Foo Fighters "Sonic Highway" documentary series on HBO

i dunno i can't fault someone for Believing that Rock Can Change The World when he was in the last rock band that changed the world

Wait, Dave Grohl was in Public Enemy? Huh.

He was Professor Grohl

Ha!
_______________

I think one angle to look at such a project is that this probably will introduce some good music and musicians to some people for the first time. I know as a total dweeb preteen, the first time I saw James Brown, heard Elmore James, Cab Calloway and John Lee Hooker was watching the Blues Brothers movie.

― earlnash, Saturday, October 18, 2014 10:29 AM (12 hours ago)

^^^this

ugh I hate music documentaries that spend all their time extolling how "important" certain music/musicians were or how "nothing was the same after ____", just all this empty rote hyperbole. Show me the performances, give me an interesting story, reveal odd details but don't make me listen to people rhapsodizing about how amazing going to a show was, or how incredible it was to hear x song, I really really don't care. That being said yeah it's nice to see Albini or Rick Nielsen or whoever, but the tone of this is so off-putting.

very very successful millionaire musicians talking about 80s hardcore in tones reminiscent of Paul kantner or David Crosby talking about the 60s (maaann).

the tone/sentiments expressed are very similar - the weird thing to me is that if you go to any major town these days, there is guaranteed to be a hardcore scene of teenagers/young folks doing pretty much exactly the same things that 80s hardcore did. But this was never the case with the music/scene of Kantner/Crosby, even in the 80s, that model/aesthetic just didn't transfer to new generations on the same scale.

But this was never the case with the music/scene of Kantner/Crosby, even in the 80s, that model/aesthetic just didn't transfer to new generations on the same scale.

― Οὖτις, Monday, October 20, 2014 3:41 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hardcore is a more easy to approach template, musicianship-wise

I'm sure that's part of it but there's also something that seems to be eternally appealing about it to a subset of kids, beyond the "anyone can do it" factor

Think its something to with it being the highest energy music you can do with guitar bass and drums that doesnt require more advanced chops found more in speed metal etc

God this is the worst fucking show ever. I vomited the entire way through and blood started shooting out my ass. Now I have a high grade fever I can't get rid of, seing these people talk about their " music" made me so angry I had to take a switch to my damn kids ass.

Terrible post

I actually think the form of this is kinda novel - looking at scenes and how they influence artists and the songwriting process etc. - but there are about 500 bands I'd rather see try their hand at it than the Foos. But then Grohl is the best-connected guy in rock, so...it's a chatch-22 of sorts.

no way in hell would i watch this show after seeing that sound city doc. boomer wannabes talking about how fucking magical their precious shit stained recording gear was + the worlds shittiest jam session ft. 70 year old dude trying to seem hip and with it = i, too, had to take a switch to my damn kids ass

Terrible post

Yeah yer right. Nobody bats 1.000

talking about 80s hardcore in tones reminiscent of Paul kantner or David Crosby talking about the 60s (maaann).

Is it getting as bad as classic rock radio and the Lefsetz worshipful approach? Not in tv commercials yet, and no Big Chill movie with Henry Rollins in it yet...Maybe soon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oSFnotAmcoA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2jUOvxG7440

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SoSQwV0orzU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FM7PcYMH67c

Watched the first half of the first ep, which was fine, but when they were tracking at Electrical Audio and someone says something along the lines of "usually it takes us weeks just to record the drums" I literally said "what a bunch of pussies" out loud to no one but our sleeping cat.

haha yeah I lol'd at there whole established process "first we do drums for three weeks, then we do the bass for two weeks, then we do all the guitars" etc. way to make everything sound unbelievably boring

Dusty Springfield usta record one syllable at a time on occasion.

iirc ian mackaye said one time when he was listening to an evens song something like "oh man that hook you just did once, we'd have to repeat it a bunch of times". for a torch-bearing rocker with a sense of roots dave grohl sure has a lot of bloated corporate shit he has to do.

that paraphrase is dave grohl talking about the evens, to be clear

actually i think ian didn't give the name of the big arena rocker who said that to him but i can't imagine there's a lot of other arena rockers hanging out with ian so

Ooh special Foo Fighters club gig Friday in DC (this is their version of a $5 Fugazi gig I guess)

Fri Oct 24::
FOO FIGHTERS
plus a special screening of
Sonic Highways
$20 Mainstage / Doors at 9:00

$20 per ticket. $3 service charge. Cash only. Maximum of 2 tickets per person. You must bring your ID. If you are buying a 2nd ticket you must provide the person's name as it is stated on their ID. Tickets are 100% non-transferable and non-refundable. On sale Tuesday October 21 at 6:00pm at the Black Cat. The Black Cat is located at 1811 14th Street NW Washington, DC.

