I’m going to be perfectly honest and tell you that-aside from the debut-I don’t own any Foo Fighters albums. And does that debut even count as a Foo Fighters record, since it’s essentially a Dave Grohl studio album to begin with?Everything beyond Foo Fighters just sounds like every other band that was left in Nirvana’s wake, with the main difference being the lineage that Foo had with Seattle’s most famous trio.
Foo Fighters didn’t necessarily release bad albums after the debut; they just seemed to release the same albums over and over. In fact, I’ll be goddamned if Grohl hasn’t been doing the same album since Nevermind, with the difference now being he gets to play the part that Cobain always seemed to shy away from: the frontman.
Grohl’s a likeable guy, and he seems to like the attention of being the guy in the spotlight. That’s a 180 degree difference from Cobain of course, but then again, Grohl’s lyrics have never been on the same depressive level of Kurt’s either, which may be the reason why I didn’t take to the Foos that music.
When I want loud/soft dynamics, I want it to happen because the band is pissed off at the world (Nirvana) or just a bunch of weirdoes who view the bi-polar arrangements as artistic expression (Pixies).
Grohl likes the loud/soft touch because it sounds anthemic. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it gets a bit old after a while. This may be why I prefer Glen Campbell’s version of “Times Like These” more than the original Foo version.
In the recent documentary Back And Forth, Grohl seems intent on reminding himself of what he’s gone through to get to this point with his band, now in existence for a lifetime longer than his time behind the kit with Nirvana. You get the sense that he feels a little bummed about his success that he begins calling calling up former bandmates (Pat Smear and Krist Novelselic-who sounds so awesome that you'll know exactly when he begins playing) and heroes (Bob Mould) just to ground himself enough to ask them "Are you cool with me being a rock star?"
Believe me, I wanted to call bullshit on all of it, but when watching Back And Forth, I began to empathize, and with that I began to listen to what was being recorded. And what I heard was nothing new, it wasn’t as anonymous as everything in between now and that Foo Fighters debut.
To record the nostalgia trip, Grohl rang up none other than Butch Vig. And unlike Nevermind, Vig pushes all of the testosterone to the front of the mix, even the shit that’s blatantly intended for rock radio.
This isn’t to suggest that Foo Fighters have pulled an In Utero with their latest Wasting Light, but they’re certainly comfortable enough to not worry about things like radio friendly unit shifter. It’s not due to the phony angst and self-deprecation that’s going on throughout the eleven songs, it’s because they understand that there simply aren’t any modern-era arena rock bands around today that can compete with them.
And with the competition jockeying for position on the second stage, the band has finally found the freedom to get beyond Grohl’s insecurities and just balls out rock for a change with all of the clichés and mid-life crisis phrasing in plain view.
Wasting Light will be the album that fans point to as a highpoint in ten years when the band begins their annual summer tour of sheds and stadiums-it’ll be the record performed in its entirety, the one where the obligatory biography spends a few extra moments on.
It most certainly won’t change the world and it certainly won’t cause the haters to change their opinion of Foo Fighters. What Wasting Light may due is prove to be the first record from a member of the original grunge movement to acknowledge a commercial desire ahead of hero worship and the folly of underground dogma.
We all knew that Nirvana, Soundgarden, etc. had a stash of the same classic records that everyone else in America was listening to sitting right next to their obscure titles that they name checked in interviews and t-shirts.
With Wasting Light sounds like Grohl’s actually trying to create one of those classic records for his own catalog, free from the shackles of worrying about his underground lineage.
4 comments:
I could not disagree with you more re: this album's future classic status.
As a Nirvana fan and one-time drummer I rooted for Grohl when he struck out on his own. I loved the first album--"This Is A Call" still rocks my world and makes me as giddy as the first time I heard it--dug the following 2 records, and saw the Foos live 5 times during those tours.
In the years since, I've been underwhelmed by the bland, formulaic material they've released and been quite disappointed as a result. IMHO it's quite telling that once Grohl lost the insecurity that goes with not knowing how your music will be received, he's seemingly churned out what was subsequently expected of him in the mainstream marketplace.
The idea that this new album is a back-to-basics effort is a misnomer--unless one thinks hiring Butch Vig to produce a slightly less like bombastic version of The Colour and the Shape in your garage is equivalent to returning to your roots.
Over the last decade I've enjoyed a new Foo song here and there, but those can be counted on one hand with enough fingers left over to play some chords. It's gotten to the point where I no longer harbor any hope of them rekindling that love I once felt for the band. And while I celebrate his incredible career and the success it has brought Grohl, I mourn the loss of the fiery spirit his music once had.
This record rules. Got it on vinyl for record store day. Best one since Color & the Shape. Good review!
So they release something that attempts to break the formulaic mold and you're still disapointed? My theory-I've only seen bits of the documentary which (as you pointed out) is just an extended promotional tease for Wasting Light-is that Grohl has figured out that most of his Foo output has been exactly that: Wasting Light. It was time for him to attempt to make an album like Who's Next, Ace Of Spades or Nevermind. He's by no means there yet, but Wasting Light sounds like he's reaching in that direction, at least.
And I don't view it as a return to roots, but more of a comfort with knowing that the best that Foo Fighters can be is to be a hard rock band. They'll probably never reach the heights of those aforementioned albums, but they may release something as good as Jailbreak.
The entire garage thing is bullshit too, as this album contains just as much sheen as Nevermind with Vig himself addressing his middle age fears with a bit more of the mix in the red just to remind us that his production career began with bands like Killdozer. I think the new record is as good as Color, not as good as the debut, and is better than anything since. What I liked most about it is how Grohl doesn't seem to be pretending that he's anything more that the frontman for a hard rock band while begining to realize that this doesn't mean he can simply rely on getting by. Maybe it took all of those reminders from his past-Vig, Novoselic, Smear, Mould, the garage-to remind him not to fall into traps, but to work hard even if your shit doesn't match yer idols or even your own lineage.
Does that make sense?
See, I don't think Grohl and co. broke "the formulaic mold" of their previous releases this time out. Maybe the batting average on Wasting Light is slightly higher than on previous albums, but that would make this one, say, One by One or Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace with a couple of better songs. That's not much progress, and even less of a bid for classic status.
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