insight
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 12:44 (three years ago) link
Dave keeps rock alive, whoever that is keeps rock journalism alive. Why, we will never know.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 12:49 (three years ago) link
it's 2021 simon i don't really have the time to explain music journalism to you
― Ray Cooney as "Crotch" (stevie), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 12:51 (three years ago) link
that's just duty and fear talking
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 12:57 (three years ago) link
pathway to the Dark Side iirc
― honk honk honkin' on Bobo's door (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 13:16 (three years ago) link
i think maybe i’ve expressed in this very thread how disappointing the foo fighters greatest hits actually is. they put “skin & bones” on it ffs, gross
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 13:26 (three years ago) link
i have a little less love for the There Is Nothing Left To Lose album tracks, but thanks for the reminder on "Aurora," I'd forgotten that one! my favorite deep cut on that record at the time was "Live-In Skin." a lot of the stuff from that album and The Colour and the Shape is just hard on my ears these days - i wish i could still hear the "Doll" to "Monkey Wrench" transition the way i could in 1997 - but i do respond to all those shiny multitracked hooks. listened to TCatS yesterday straight through for the first time in eons and there was indeed some solid power-pop on it. i think at the time i really understood them as "alternative" and couldn't perceive the through-lines to the hookier, poppier end of Classic Rock which i was also just getting into in those same years. for me, besides "Everlong," the big standout from that album is "New Way Home."the first album is its own beast as this lo-fi, one-man-band, quickie recording thing... it's written differently, it sounds different, some of the songs are in deep fuzz-blanket territory but the hooks are still there... even the poppiest thing on it, "Big Me," basically gets him as far as sounding like "Take the Skinheads Bowling." it's great. you can easily imagine it being the only thing released under the Foo Fighters name, in a world where he'd chosen a new name when recruiting the band (like the Julie Ruin -> Le Tigre shift).
― honk honk honkin' on Bobo's door (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 13:29 (three years ago) link
had they put it out right after wasting light and not fucked up the tracklist with boring acoustic songs no one has ever liked (or had they never recorded “wheels”)... alas
i assume it’s record company fuckery that kept the x-files soundtrack version of “walking after you” off that collection too. the injustice! etc.
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 13:29 (three years ago) link
xp
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 13:30 (three years ago) link
even grohl didn't like the greatest hits tracklist iirc
― ufo, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 13:31 (three years ago) link
any mention of how Dave Grohl is the nicest guy ever should also be accompanied by his AIDS denialism
― self-clowning oven (Murgatroid), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 13:34 (three years ago) link
had they put it out right after wasting light and not fucked up the tracklist with boring acoustic songs no one has ever liked
Wasting Light proved for me that they are still pretty good at being a big obnoxious hooky arena rock act but, at this point, pretty bad at everything else
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 13:34 (three years ago) link
“rope” and “walk” are top-tier foos singles def
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 13:35 (three years ago) link
would listen to a whole album of "white limo" style dumb ragers
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 13:36 (three years ago) link
I remember liking One by One
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 13:44 (three years ago) link
discovered that grohl has done the 'back to basics just five guys in a room ROCKING OUT' spiel at least twice now with both wasting light and concrete and gold lol
― ufo, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 14:00 (three years ago) link
Speaking of Pat, I don't think I've ever seen a clip of him where he didn't look like he knew he's gotten away with pulling a fast one. Like, Grohl and Hawkins are competing for role of Hamosaurus Rex, and Pat is all, lol, I can't believe this is making me rich.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 14:28 (three years ago) link
concrete & gold really isn't "5 guys in a rooom back to basics" etc tho, it's his first album with greg kurstin - he was collabing with McCartney and Justin Timberlake and Shawn from BoyzIIMen
― Ray Cooney as "Crotch" (stevie), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 14:31 (three years ago) link
he tried to spin it that way though is the thing
― ufo, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 14:34 (three years ago) link
just ten guys with 1000 grammys between them making a stripped down rock and roll record
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 14:35 (three years ago) link
To be fair, haven't they been pushing that "5 guys in a room back to basics" since Wasting Light? Iirc, that was the album where they made a big deal about recording in Grohl's garage, y'know, just 5 guys in a millionaire's garage recording studio. Think that HBO project thing was the only one recently that wasn't pitched as such, given the collaborative nature.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 14:40 (three years ago) link
they also made a big deal about wasting light being recorded to tape
hard to tell
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 14:41 (three years ago) link
wasting light is still totally the best foo fighters record since there is nothing left to lose and it's not close
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 14:42 (three years ago) link
lol I remember this, made all the difference I'm sure lads
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 14:43 (three years ago) link
Eh, I'd actually argue that Wasting Light is the best Foos record outside of the first three, but that's a low bar.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 14:47 (three years ago) link
that's what i said
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 9 February 2021 14:48 (three years ago) link