$20 per ticket. $3 service charge. Cash only

haha service charge AND cash only

quality service

The Black Cat Club is owned by the drummer of long ago Dischord band Iron Cross & other groups (who got Grohl to invest in the original purchase way back when) btw

xxxxpost, re: Grohl listening to the Evens, the thought of *him* sitting in a studio for a FF project and not being able to fight past all the frustrating bullshit squashes any hope I have for my own life

Batshit rant from the dude who signed Hootie making the rounds. He makes some bad points, but also some good ones, not least asking (iirc) why Grohl, a good guy with a strong understanding of the industry, the way it works, and the way it is antithetical to much of the music he purports to love (in this doc and elsewhere), seems to have no prob sucking away at the corporate teat in the most corporate way possible, even though he, of all people, is in a position to say know. Is it just that he is such a nice guy he can't so no to whatever's asked of him?

In ep one, I downright winced when, after they have this eureka moment of jamming the cord in the guitar pre-solo and causing this cool crackling fuzz sound, the guitarist dude admits his biggest concern is replicating it on TV, and all the other dudes chuckle knowingly. Because they all know they'll be slumming it up on some shitty TV shows soon enough, because that's just that they do, right?

Another question never answered (not that it needs to be, necessarily): why do they spend all this time extolling the skill and genius of Steve Albini, in his own studio, and then have Butch Vig behind the board?

http://tanteguerilla.com/bilder/produkte/normal/SST-Corporate-Rock-Still-Sucks-T-Shirt-white.jpg

xpost because there's no fucking way albini would produce them at this point? though to be fair with albini it's as much about him fetishizing his own "indie integrity" to a degree that's downright masturbatory as it is him having pretty good taste

I coasted through the first two episodes Saturday afternoon when good football was at a lull. Nothing remarkable and nothing offensive about either so far, but I'll be curious to see the Nashville episode. That shit's totally out of Grohl's element, so there should be some smdh lols.

xpost because there's no fucking way albini would produce them at this point?

Oh please, he'll produce any band who walks in there with a certified check and their own instruments.

don't think they actually wanted a song that sounds like albini recorded it anyway

Yeah, because it wouldn't ... sell.

Watched the first half of the first ep, which was fine, but when they were tracking at Electrical Audio and someone says something along the lines of "usually it takes us weeks just to record the drums" I literally said "what a bunch of pussies" out loud to no one but our sleeping cat.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, October 21, 2014 3:38 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha yeah I lol'd at there whole established process "first we do drums for three weeks, then we do the bass for two weeks, then we do all the guitars" etc. way to make everything sound unbelievably boring

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, October 21, 2014 3:39 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i mean...unless you guys are clutching your pearls at overdubbing and think every band should be all FUCK IT WE'LL DO IT LIVE, that's just the practical no brainer way to do record rock music. unless you want to set up and mic drums and break them down again multiple times and waste a ton of man hours, or do a bunch of other instruments over a clicktrack before there are live drums recorded.

^ otm

xxxpost oh my well at least he'll take their money now even if he still probably grumbles as if he's too good for it and saves his aggression for (overrated IMO if not totally w/o merit) shellac records

croupier you're probably right

whoops i fucked up zee x's

xxxpost oh my well at least he'll take their money now even if he still probably grumbles as if he's too good for it and saves his aggression for (overrated IMO if not totally w/o merit) shellac records

croupier you're probably right

― blood on the peaves (slothroprhymes), Monday, October 27, 2014 1:42 PM (46 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

bullshit

which part?

I know how recording works croup I'm just lol'ing at the length of time required esp given the material involved

everyone i've heard who's recorded with him says he's super professional and pleasant, like just doing his job type vibe

Er some dude not croup sorry

xpost I know how records are made. I've made records myself. But there are really only two reasons it should take months to make a record. The first is if you're Peter Gabriel or U2 and GNR or whomever and it takes weeks and months to craft songs out of bit of studio improv and ideas. The other is if you're polishing things up to make it as commercial as possible. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with either approach. It just seems tacky to hear Grohl romanticise the mean, lean, fast, punk approach while he pursues the opposite for the sake of sounding slick and commercial or whatever.

What he said

sh@kedown i don't have the luxury of knowing him personally or knowing bands who know him, only the way his persona is sometimes presented in certain media. i didn't think a rep for saltiness was that far off the mark given some of what's been said about him and his style, but if it is, my B

so nashville is next? Where else are they going? Detroit? Olympia? LA?

it's not like a luxury it's just like tons of rinky dink midwest bands no one cares about record there all the time! it's like a studio you can go to if you want to pay for it, p affordable actually for small bands for how nice it is

i didn't mean "luxury" in a monetary sense. more like the opportunity to easily know stuff about him IRL beyond the established albini narratives dating back to big black