(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.
Wasting Light is one of those momentous, "we're back ... we're working with these people again ... we're doing this like we used to" releases. Sure, Butch Vig's pure analogue production gives the album that warm, just a little rough timbre that the records of the nineties thrived on, and Husker Du vocalist Bob Mould and Nirvana's ex-bassist Krist Novoselic lend their respective talents fittingly to select tracks, but none of these factors make Wasting Light worth your precious 42 minutes. The five men of the Foos (guitarist Pat Smear has now been officially drawn into the mix) have written a banging record here and the rest, as they say, is gravy.
From the dissonant picking that opens the leadoff track, "Bridge Burning," a shift in focus is evident. The band is less concerned with getting their music on ESPN or the current Top 40 (not that these aims haven't already been accomplished) and more interested in pressing on their wounds; digging a little deeper where a forgettable anthem would have just as easily passed.
Grohl barrels forth with his searing screams backed by Shiflett's meaty riffs and an urgent cut time pace from Hawkins. Things aren't all right—
Foo Fighters may dish out double albums and write the occasional seven-minute number, but a conceptual band they are not (thank goodness). However, themes still resonate across their albums and one cuts through very clearly on Wasting Light: the constant struggle to move forward.
Another line upon your face
Another in your way
Down crooked stairs and sideways glances
Comes the king of second chances
Now throw him in the flame
-Bridge Burning
A heavy angst drives the record.
It's not a high school "I hate everybody" kind of angst, but a mature realization. With each passing year, we are cast further into our losses and missed opportunities. We are left on our own accord to, some how, come to terms with it all while collecting the scattered pieces of what we still have left. This struggle is what the band captures so well on this release.
The aforementioned opening piece works this theme into a nervous lather with an unusual two chorus set up. It ultimately concludes with both refrains stacked upon each other like two voices in one mess of head, each fighting to be heard. "Bridge Burning" is one of the group's best tracks in some time, and a cornerstone of the new album.
The idea, above, is further developed in the somber reflection of the much talked about "I Should Have Known" and "Miss the Misery," the song from which the album's title is lifted. For all the heaviness of its subject matter, Wasting Light is hardly a work of "doom and gloom." Somewhere between all the broken strings and wails of frustration, the guys still find place to squeeze in engaging hooks and some tantalizing, new quirks that further distinguish the record.
"White Limo" packs a grinning punch with a silly slew of classic metal riffs and shreiks that call Nick Oliveri-era Queens of the Stone Age to mind. The first single, "Rope," conversely holds a unique charm with jazzy licks that flow just out of sync with each other and a dreamy verse groove. In the business of big hits, the Foos are still right on the money.
"White Limo" packs a grinning punch with a silly slew of classic metal riffs and shreiks that call Nick Oliveri-era Queens of the Stone Age to mind. The first single, "Rope," conversely holds a unique charm with jazzy licks that flow just out of sync with each other and a dreamy verse groove. In the business of big hits, the Foos are still right on the money.
Of course, this wouldn't be a Foo Fighters' album without a few misfires.
"Back and Forth" has a nearly nauseating pre-chorus melody that wavers aimlessly into one of the most insipid, petty choruses the group has ever penned. I'm sure it'll be huge.
The closer, "Walk," passes muster as one of those "ready to face the day" finishers that serves its purpose well enough, but seems just alittle too calculated to make an impact. They "Should Have Known" the track right before would have made for a much stronger end.
"Back and Forth" has a nearly nauseating pre-chorus melody that wavers aimlessly into one of the most insipid, petty choruses the group has ever penned. I'm sure it'll be huge.
The closer, "Walk," passes muster as one of those "ready to face the day" finishers that serves its purpose well enough, but seems just alittle too calculated to make an impact. They "Should Have Known" the track right before would have made for a much stronger end.
Foo Fighters have put out several records over their lengthy career, most of which are worth their weight in radio play. Wasting Light will, no doubt, be a great commercial success for them, but, beyond that, it's simply a very good modern rock album and one of their finest to date. This isn't a band turning up the volume knob just to appease some old fans, this is a group living up to their potential (most of it, any way), potential many of us forgot they had.
(4 devilsticks out of 5)
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