Who They Are: Who hasn’t heard of Foo Fighters? For those
viewers of this blog who have been living under a rock since 1994, Foo Fighters
are a legendary rock band from Seattle. The band formed in the wake of the dissolution
of Nirvana, after Kurt Cobain’s suicide. The band’s frontman and lead vocalist,
Dave Grohl formerly played drums in Nirvana, and he recorded all the instrument
parts on the Foo Fighters debut self-titled full length, but he eventually
recruited a full band lineup. The Foo Fighters lineup now features Nate Mendel,
Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear, and Taylor Hawkins.
Why they are band of the week: Foo Fighters headlined the
second day of The Bamboozle Festival, Saturday, May 19. Taking the stage after the
likes of The All-American Rejects, Jimmy Eat World, and My Chemical Romance,
the band proved that they were in a different class from those other outfits.
Blasting through a two hour set that ran the gamut from little-played favorites
from their debut (“Big Me”) to alt-rock megahits from their most recent album,
Wasting Light (“Walk”, “Rope”), the band sounded tighter than any of the other
performers and had a unique energy to them. Then, they hopped on a helicopter
and flew to New York City to perform on Saturday Night Live as the backing band
for the legendary Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones. All that added up to a
pretty eventful Saturday evening for the sure-fire Rock and Roll Hall of
Famers.
The band’s seventh studio album, Wasting Light, was released
last year and it was lauded by critics. But it was specifically praised for the
style in which it was recorded, which was on analog tapes in Dave Grohl’s
garage. The back-to-basics approach allowed for a more raw sound, and was in
stark contrast to the computer-manipulated recordings that have become
commonplace. Dave Grohl still has something to say to people who are trying to
make music. “You don’t need lights and computers, you just need one of these,”
said Grohl on stage Saturday, as he held up his guitar. It’s that simple
sentence that sums up the Foo Fighters. Well, that and the explosion of
distortion- “Monkey Wrench”- that followed it.
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