The Foo Fighters - Classic or Dud?

well, it's "the fate of traditional arena rock," and seems like a fair observation(?)

(I guess it does say "rock'n'roll itself" before that)

true

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."

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.

lol Josh

"we just wanted to get back to basics - five guys, in a room, under contract"

I saw them twice at E3 parties, they were good for that type of event

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.

yeah that is cool

I am all about Pat Smear gettin’ paid

Watching the band perform on the Inaugeration thing, my wife & I made the obligatory "can you believe it?" Pat Smear remark

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.

my five fave Foos jams:

Aurora
Everlong
Generator
Exhausted
Alone + 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".

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.

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.

I guess so - but I'm a fan of the album tracks on the first three.

Their greatest hits comp notably omits I'll Stick Around, which is irritating.

(the omission, not the song)

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.

"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

"hazarding a guess" oh is that what he's doing there

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

Dave keeps rock alive, whoever that is keeps rock journalism alive. Why, we will never know.

it's 2021 simon i don't really have the time to explain music journalism to you

that's just duty and fear talking

pathway to the Dark Side iirc

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

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).

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.

xp

even grohl didn't like the greatest hits tracklist iirc

any mention of how Dave Grohl is the nicest guy ever should also be accompanied by his AIDS denialism

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

“rope” and “walk” are top-tier foos singles def

would listen to a whole album of "white limo" style dumb ragers

I remember liking One by One

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

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.

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

he tried to spin it that way though is the thing

just ten guys with 1000 grammys between them making a stripped down rock and roll record

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.

they also made a big deal about wasting light being recorded to tape

hard to tell

wasting light is still totally the best foo fighters record since there is nothing left to lose and it's not close

they also made a big deal about wasting light being recorded to tape

lol I remember this, made all the difference I'm sure lads

Eh, I'd actually argue that Wasting Light is the best Foos record outside of the first three, but that's a low bar.

that's what i said

the new one hasn't been pitched as "back to basics" either this time is it's "we wanted to sound like bowie's let's dance and there's drum loops which counts as sonic experimentation for us" but i couldn't tell any of that from the singles

lol xp sorry Brad, totally missed your post!

Always mildly fascinated with bands of a certain stature where you suddenly realise theres 5 or 6 guys in the band (especially when they could/did get the job done with 3)