90s Rock: Foo Fighters

This is archived from my previous blog.

In honor of the Foo Fighters' album release yesterday (the album is good people!), I'm going to take a look at the songs they made in the 90s.  Just like Horatio Sanz in "Step Brothers" singing only "80s Joel," I do NOT want to hear about how I left off "Times Like These" or "The Pretender."  90s Foos only!

"This Is A Call" - The first single and first track from the first CD that Dave Grohl ever released under the name Foo Fighters.  I was instantly a fan, although the vocals could go a little higher in the mix for my taste.  Other than that- it's a rocking song that was a great way to lead off Grohl's career as "not just Nirvana's drummer."



"I'll Stick Around" - Now, if you thought "This Is A Call" rocked... then this one was an absolute treat as it rocks even harder! Dave Grohl yelling "I don't owe you anything!" is sweet. Many believe that line is aimed at Courtney Love, and I like to believe that is the case.



"For All The Cows" - What's that? You wanted the video with them doing a fake Mentos commercial? Go look it up on YouTube then! This is an underrated jam from the first record. I'm pretty certain we used this song in a video my friends and I made for our Freshman Biology in high school. I don't even remember what the video was about, but I remember this song being in there- you can tell where my head was in high school.



"Monkey Wrench" - After all the success of the first record, it was time to go record a new record with the new band Dave Grohl had assembled. This was the first single out of the shoot- and it is so fricken' awesome I don't have a great way of describing it. I was blown away when I first heard it.



"My Hero" - Varsity Blues anyone?



"Hey, Johnny Park" - Another one of those underrated tracks. I know it got some radio play, but this song crushes harder than a savage hangover after a night of drinking Wild Turkey.



"Gimme Stitches" - This wasn't a single, but I love the groove with the guitars hitting on the backbeat. Well done again, Mr. Grohl.



"Stacked Actors" - Yeah, I'm staying away from the singles of their third album because I love the "deep tracks" so much. I used to listen to this song a ton in my dorm room Freshman year of college. Foo Fighters is probably at their best with lighter verses, a build up, then a savage rocking chorus. This song is textbook FF's.



"Aurora" - I love this intro and the song is extremely well written. Again, we're looking at a softer verse with a livelier chorus.



There are plenty of songs that could have been on this list. "Walking After You," "Learn To Fly," "Alone + Easy Target," "Breakout" and so many others. The point is, Foo Fighters are great and it's nice to see that they have still retained their rock base sound unlike many other bands from the 90s who have lost their ability to re-create their signature rock songs from that decade (cough*Radiohead*cough.) I'm all for experimentation, but sometimes it's nice to see bands slide back into their original songs like an old pair of jeans.