Are the Foo Fighters past thier sell-by date?

qwertplaywert

In my opinion , I think they will never recover the genius that propelled thier second album, 'The Colour and the Shape', but their albums always seem to include at least 1 classic single. Their last album In Your Honour was their best since The Colour and the Shape, but was prop their first album to not produce any memorable songs(save Best of You and maybe Razor).
I had a listen to the first few tracks off the new album ''Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace'' today( out today btw) , with the exception of the lead single ''The Pretender''(which is a good song, but nothing compared to most of thier other singles) its complete and other trash. Have about 7 or 8 tracks still to listen to a few times, but so far its shaping up for me to be thier worst album thus far.

MY TOP TEN FOO'S SONGS(ALBUM NUMBER IN BRACKETS)

1:My Hero- The Colour and the Shape(2)
2:Monkey Wrench-The Colour and the Shape(2)
3:All my Life-One by One(4)
4:Everlong-The Colour and the Shape(2)
5:Times like These-One by One(4)
6:Best of You-In Your Honour(5)
7:M.I.A.-There is nothing else to Lose(3)
8:Up in Arms-The Colour and the Shape(2)
9:This is a Call-Foo Fighters(1)
10:Alone + Easy Target-Foo Fighters(1)


Foo Fighters was a great album , a very strong first album,espically considering Dave done it all himself. Not exactly the masterpeice that Colour and Shape....... is but does contain mostly 4/5 star songs in my book(5 stars for the likes of This is a Call, Alone + Easy Target, Big Me and I'll Stick Around)

The Colour and the Shape is the Foos masterpeice,and does not feature a bad song on the whole record(the only non-excellent song is doll, which would proberbly get 3/5 in my books, the rest would be solid 4/5, with exception of 1 or 2, which would be 4/5)


There is Nothing Else to Lose was the first iffy album from the Foos imo.It was a more poppy approch to thier music, but alot of it worked brillantly( M.I.A.,Learn to Fly, Breakout,Stacked Actors,all solid 5/5's) and alot which didnt-it was the first Foos album to feature a 'bad' song or two(Aurora,Ain't It the Life) but still a good album, nothing compared to the previous two though.

One by One featured a more heavy return from the Foos, but was a very iffy album. It featured about 3 top class songs(Times Like These, All my Life and Halo), a few 4/5 ones(Disenchanted Lullaby,Low) but the rest were mostly awful, if your saying for only 4 Foos album, this is certainly the one to avoid

In Your Honour was a return to form(of sorts) for the band. Better than the previous two albums, it featured nearly all good songs, so it was very consistant, but,with the exception of Best of You and maybe Razor, it featured no top class songs. It is certainly a album to listen to complete, not partically.

Their still amazing live though-caught them a few months back, best concert of my life.

Whats everyone else's views?Have the Foos lost it? Or did they have it in the first place?

Creamy Goodness

in my opinon they were past it by "there's nothing left to lose".

One by one had two ok tracks in "All my life" and "Low".

Shryke

One by One was weak, but not terrible.
In Your Honour was terrible.
The newest is a mix between the above. Mostly terrible with one pretty good track (The Prentender).

Yes, I believe creatively they are all but dead not that I wouldn't want to be proved wrong.

qwertplaywert

Interesting you mentioned creativity, you have to give Dave credit for trying a diff sound every album, even it now its turning sour.......

Jeebus

Well I saw them in Marlay park this June and it was, without question, the best night of my life, so in that respect I'd completely disagree with you. They are the best live band I've ever seen (and I've seen most bands that are considered to be 'great' live - Muse, RHCP, Blink 182, Metallica and the like).

Their albums might not be suited to your taste, but thats cool. In Your Honour has my favourite track on it - Best of You, and DOA was great too. Not to mention their live, acoustic album Skin & Bones which is also one of my favourites, I'd love to see them play an acoustic set one day, its always been a regret of mine that I never saw nirvana play acoustically, so this is the next best thing !

So I'd disagree with the sour turning thing, based on their live performance, which was frankly nothing short of amazing and their recent tracks I enjoy too !

That_Guy

I used to be a huge fan of the foo's but ever since One By One I find myself switching off whenever their music videos come on. I just don't think they have that passion really anymore. That's just me though.

Creamy Goodness

Jeebus wrote:

Well I saw them in Marlay park this June and it was, without question, the best night of my life, so in that respect I'd completely disagree with you. They are the best live band I've ever seen (and I've seen most bands that are considered to be 'great' live - Muse, RHCP, Blink 182, Metallica and the like).

you want great live shows, get yourself to a biffy clyro concert, or gallows they are always pretty mental.

gucci

i never got the foo fighters, one or two decent tracks but not alot of imagination, didnt realise they tried out a new sound every album until i read the above posts! thought the acoustic stuff was lame , acoustic dosnt have to mean boring like they done it!
but i have seen them twice live and really enjoyed it....but could never relive those experiences when listening to albums

0ubliette

Ive always maintained that they lost it after TCATS. They got progressively poppier with every release, and Dave spent so much time whoring himself to every band that would take him he let the foos go to ****.
First 2 albums are thier only albums for me. Saw them live in the sfx in 1995, epic.

