Foo Fighters "Sonic Highway" documentary series on HBO

Also, he didn't join -the- mainstream band of the '90s. He joined the band and they became the mainstream band of the '90s, thanks in no small part to his drumming.

yeah, I'm with you. no Grohl, no "Teen Spirit" opening fill and who knows what else would have gone far differently from there. and it's easy to dump on the Foos unless you try to name some bands on the same commercial plateau over the last 18 years that have been so much better. everyone agrees on "Everlong" but there are about a dozen singles that are nearly up to its standard.

but to say they've never had any ambition beyond getting their pix taken with their favorite bands is ridiculous.

I meant that figuratively/musically. Any artistic ambition (or even the slightest sense of almost maybe approaching taking a tiny risk maybe) beyond that isn't something I've been able to discern in their records.

after There Is Nothing Left to Lose, it has felt to me like they're just trying to improve on that sound. Wasting Light was a good album, but it was a pretty rare standout and even then the biggest tracks still sound like FooFighters.xls

I mean, if they dig that monolithic sound then no shade on them but it's hard to maintain the will to actively listen to it rinse-repeat every few years.

I meant that figuratively/musically.

I know, i guess the whole rock 'n' roll fantasy camp and jumping onstage with Rush thing pushed me to respond. why, i don't know ... like i need to be in here defending the Foo Fighters. my two year old just woke up from nap and is crying for me to come get him as i type this!

I enjoy quite a few of the early singles and album and will confidently say that Everlong is in a league of its own imo

I do like some of the songs on the first record, fwiw. Oddly enough, the first time I heard Foo Fighters -- on the radio, before I knew who it/he was -- I was immediately reminded of Chris Mars' first solo record (mainly "Popular Creeps").

FF continued success reminds me a bit of bob mould winding up Sugar, in retrospect the correct thing to do - they were tired and flabby sounding by FUEL and thats the FF blueprint to me - vaguely distorted anonymous rock

album is pretty solid. not as good as Wasting Light, but it also doesn't have any one song that would irritate me in heavy rotation as much as "Walk" did.

Taylor Hawkins flipping out over Joe Walsh's cool but totally ordinary guitar solo was both fun and sort of depressing.

Finally the germs and the eagles have been brought together by the power of corporate rock

Is there anything capitalism can't do

Finally the germs and the eagles have been brought together by the power of corporate rock

Belinda Carlisle sang on Henley sessions back in the early '80s.

But, Yay Capitalism all the same!

So this HBO series, in its own little way, is turning out to be Grohl's own U2/Apple moment, huh? No one gives a shit about the album, and for all the good things about each doc, I've never seen so many people - press, fans, armchair observers - taking so many pot shots at Grohl at once. For being corny, for being over-exposed, for being ridiculous, for being nowhere near the level of the music he praises in each doc.

There should be a drinking game for this show where you have to drink every time a Foo Fighters lyric video quotes an interview in the episode

So you just shotgun a beer at the end?

Basically

Taylor Hawkins does the same thing

Shotgunning beers is rad, dude.

Taylor should get a spin-off sitcom.

http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/taylor-hawkins-the-birds-of-satan-stream-eclectic-new-album-20140407/20140407-birds-x624-1396904658.jpg

taylor lookin like if they mated dave grohl and kurt cobain basically

Love that the foos are 2/3 SoCal and Dave managed to spend most of their ep in the desert, with pat lucking out by being a punk icon and Taylor getting a minute of outta nowhere eagle worship. The other two getting zilch.

I'm no FF fan but really appreciated these shows, particularly the Austin one. Dave Grohl seems a very genuine guy to me and anyone who appreciates and promotes the likes of 13th Floor Elevators/Roky Erickson, Butthole Surfers etc gets my vote. Well done!

Yeah, loved the D.C. episode, but I grew up on nothing but Dischord and a handful of eye-opening Go Go shows in the early 90s in the Maryland suburbs. I'd never seen the inside of Inner Ear or seen what Don Zientara looked like and that kind of thing so it was really pretty awesome.
It ends with Grohl throwing a huge b-day party concert for the guy from Trouble Funk at the 9:30 Club, which is really nice.

