Foo Fighters

Description

Dave Grohls opening post-Nirvana salvo, FOO FIGHTERS seems merely ordinary only in the wake of the historic, sweetly abrasive sensations that his previous band was famous for. Full of both lilting summer-breeze melodies and search-and-destroy guitar blasts, it helps present the case that Grohls punk-pop blueprint just might be as forward-minded as Kurt Cobains was, if slightly less grungy and a bit more blue-collar. Arriving at its destination by coupling pure 60s guitar-pop with the hyperkinetic pace of hardcore, FOO FIGHTERS takes most of its song-hooks for a joyous high-speed ride. Tracks such as the prankster-ish kiss-off, This Is A Call, and the meditative-but-bitter Good Grief are perfect pop nuggets, with turbo-jet guitars propelling them. There are brief respites from such reckless rolling: the glammy verse-chorus-bridge of Alone + Easy Target, the near-folky For All The Cows, the sweetly Squeeze-like Big Me. Yet, these are only refueling stops for Grohl (who recorded most of the album alone) before he turns the engines back on and blows through alterna-pops speed limits. Named after UFO-like apparitions that U.S. fighter pilots claimed to have seen during World War II, FOO FIGHTERS chooses to ignore Grohls tumultous real-life connections (there are few, if any, kiss-and-tell lyrics) in favour of establishing a separate musical identity. Its as though the songwriter felt there was little of Planet Nirvana worth rehashing, and decided to find a new (if similar) musical satellite to call his own.