3.25.13

On March 25th I listened to nothing but Foo Fighters! From where it began to 2011’s Wasting Light. It was Dave “Fuckin’” Grohl Day!

If you haven’t seen Back And Forth, the story of the Foo Fighters, you should do that chop chop! It’s so fucking good and it gives a nearly complete history of Dave Grohl’s journey from Nirvana to Foo to Superstar. All from the horse’s mouth. Seriously, you’ll be richer for having seen it.

Dave Grohl’s back certainly wasn't up against the wall after Kurt checked out. He was young, rich, and beyond fucking talented. But, there was a youthful urgency in him to stay in the game and keep moving forward.  

He turned down a gig playing with Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers! Monumentally cool offer, but I’m glad he said no.

He could have just become the Josh Freese* of the music industry before Josh Freese actually did.

He could have lived a life of political activism and philanthropy, much the way Krist Novoselic did, and that would have been pretty cool too.

But, Dave Grohl became Dave Grohl! America’s Rock star! Who doesn’t love him?

He’s a workhorse with more talent than energy. The video Fresh Pots documenting his coffee overdose will attest to that.

He’s a songwriter and musician with more ideas than outlets to record them. He’s recorded with Queens Of The Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, Probot, Tenacious D, Killing Joke and quite a few others. He's currently having a blast playing with the Sound City Players AND working on the eighth Foo Fighters record!

He’s a likeable guy with more personality than ten late night talk show hosts. He hosted a week of Chelsea Lately and did a pretty solid job, plus if you've ever seen the guy live he really knows how to tell a story from the stage.

And I’m in love with him!

We talked on the phone once and I met him twice and those are some of the most cherished moments in my life. When I get tucked in at night, in my Dave Grohl pajamas, I look at our pictures together, listen to the awful interview I conducted with him in 1997 and dream about falling asleep in his feather tattooed arms. (Sigh.) 

Born on the 4th Of July! As America celebrated its independence in 1995, Dave Grohl established his as a force to be reckoned with in Rock music. He worked almost completely alone on this album, playing all the instruments. This debut wonderfully said what needed to be said, “Nirvana was great, but I’m a Foo Fighter now.”

In the spring of that year you could almost feel Nirvana fans collectively “pulling for” Dave Grohl to do something great! Then “This Is A Call” hit the radio and it was impressive! Only one question remained. Were the Foo Fighters going to be a footnote in the Nirvana legend, or were they going to write their own story? When “Big Me” became a Mento tossing juggernaut in 1996, it was pretty obvious that Dave Grohl wasn't going anywhere.

While I was listening to this album for the first time in a while, the same thing that always happens, happened. I say something like, “Oh, shit! I forgot how great this album is!”

Dave Grohl took a bunch of dumbly named songs and made each one special. “Weenie Beenie?” “For All The Cows?” “Oh, George?” They all sound like they’d be little “skits” or something between songs, but they’re great Rock songs! “Floaty,” to me, foreshadowed the growth and depth of songwriting and recording that was to come from Grohl.

And I absolutely love that my buddy, Greg Dulli from Afghan Whigs, is the only other person that plays on this record. He plays guitar on “X-Static.”

For album No. 2, Dave Grohl needed to not only deliver some good songs, but now they had to be recorded to a higher standard. Foo Fighters sounded like $20 ear buds you get at the checkout of the grocery store, The Colour And The Shape needed to sound like $200 Beats headphones you need a clerk at Best Buy to get from the locked cabinet for you. Enter Gil Norton.

Norton had produced some great records from Catherine Wheel, Counting Crows and The Pixies. Grohl wanted him because he was looking to make a record that sounded big and Norton definitely fit the bill. He also cracked the whip. The band spent ten weeks recording! Grohl and Norton decided to redo almost all of William Goldsmiths' drum tracks, ultimately leading him to quit the band. Grohl didn’t only lose his drummer during this process, but he also got divorced from his first wife while working on The Colour And The Shape. Who divorces Dave Grohl? I wouldn’t.

The end result is a nearly flawless album.

Chris Shiflett Points To Where He'd Like To Punch Me. 

When I started working in radio we still played music on CDs. Not quite like you’d play CDs at home. At a radio station all the CDs were in a thin case and the whole case would get inserted into the player. Do you remember how “Monkey Wrench” has a solid one second pause about eleven seconds into the song? Whenever I was playing that song on the radio I would hit pause during that one second of silence. I’d always picture people in their cars rocking out to the opening of the track, “du na na na na na na na na na na na nu…” Waiting through that pause to go "duhn!" and start singing. But there was more silence, because I was sitting in the studio, shitting myself and counting to ten, then I’d hit play. “What have we done with innocence?!”

That's The Biggest Smile Nate Mendel Could Muster. 

I believe this album also started the band on a path of really cool cover songs they would delivery throughout their run. Foo Fighter’s version of “Baker Street” from this session is just short of brilliant. I have a story about driving around Spain, smoking pot and listening to that song, but I won’t bore you with it.

I think I've really hit home the fact that I’m a Dave Grohl fan, but let’s just say all is not well in Fooville. There are a bunch of Foo Fighters songs that I would consider “trite,” and there are a few “relationship” topics I feel Grohl has tackled a few too many times. When this record came out, I couldn't get enough of “Burning Bridges,” “Rope,” and “White Limo,” but something else that was going on on this album kind of put me off.

I just couldn't get behind “Walk,” and “These Days.” I feel like they were treading water in the same spot Grohl had already dove to the bottom of the pool. “Learning to walk again,” screamed echos of “Learn To Fly,” while “These Days,” just seemed like a watered down version of “Best Of You,” “The Prenteder,” or “Let It Die.”  

It was that thinking that kind of kept me from really getting into this record. What a shame. I was missing out on a lot. “Dear Rosemary,” featuring Bob Mould, is gorgeous. And “I Should Have Known,” with Mould and Krist Novoselic is epic!

In conclusion, some albums aren't as bad as the crap song you’re hearing on the radio. Sorry Dave! I love ya, but I gotta call 'em like I see 'em. 

* If you’re in a band that’s recording a big budget album and your drummer sucks… you call Josh Freese. If you can afford him, he’ll make your record sound like John Bonham’s back there keeping time. 

Tomorrow I listed to Oasis, Wilco and Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds!

Here's the March Playlist!