Idolator
Since many people find it hard to tell the great from the godawful when it comes to 21st-century mainstream rock, welcome to "Corporate Rock Still Sells," where Al Shipley (a.k.a. Idolator commenter GovernmentNames) examines what's good, bad, and ugly in the world of Billboard's rock charts. This time around he takes a look at the year's most (supposedly) surprising Grammy nominees, alt-rock survivors the Foo Fighters:
Every year, the announcement of the Grammy nominations, more than just about any other major awards show, invites the same level of confusion and intense speculation as the discovery of a serial killer's latest victim, or the release of a new Cloverfield trailer. What does it all mean? Are they trying to tell us something? Did you know that Herbie Hancock put out an album of Joni Mitchell covers this year? One of the big questions raised by last week's nominations was just
how the hell the Foo Fighters got the Album Of The Year nomination, particularly when the token rock-veteran spot could have been so capably filled by Bruce Springsteen.
The Foo Fighters are no strangers to the Grammys—in previous years they've won four and been nominated for eight more, usually for Best Rock Album, and a few irrelevant niche categories like Best Hard Rock Performance and Best Short-Form Music Video. But this is their first year with a nod in any of the Big Four, let alone two of them (they were also nominated for Record Of The Year). Of course, bestowing the AOTY nod to a '90s alt-rock mainstay has kind of become an established pattern for the Grammys in recent years. But the two other instances—Red Hot Chili Peppers last year, and Green Day two years before that—were a little less surprising. After all, both albums were multi-platinum blockbusters with Grammy-friendly hooks: a diverse double album, and an uncharacteristically ambitious rock opera, respectively.
The Foos' latest, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, is for all intents and purposes a business-as-usual album, with no particular concept or editorial angle, and the Foo Fighters have never been a mega-selling act on the level of RHCP or Green Day. The old Paul McCartney theory—that Dave Grohl is just collecting the plaudits for his previous band—has been floated here and there, but the Foo Fighters' goofy cross-dressing videos and workmanlike power-pop don't exactly carry the same Most Important Band Ever cultural cache as Nirvana. Still, they're at least a more credible token rock pick for Grammy voters than, say, Nickelback. And Grohl does possess a little indie cred, occasionally playing with smaller bands like Cat Power and co-owning the great Washington, D.C. rock club The Black Cat.
The funny thing is, if the Foo Fighters were ever gonna get Grammy love, you'd think it would've happened two years ago. 2005's In Your Honor was one of them there ambitious double albums, and featured the highest-charting single of the band's career, "Best Of You." Even 2002's One By One came at a more symbolically significant phase of the band's career, when Dave Grohl was beginning to settle into his elder statesman role, and dominated rock radio with simultaneous hits by the Foos, Queens Of The Stone Age, and Nirvana (the posthumous "You Know You're Right"). But in all likelihood, this time around they just ended up the benificiaries of a slow year for event albums, in which the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences seemed to just shrug "Kanye, Winehouse, and... whatever."
One statistic I dropped in my first column was that the Foo Fighters, like several other alt-rock survivors, had nearly all of their Modern Rock No. 1s (four out of five) in this decade, despite releasing half of their albums in the '90s. The band's benefited from the slowly shrinking rock radio audience without actually growing in popularity in any discernible way. In fact, the Foo Fighters' sales history might be one of the most consistently static I've seen for a career lasting over a decade: Every one of their first five albums has sold a million copies, but none of them has jumped up to the two-million-sold plateau. Echoes, just released in September, hasn't moved a mil yet, but it presumably will by the time it runs its course. Still, I can't see it reaching multiplatinum status, even with the sales bump that would come from a big Grammy win come February.
The thing is, I'll defend the Foo Fighters more earnestly than just about anyone, or at least any critic I know. I like Dave Grohl's voice, and the fact that his songwriting plays off his experience as a drummer has made for some really rhythmically dynamic arrangements, even if it's all packaged in a a very MOR, hyper-compressed modern rock sound. And while I'll admit, like most fans, that the Foo Fighters peaked with their first two albums, they've aged better than most of their peers; In Your Honor might've actually made my Top 10 a few years ago if it was just the "rock" half and hadn't included the dismal acoustic second disc.