Earthhorse

I'm often puzzled by the claims that Colour and The Shape is the best Foos album. For me it's a pretty weak effort overall and I rarely listen to it.

In my opinion they hit a peak with There Is Nothing Left to Lose. There's a lot of solid songwriting on that album and it has a more cohesive feel to it than any of their other efforts.

qwertplaywert wrote:

it was the first Foos album to feature a 'bad' song or two(Aurora,Ain't It the Life) but still a good album, nothing compared to the previous two though.

You're kidding right? Those are two of my favourite songs from that album. Far more interesting than the formulaic rock of Monkey Wrench (their most over-rated song by a long shot) and Breakout.

Anyway, the Foos support an organistion that claims there is no link between HIV and AIDs which has put me off sending any more money their way through album or ticket purchases. Don't think I'll be missing out on much anyway.

Creature

IMO their first three albums were great but the other two have been fairly forgettable save for a few good songs on each.
Also There Is Nothing Left To Lose is by far their best album.

MrJoeSoap

The two Foo's albums I always come back to are The Colour and The Shape and There is Nothing Left to Lose, which I consider their best, I can't pick a bad song on it. Aurora is an amazing song, probably the Foo's at their creative best. Since those two albums I've liked very little though.

That_Guy

I just watched a live performance of them on tv and though I find some of their songs kinda bad, they perform them really well.

fearcruach

I saw them live in The Point two years ago and they were much better than i thought they would be. They played with a heavier sound than the studio versions, seemed to stick with a "greatest hits" set list and avoided over-plugging In Your Honour. I think every Foo Fighter album has 1 - 2 classic songs and an awful lot of crap songs. I agree that its getting worse. In Your Honour was awful. The second cd was the worst they've ever made. They are excellent live when they are playing their best songs but the majority of their material is average at best.

Royale with Cheese

Was a massive fan back in the day. The Colour and the Shape and There is Nothing Left to Lose were both excellent.

First album was ok, don't get some of the attraction with it, and I am into the heavier stuff rather than the pop rock they're churning out today.

Was listening to One by One this morning and it's actually not as bad as I remember, still fairly patchy though. In your honour, some good bits, some bad bits. Don't like much of the acoustic cd but at least they kept it all in the one place.

New album, probably their worst so far. Two good songs (the first 2). Some dreadful songs (that road to ruin song, and one or two others), too much acoustic stuff that just doesn't do it for me, and just the same thing being rehashed. Does look very much like they've run out of ideas.

Saw them live about 5 times but haven't bothered the last few times they've been back in Dublin. Maybe I'll go again next time if they're touring on this album in Dublin, but probably not since they only just played Marley Park.

irish_boy90

yeah i got it today, pretty crap tbh. listened to it twice and put back on korns untitled album.

apart from the pretender its very weak

Yakult

I dont think they are past their time, they are maturing and just moving onto more serious topics and writing. I still think they have alot to prove!

Also wheres "I'll stick Around" in your list?

Sephiroth_dude

Ya I kinda think they NEED TO move in a different direction or sumthing,Would love to see them live,Dave is a great front man,he can get the crowd going like.I'd love it though if he started drumming full time again in a band,Hes A GREAT DRUMMER too

Double C

I used to love the Foos around 1999 time but I haven't got into any of the albums after TNLTL. I tried with One by One, apart from a few songs its pathetic. I love the opener on In Your Honour, but I wasn't too impressed with anything else on it. Can't comment on the new one.

I saw them live in the O*lympia (why can't I say O*ympia???) in 99, when Dave climbed onto the balcony during Stacked Actors. I'm proud to say he stood right next to me up there while he played his solo. He stood on my toe too, the f*cker!! That was an awesome gig, but I saw them at Oxygen a few years ago and they did nothing for me, I walked away during Learn to Fly. I just was not in the mood for them. And New Order were on the other stage.

First 3 albums all the way for me. OP, I know someone has mentioned already, but Aurora must go down as one of their very best songs. DOA on the other hand is a piece of sh*t! :cool:

hyn-zie

I think their new song "The Pretender" is class, never had much of an interest in the Foo's but i will prob buy the album after the next single comes out!

deman

I've never been such a bif Foo Fighters fan but the new one "The Pretender" is one of the best I've heard from them. First song of theirs that I can say that I really like.

senordingdong

I haven't bought their recent albums so I can't really criticize them, though I do think their new releases are always over played but I rarely switch them off because they always have good videos.

rannerap

I think the new song is ok,they've gone down hill since the last album tbh

hobochick

the new album is terrible. Don't think I'll be able to listen to it again. Shame.... cos they are great live.

Royale with Cheese

My god. They're releasing Long Road to Ruin as their next single. Biggest piece of shít I've ever heard.

klaus flouride

They're not what they were- but they haven't gone completely downhill. But their music is beginning to sound very similar; The pretender song has the same general sound and vibe as the all my life song. Dave Grohl is a great musician though.