Foo Fighters + Westboro Baptist Church = Large Scale Mocking

Those crazies at the Westboro Baptist Church staged a protest at the Foo Fighters' show in Kansas City. Which, naturally means they were bound to end up getting mocked ruthlessly. I think that the video, originally posted on the Foo Fighters youtube channel and facebook feed, speaks for itself...

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.

New Staind track available (streaming only)

Alt-metal band Staind will be releasing their seventh studio album titled "Seven" in September 2011. (Is it me or is this September a popular month for album releases?). To promote their upcoming album, they have released a track "Eyes Wide Open" on streaming media courtesy of Metal Hammer UK.

Staind parted ways with long-time drummer Jon Wysocki after recording "Seven" - Staind will be joined by drummer Will Hunt (Evanescence, Black Label Society) for their upcoming tour. It is unclear if he will remain as a permanent member of the band or not.


Metal Hammer - Staind - 'Eyes Wide Open' Teaser on MUZU.TV

Dave Grohl is my Personal Hero...

OK, so maybe that's stretching it a bit, but I've got a lot of respect for the guy, and every project he works on produces great music. In a way, I envy him- he's a guy about my age who stated out involved in one of the most important musical acts of the past 20 years, and has gone on to have a huge career, writing and performing music almost constantly, and gaining respect from musicians across many genres and styles. He clearly enjoys the crap out of every minute, and seems to look and act half my age- and seems to have more energy than I did half a lifetime ago.  Dave, and the Foo fighters, make music that's just good fun rock music, and let others worry about what genre it fits in. Watch below as the Foos prove at the Pinkpop festival in the Netherlands earlier this month why they have such a wide appeal- they're out there having fun, and they want the rest of us to have fun watching them - which is the whole reason most people get into music in the first place.

Walk (video) - Foo Fighters (2011)

The Foo Fighters have released the third video from their new album "Wasting Light" - "Walk" on their website and YouTube. In true Foo Fighter fashion, the video is jam packed with the band's trademark slapstick humor.

"Walk" is probably the most inspirational song on the album- but, of course, the video contains nothing relating to the subject of the sing (other than the fact that it shows Dave Grohl walking around).

The thing that really drives the humor home is the fact that the video closely follows the plot of the film "Falling Down" - which is anything but an inspirational story...

Wasting Light - Foo Fighters (2011)

So in a post I made a few weeks ago, I mentioned that I'd probably buy this album eventually. Well, it so happens that I found an old gift card hidden in my laptop bag that had just enough money to cover the cost of a CD plus shipping. I haven't bought a physical CD in a very long time, and the way technology has progressed, it may very well be the last time I buy a physical CD. So I bought the CD rather than the download and patiently waited a few days for it to arrive.

When my CD arrived, I got a pleasant surprise. With most music in digital download format these days, it's easy to forget the simple charm of holding the package, and looking over the artwork and photos, checking out the lyrics sheet, or looking for funny messages in the "thank you" section of the credits while listening to your new music. Wasting Light didn't have a lyrics sheet- but the packaging for the CD had a few nice surprises that brought back some of that old nostalgia and had me feeling good before I ever got the CD in a player (laptop actually).

I Should Have Known - Foo Fighters (2011) - free download available on amazon!

Currently, Amazon.com is offering the track "I Should Have Known" from the new Foo Fighters album "Wasting Light" as a free promotional download. Check it out here. I will probably buy the album eventually, but for now, a little free taste is a good thing.

I'm particularly happy with the track chosen for the promotion. "I Should Have Known" features a guest appearance from Dave Grohl's former Nirvana bandmate Krist Novoselic on bass. The entire album was also produced by Butch Vig - who previously worked with Nirvana, making this track a long-awaited reunion.

In the documentary "Back and Forth" which chronicles the Foo Fighters' 16 year history up to 2011, Dave Grohl reveals that "I Should Have Known" was originally written about someone he was involved with, and that at the end of the day, he should have known how things would eventually end. Near the end of the film, Butch Vig muses that the song may have started that way, but became a way for Grohl to express some of his feelings about Kurt Cobain's suicide on April 5, 1994. While Dave Grohl never explicitly confirms this, he never denies it- and even seems to be ok with that association.

Previously, Dave Grohl went through great lengths to distance himself, and the Foo Fighters from Nirvana- ostensibly out of respect, and a need to succeed on his (and the band's) own merits rather than riding on Nirvana's coattails. I suspect it was as much about avoiding the demons he's been carrying with him as anything else.

The song begins as a mournful dirge, starting with just Dave Grohl's vocals and simple guitar arpeggios. As the tune progresses, more instruments begin to layer into the mix. The middle section moves into a more mid-tempo rock feel, gradually building intensity until Krist Novoselic's raw, punchy bass asserts itself in the last third of the song. The ending of the song intensifies into a grunge/punk style rage worthy of Nirvana's rhythm section.

The lyrics clearly speak of a heavy guilt. In the beginning of the song, that guilt is tempered with sorrow- /I should have known that it would end this way/I should have known there was no other way/Didn’t hear your warning/Damn my heart gone there/. In the middle of the song, the tone is more conflicted- /I should have known/I’ve been here before/I should have known/Don’t want it anymore/One thing is for certain/I’m still standing here/I should have known/.

At the end of the song, the lyrics indicate anger- following the normal pattern seen in most people grieving over a lost loved one. /No I cannot forgive you yet/No I cannot forgive you yet/To leave my heart in debt/I should have known/.

Assuming that the song is really written as a sort of catharsis for both Grohl and Novoselic, I can only imagine how painful Kurt Cobain's death was fro them. I remember back in 1994, I was about to leave to visit a friend, and I heard about it on the radio as soon as I started the engine. I was stunned, even though whatever connection I felt to Cobain through his music could not even begin to compare to the connection Grohl and Novoselic had. I drove around aimlessly for a while, blasting "Nevermind" as loud as I could, thinking that we had just lost a person who really spoke for the angst and uncertainty people in my generation were feeling at the time. It made me think that we had just lost my generation's answer to John Lennon. For me, that sadness wore off quickly- I had no real connection other than as a fan and as a young adult still carrying some of the angst of my late teenage years. These guys lived and breathed those few moments at a thousand times the volume for years.

In my opinion, the song is a way for them to make their peace with their demons, and to say goodbye to a good friend who had a profound impact on their lives and careers. Are they over that grief? Probably not judging from the lyrics and the angry ending. Hopefully they've gained a little closure, and hopefully they'll inspire the rest of us to remember the man, and the music that was such a huge part of our social consciousness back in the early 90s.