Foo Fighters win "Best Rock Video" at the VMAs

"Never lose faith in real rock and roll music, you know what I mean, never lose faith in that. You might have to look a little harder, but it's always gonna be there." -Dave Grohl, 2011 VMA Awards.

Foo Fighters' video for "Walk" won top honors for "Best  Rock Video" at MTV's 2011 Video Music Awards. "Shake me Down" by Cage the Elephant, "Pumped up Kicks" by Foster the People, "The Cave" by Mumford and Sons, and "Howlin' for You" by the Black Keys were the other nominees in the category.

The quote from Dave Grohl's acceptance speech is a glimmer of hope in the otherwise bleak landscape of modern popular music. The Video Music Awards, being part of the MTV empire, represent what MTV is telling the masses they should be listening to, what they should consider to be cool if they want to be the good little consumers MTV wants them to be. In a way, it's a victory that these self-made arbiters of cool are even willing to consider the Foo Fighters. On the other hand- what does that mean when a band that prides itself on musical integrity is recognized by an organization many consider to be an enemy of musical integrity. Look around at the other nominees- even in the Best Hard Rock Video category- most are polite alt-rock at best. The other categories are clearly dominated by rap/hip-hop and nauseatingly derivative pop garbage.

Dave's statement is meant for the rest of us- a call of sorts- have faith that despite the overabundance of junk-pop out there, real rock music is still alive. As much as the parade of clowns dancing around to sampled music pisses me off, he's right- as long as we continue to believe in rock music, people like Dave will go out and make it for us. Thanks Dave!

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