Echoes suffers from further ventures into ballad territory, as well as too many slow burners where at least half the song is devoid of Taylor Hawkins' drumming. But I also think that "Pretender" might be the band's best single since "Everlong." Considering how much I've cooled on Kanye's Graduation since its release, by the time the Grammys roll around I might actually be rooting for the Foo Fighters to take the big prize home. I just hope Dave Grohl doesn't feel the need to pander to voters by releasing one of the album's overly serious dirges as the next single, and that he opts for the uptempo, hilariously titled "Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make-Up Is Running)." Even better, they could play it at the televised ceremony, and dedicate the performance to Pete Wentz.
Comments
Great write up...Simply put Grohl is a quality artist. The Foos dont enjoy the same status as Nirvana did, but thats OK...it doesnt diminish the quality of their records (or their live shows for that matter).
"Even better, they could play it at the televised ceremony, and dedicate the performance to Pete Wentz."
hahah, for sure. I mean in this day and age you've got to appreciate a band with a sense of humor. Overall I see the Foos' as just a generally safe pick. Not out there in any real way, but beloved enough by the Hardcore Rock Fan to make them tune into the broadcast. Maybe it's a ploy to lure in more watchers.
Another great submission Al!
As a casual observer of American music from afar (New Zealand) I'm greatly puzzled by the Foo Fighters modest album sales in the US. I don't won't to American bash I'll leave that to Michael Moore but how in the world can a band everybody seems to think is trash like Nickelback sell so many records well the Foo Fighters struggle to reach platinum.
The Foo Fighters latest sold 270K outside the USA compared to 168K in the USA in their 1st week. Their album topped the chart in the UK with the 4th best 1st week sales of any artist. They were platinum in my country within one week. Clearly their popularity lies everywhere in Europe & in any random country such as my own but they can't seem to find greater success in their own country. Can someone please explain this to me?
The Foos definitely peaked with those first two albums, but their singles repertoire has always been great. As far as I know they haven't released a best-of set yet, but I'd pick one up in an instant. "The Pretender" is one of those songs I can't help but crank up in the car.
I'd have no problem with them taking home the prize this year. It's not like I have strong feelings about any of the nominees, and Dave Grohl has always been a likable guy. I'm pulling for them.
Nice piece, Al.
I, for one, really really enjoyed Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace. Like everyone seems to think, the singles are top-notch. But I also enjoy the down tempo and acoustic numbers on this disc. They're very well constructed, and Grohl's songwriting is just THAT good. This album doesn't suffer the over-bloatedness of In Your Honor, which could have easily been compressed into one disc.
Furthermore, anyone who makes the "Grohl is cruising on his Nirvana legacy" argument is just downright lazy. It's clearly not the case.
I used to have a serious Hate-on for Dave Grohl. He started a band with half the members of Sunny Day Real Estate, including one of my favorite drummers ever, William Goldsmith. Riding on the coattails of Nirvana, and still presumably with a big head about that, he proceeded to take all the tracks that William did for their first record and dub over them himself. William found out and eventually left the band. For years I secretly liked a lot of what they were doing, and I liked Dave/Taylor's style, while outwardly damning them.
While playing Monkey Wrench on Expert in Guitar Hero III I had an epiphany. Most bands that start out rocking hard these days sorta give it up by their third or 4th album. Tempos slow down and songs get more ballady. Presumably that's partly a maturing of the artist, and also a subconscious need to write songs that are easier to play live 200 nights a year. Foo Fighters rock just as hard, loud, fast and well today as they did 10 years ago. They might not be at the top of the charts, but they've been rock solid without falter for longer than the members of some bands have been alive.
@DeeJayQueue: d'oh! I meant GHII.
@Ngawri: I'm not sure I can explain it, but a lot of US bands seem to have that happen. Queens of the stone age being another similar example.
@DeeJayQueue: he proceeded to take all the tracks that William did for their first record and dub over them himself.