The BBC is fucking with this in a most peculiar way. First 2 episodes on BBC4, next 4 on iplayer only, then last 2 eps back on BBC4. Seems unnecessarily complicated imo.Anyway I'm enjoying them greatly esp. Mr Smear and his perpetual grin.

he's such a chill dude

Fave moment of whole series might have been pat saying la is the best place to live, with Dave showing clear disbelief before fleeing to the desert

Was certain that Dukowski or Morris would pop up in the LA episode, but I guess you can't cover every base.

Grohl should make a doc about forming a band, touring arenas and teaching kids about guitars. Talking heads should be all uncool butt rock: Styx, REO, Nugent et al.

xp The lack of Keith Morris was certainly surprising, since he seems to have a nose for documentary cameras over the past two decades. He was probably in the background somewhere, answering questions no one was asking.

You can't cover every base...when you'd far rather discuss desert culture than LA culture . Got the feeling if he didn't have a germ and Tay in the band he would have gone to Boston or Detroit instead

On the plus side: Pat's one line per ep.

Best one yet is in the Washington ep. when he's forced to look at Grohl's lyrics - "Wow.....that's a lot of fucking words..."

That was awesome
Agree ppl are being hard on the Foos

Also don't forget his stellar work on Songs For the Deaf by QOTSA, about the best commercial hard rock record of the 00s

Haven't seen the LA one yet but looking forward to the Masque and Hermosa Beach Bathhouse excerpts.
I was looking forward to the long segment of the fishing trip around Catalina Island with Keith Morris piloting the boat for Bill Stevenson and Milo Aukerman. With Dave rocking out on the deck

Has anybody heard Pat Smear's 'Ruthensmear' LP, released on SST in their pot fog days? It's not that great in its sub Bowie Ziggy and I'm not sure why I bought it.

Just to clear it up, I think Grohl is a good drummer. Not sure about him as a frontman but I appear to be in the minority. Plenty seem to enjoy.

Grohl is undeniably a great drummer, and a (mostly) good dude. The issue I have with the Foo Fighters is a guy with great instincts and for all purposes total independence churning out totally MOR corporate-alt that, were it not featuring Grohl, would surely be garnering fewer defenders. Adding insult to injury we get the great drummer's dedication to the totally rad, I mean, lame Taylor Hawkins as his proxy. And then you see them live, where the cheese flows so fast and freely it plays like self-parody to the point of patronizing. Buddy and FF template Bob Mould does the Foos so much better. More depth, better guitar textures, better (or at least funnier!) drummer, etc.

Oh without a doubt, to my ears, FF current output is an irrepressible DUD, given the aforementioned insight of their leader .
Each to their own

Oh man just got to the Joe Walsh part, hope Taylor recovered!

Also all the Rancho/stoner/Kyuss stuff is great!

Omg the lyrics to this song...

He's just going to be singing transcripts of interviews by the end of this thing

Also I love hearing this Joe Walsh solo that blew Taylor's mind, all these random pentatonic string bends

I love this show so much

I sat through the entire New Orleans episode last night. Damn this show is cheesy.

I actually thought that was one of the best ones, but it also made me want to slap Taylor Hawkins more than any other time in the series.

so strange that this band has been around for 20 years and evidently sold many an album but i cannot for the life of me name a single song by them or even characterize what they sound like. do they get played on the radio?

Part of the discomfort for me was that I felt like everyone was posturing, and everyone around Grohl was just being a kiss-ass.

xpost i cant speak for having the radio on of late bc i'm rarely in cars or places w/radios, but as recently as their last album release (2011) both new stuff from wasting light and the greatest hits like "everlong," "my hero," etc. would show up on boston rock radio

Well early on they definitely had radio hits that were relatively memorable. Based on what I've heard recently anything you may have heard lately is likely indistinct enough to be totally forgotten.