(Originally published on www.411mania.com/music)
There is a quote out there that reads something to the effect of, "Try to please everyone, and you will please no one." There may be no topic quite as relevant to this wisdom as music.
If an artist gets too soft and accessible, he is demystified and deemed a "sellout." If he crosses a certain threshold of heaviness and indulgence in his work, he is typically denied the publicity and, in many cases, funds necessary to continue. When bands try to combine both extremes the dung flies in all directions.
Yet Foo Fighters have spent an entire career swimming up this stream, and they've been damn successful too. The gritty hooks and needly guitar work rockers delight in, the arena rock anthems radio-idlers eat up, and the hole-punching riffs that even metal heads can begrudgingly respect. The group fights a three front war and, most of the time, they come out on top.
However, their success isn't one without qualification.
Foo Fighters have had a number of brilliant songs over the years (more often than not, singles), but I would hesitate to say the same of their albums. They're generally a mess; never disasters, but excluding a couple of notable early releases (The Colour and the Shape, There is Nothing Left to Lose), they're all over the place in quality and content.
You get your handful of aggressive rockers, 2-3 guaranteed smash hits, and plenty of lumbering ballads to ease you off to a sound rest. The guys may get away with an approach few can respectfully execute, but there is good reason why people say Grohl and company haven't been all that relevant since the turn of the century.
The guys have been overdue to get their acts together, overdue to stop being the band everyone "kind of likes" and will maybe leave the radio on for. It's about time.
If an artist gets too soft and accessible, he is demystified and deemed a "sellout." If he crosses a certain threshold of heaviness and indulgence in his work, he is typically denied the publicity and, in many cases, funds necessary to continue. When bands try to combine both extremes the dung flies in all directions.
Yet Foo Fighters have spent an entire career swimming up this stream, and they've been damn successful too. The gritty hooks and needly guitar work rockers delight in, the arena rock anthems radio-idlers eat up, and the hole-punching riffs that even metal heads can begrudgingly respect. The group fights a three front war and, most of the time, they come out on top.
However, their success isn't one without qualification.
Foo Fighters have had a number of brilliant songs over the years (more often than not, singles), but I would hesitate to say the same of their albums. They're generally a mess; never disasters, but excluding a couple of notable early releases (The Colour and the Shape, There is Nothing Left to Lose), they're all over the place in quality and content.
You get your handful of aggressive rockers, 2-3 guaranteed smash hits, and plenty of lumbering ballads to ease you off to a sound rest. The guys may get away with an approach few can respectfully execute, but there is good reason why people say Grohl and company haven't been all that relevant since the turn of the century.
The guys have been overdue to get their acts together, overdue to stop being the band everyone "kind of likes" and will maybe leave the radio on for. It's about time.
