Foostalgia

On April 12 the Foo Fighters will release their 9th disc, entitled Wasting Light. Today they posted the new album on their website (http://wastinglight.foofighters.com/). This will be my third full listen to the album and I find myself recalling how I felt back in 1995 when I slipped that very first Foo Fighters CD into my player.

Let me take you back…

Still stinging with grief from the loss of Kurt, we little rocker fans were a bit unsure about Dave’s new project. Big Me was swarming all around the airwaves, and while it’s a good pop tune, it wasn’t the hard-edged brain blast we’d grown so fond of/addicted to from the days of Nirvana. Still, many of us, myself included…were willing to let Dave have his chance and bought the Foo Fighter’s CD out of loyalty…and hope.

I remember sitting there with my roommate at the time, staring at my little boom box basically daring Dave to present us with an album full of wimpy pop crap. He did NOT. As the album continued to play, I found my jaw dropping further and further. There were only a couple of pop songs (and the radio grabbed right hold of those) but the rest of the songs were pure grunge brilliance. Weenie Beanie and Watershed still remain two of my favorite, hardest rocking tunes ever. When the disc was over, my roommate and I looked at each other and said, “Wow. That was great!”

While I have, over the years, continued to rank every Foo release higher than most other rock groups, there was something special about that first album and a lot of it had to do with it far exceeding some jaded, cynical, low expectations. I mean really, how often does a drummer step out from behind the kit and completely own the front-man spot? Yeah, Dave and Phil Collins…it’s a short list.

So the reason I’m remembering that experience of listening to the first Foo Fighter’s album is because I had the same response the first time I heard Wasting Light. Only instead of low expectations, the Foos had set the bar pretty high over the years, so what is so amazing about Wasting Light is that it makes my jaw drop in the same way that first record did. They set the fricking bar rock-star high and then soared right over it!!

Wasting Light hits the stores April 12. Don’t miss it. It is, in this humble fan’s opinion, the best Foo Fighters album ever!