Foo Fighters "Sonic Highway" documentary series on HBO

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.

that might be it-- it just blends into the background.

It's so weird that the rest of the band are barely there, the assistant engineer gets more screen time than Chris and Nate (not counting the vid at the end of course) what gives?

i think the message is that while some of these guys have been chill enough to ride with dave for almost 20 years - they're riding with dave. the guy recorded the first album entirely by himself so it's not like it became a dictatorship, it always was one.

dave: "american cities...rich with musical history...

four of the six foo fighters: "hey, la! we're from there! can we..."

dave: "........the desert......there's always something that's pulled me to it..."

pat: "hey what about the germs, i think we were naked raygun big"

dave: "oh right, right, punk heroes...you, joan jett, sst, 80s underground i'm all about that....but the desert...ever heard kyuss...now that was cool...josh told me a story..."

taylor: "FUCK YOU I'VE BEEN IN THIS BAND SINCE THE 90s I'M MEETING AN EAGLE"

irl lols at that

New Orleans song was the most hilariously non-sounding-like-the-city-we-just-immersed-ourselves-in yet

Are the other band members (besides Taylor) always quiet anonymous plain dudes on purpose so they don't alienate the very large Foo Fighters fan demo of quiet anonymous plain dudes?

XP - Yeah, I was hoping for some crazy track with a bounce rhythm and some horns, then we get another pumped up Rick Springfield tune. *caveat* I only listened to the first 40s

ha yeah I turned it off too maybe there was a brass band breakdown at the end lol

Yeah but they made sure the camera panned across portraits of disappointed looking New Orealns legends during the video

xxxpost

The others come across very well on that Doc that came out a couple of years back, esp Nate.

i wonder if joe walsh was a compromise to keep dave from having to meet don henley

(well, yeah)

The others come across very well on that Doc that came out a couple of years back, esp Nate.

― Rita, Sue and Peter Gabriel Two (MaresNest), Tuesday, November 25, 2014 3:20 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

He's the AIDS denier

Really? I guess that must have been in the special features.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2000/02/foo-fighters-hiv-deniers

Mendel says he was won over by Maggiore's book, and passed it around to the rest of the band, which includes former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Mendel says that he would steer anyone considering an HIV antibody test toward Maggiore's group.

"If you test positive, you are pretty much given a bleak outlook and told to take toxic drugs to possibly ward off new infections," says Mendel.

With the other band members on board, Mendel aims to use the Foo Fighters' celebrity to get the message out to a broad audience. The Foo Fighters plan additional benefit shows, and have placed a banner ad on their Web site linking to Alive and Well. Mendel says that he does not have HIV, nor does he have any friends with HIV besides Maggiore, who has remained asymptomatic.

Watched the Seattle episode last night. Some genuinely moving parts, especially toward the end. And then, for no fucking reason at all, the mood shifts completely and Dave interviews Macklemore. WTF

haha wow ok glad I turned it off before that

Taylor Hawkins bums me out, but I bet it's kind of a bummer to be Taylor Hawkins.

Can't really think of another example of such a famous band whose drummer is not the best drummer in the band, besides maybe that one time Sheila E was one of Ringo's all-stars

Are the other band members (besides Taylor) always quiet anonymous plain dudes on purpose so they don't alienate the very large Foo Fighters fan demo of quiet anonymous plain dudes?
--Evan

weird to see that pat smear is now a relatively quiet anonymous plain dude, but he's rich, so that prob makes up for it.

regarding current foo fandom, this is so OTM it's not even funny ( ok it is funny bc I'm laughing)

Grohl just basically spilled the beans on The Daily Show that there will be a second season. Hopefully it won't be tied to an album, but of course it will.

Has this been addressed yet?

http://jezebel.com/dave-grohls-sonic-highways-systematically-erases-women-1666309945

I don't necessarily agree (maybe Hole weren't mentioned because - ultimately -- HOLE DON'T MATTER)...but just throwin' it out there.

Said article also features this line...

"Kanye West, an artist as complicated, heart-driven, and relevant as Nirvana ever was, is seen in a short clip at the beginning, near the credits, but is not mentioned thereafter."

Kanye West is complicated?

FOH

There have been a bunch of women on the show - heart, joan jett, dolly parton, emmylou harris.

Hole is/was terrible

Oh Kanye's complicated alright: http://gawker.com/which-giant-titted-anime-statue-was-kanye-west-obsessed-1667243236?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_facebook&utm_source=gawker_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

That being said criticism of the show being conventionally rockist is obviously legit

"i wish there was more women in it" is more a than valid note, but the claim of systematic erasure in the headline doesn't really match the "sure there was heart but where's bikini kill?" tone of the rest of the post. not totally sure what the definition of "systematically erasing women" would mean, but i assume it would mean having even less than the token legends like dolly, joan jett, etc.

also hole was from la

i stopped watching after my own thinkpiece went up, but unless nate mendel got a lot of love in the seattle episode one could argue he's systematically erasing the other foo fighters almost as much as he is women

"sure, taylor got to jizz his pants at an eagle for one minute, but is the occasional doofy grin all he's had to contribute since 1997?"

"Why, on the LA episode, is there a lengthy interlude about the desert outside the city because Queens of the Stone Age once recorded there, but can't even make a gesture towards Chris Shiflett, the band's guitarist since 1999, who was raised in Santa Barbara?"

I started laughing really hard when the Seattle episode transitioned from grunge to Macklemore. It did a really great job of making the city look like a LA's farm team. Getting so sick of Subpop's "We're losers...really!" schtick.

Austin episode was the highlight of the season for me. Hope season 2 explores the scenes in completely innocuous cities. Maybe send Dave Grohl to Newbridge.

dave-grohls-sonic-highways-systematically-erases-calvin-johnson

i was going to at least check out the seattle episode of the final three but ever since news of macklemore floated out i haven't been able to force myself

I thought the Austin one was terrible. Too much spillover from Nashville, and the rest was overwhelmingly Austin City Limits centric.

I'm sure the NYC one will make me froth at the mouth. Nate got about three nanoseconds in the Seattle episode.

seconds away from watching the final one, and I have every expectation that it will please AlexinNYC very much. Given the deeply conservative worldview presented by Grphl so far, the only thing I can think of that would annoy AiNYC is if the show declined to make a case for Killing Joke as a huge influence on every right thinking act in town, or as a signature achievement in human history.

I have no doubt that Grohl will walk around town and lament clubs that are no longer there, which would be in line with the program thus far. surely there will be a lengthy CBGBs segment.

I hope he just interviews Bono, Sting, Madonna, Taylor Swift and other musicians rich enough to live in New York. Then he can lament how the death of CBGBs means no more bands like Interpol or the Strokes.

Was really praying for a sax-playing bill clinton to walk in and interrupt the obama interview segment.

oddly this was easily the worst episode (ugh a fucking kiss hagiography and no mention of the velvets), resulting in the best foo fighters song of the series. Which was still pretty blah.

Close your laptops and hire a string section and world-class arranger, kids.

I still think Taylor Hawkins is just filling in between Alanis Morissette tours

It bums me out because this band could be good if Dave just gave in and went back on drums and got someone to help write not so structured songs.

this band could be good if Dave just gave in and went back on drums and got Kurt Cobain to help write the songs

This band would be great if different people were in it and they traded their guitars for synths and changed their name to kraftwerk

I kinda got the sense that Grohl just wanted to geek out on Kyuss but felt like it had to be sold as an LA episode

Pat Smear eating a sandwich in the New Orleans episode was great

Dave Grohl's new band ... Oujia Board Kobain ... I'd buy that ...