I'm assuming you meant their first record as a full band, The Colour and the Shape - the self-titled debut was recorded by Grohl on his own, with one guest solo by Greg Dulli.
@Ngawri: I'm assuming "platinum" in NZ is still a million records? The Foos may have only sold 168k in the first week here, but they still play huge concert venues and sell out all over the country.
I would argue that There Is Nothing Left To Lose is ridiculously underrated. "Learn To Fly", "Stacked Actors", "M.I.A.", stone classics in my books. Certainly Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace is their best record to come out since then. I'm still retching over that In Your Honor acoustic disc.
@gorillavsmarykate: Platinum certification is measured differently in just about every country, usually much less than the million in the U.S., and in New Zealand it's only 70 thousand. Almost a quarter of the country's population would have to buy an album for it to sell a million in NZ alone, which would be pretty damn impressive if FF did do that.
"Long Road to Ruin" is the next single, there's an amusing video out now. And "The Pretender" is humorless and hookless - I don't understand all the love here.
@G3K: Haha, pay attention, I embedded the "Long Road" video at the top of this post! I like that song, though. I meant "next" as in third single, which AFAIK hasn't been decided yet.
Billboard did a cover story on the Foos a month or two ago (wish I could link to it) in which they did exactly what you've just done viz. their album sales. According to BB, the albums have SoundScanned slightly better than you think -- over time, each has sold about 2 million -- but here's where you're dead right: the Foos' consistency is scary. I mean, the little chart showing the sales across the six albums was stunning: within a delta of about 100K-200K, each has sold almost exactly 2 mil. (In a similar BB cover story earlier this year, they tracked album sales for other Modern Rock acts like Green Day, and the sales swung wildly from album to album -- a U-shape from Dookie down to Warning and back up with Idiot.)
I think you're basically assessing it right: Grohl & co. have just been around long enough, and it's their "turn." They also have been friendly and un-punk in all the right ways from NARAS's perspective -- doing the show, seeming grateful, Grohl supporting other Grammy-friendly acts, etc. I'm being a bit cynical but also a bit admiring here.
It's also important to remember that the Grammys, like the Emmys, are a gold watch for the academy that rewards them, and that people vote based on whom they like and who they think has done the most for "the industry." (Oscars are similar, of course, but there's a different dynamic there -- the outliers are weirder, with certain people being rewarded either absurdly late or absurdly early.) Grohl is basically benefiting from the thanks-for-the-consistency-and-keep-up-the-good-work crowd.
BTW, about the body of work? I think I'm the only guy who felt One by One was underrated, even by Grohl himself.
@dennisobell: Ah yeah, I'd love to see that more specific sales data. One thing I kinda forgot to mention, though, is that since In Your Honor was a double, it SoundScanning consistently with every album before it means it actually sold closer to half what its predecessors did. But I guess that can be easily attributed to the sagging sales everywhere the last couple years, and maybe Echoes will just barely fight to get to that million even with the Grammy boost (there's not even a Gold graphic next to it on the Billboard 200 yet).
This is ridiculous. All this love for Foo Fighters? They're mediocrity incarnate, it all sounds the same. It's got all the edge of my grandmother's butterknife, but gee, it sure is shiny. C'mon -- I thought people here were a touch more discerning. I'm not saying to like the Foo Fighters means you're a moron, but piling all this 'gosh, they really are great' stuff on them is a little like appreciating John Mayer for his blues repretoire. It's pop masquerading as altrock, and that's that. As groundbreaking as Nirvana was, Foo is exactly the same ungroundbreaking. Snore!
@clevername: I agree with most of what you say. However, I don't think Grohl has ever tried to classify themselves as "alt-rock". I remember an interview where they actually corrected the interviewer and said they weren't "punk" but pretty much "pop".
For me, it's the fact that a) they write killer singles that I much prefer hearing over Kid Rock, Nickelback et al, and b) Dave Grohl is such a self-effacing guy that you can't help but root for him.
Life-changing music? Not to me, but when I want unpretentious, no-frills rock/pop, the Foos deliver the goods.
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