Music=Life: Foo Fighters - Waisting Light Review

Ok so I was pretty siked when I heard that the Foo Fighters were going to be releasing a new album a few months back. I have been listening to the Foo Fighters since they started back in 94-95 after the death of Kurt Cobain leading up to the break-up of the great Nirvana. I have a lot of respect for Dave Grohl. I think he has a lot of pure talent, a great attitude, and just an all around good guy. The Foo Fighters have given us some great tunes over the years like My Hero, Monkey Wrench, Big Me, Best of You, Times Like These, and Learn to Fly just to name a few. I think their tunes will go one to become classics, and my son will be respecting them as a great classic artist when he's 13 and 14, like I do for greats from the 70's and 80's like Zeppelin, Sabbath, Metallica, Judas Priest, and Maiden. It will be cool to see where they are in 10 years. I really think they have the talent to live on as one of the great bands from the 90's and on into the future where who knows what music will be like in 10 or 15 years. Probably all digital and computerized which is a shame but its the way the industry is going, and I have mad respect for the artists who don't flock towards that style of recording and playing.

So waisting Light came out on April 12, 2011 debuting at number 1 on the Billboard Top 200 selling 235,000 in its first week. Very cool right? It was said to be their heaviest record yet, and they are pretty proud of it. I picked it up the other day, and while I still hear the iconic Foo sound there are some much more aggressive guitar riffing on this record than before. It's faster, more angrier sounding, but still keeping those very intoxicating, addictive choruses for us to sing along to that they do so well. I like how the entire record was recorded in Dave's garage on analog tape instead of their home built studio, Studio 606. Dave said "There's poetry in being the band that can sell out Wembley but also makes a record in a garage." That's just awsome to me that these guys can really keep it simple and easy, and the music just flows from their minds pretty naturally. I like that a lot. There are moments in the record where I can hear a little of Queens of the Stone Age vibe like on the song White Limo with the vocal effect that Dave uses. It reminds me of the Songs for the Deaf album. Which is by far one of my favorite Queens albums, and Dave did the drums for that record ha just goes to show more of his awsomness. I really like the low lyric melody on Rope, and the building guitar delays in the beginning. That tune is one of the highlight tunes for me on the record. It sounds fresh, and new with a great groove that I can't help but want to listen to over and over again. One thing that I found a little off putting, or just useless rather the little strip of the master tape inside the booklet when I got it. To a crazy obsessed fan that maybe something they would say awsome I have a little one inch piece of useless Foo Fighters stuff that I really can't like hang up on the wall, wear, or really put up on display in my room you know but yay anyway right. So while being a nice thought it really just kind of made me laugh and put it back in the paper case and forget it. Other than that I really have no major complaints.

The all around musicianship on the record is pretty solid. Taylor Hawkins has always been able to deliver pretty decent rhythm and is a pretty well rounded drummer. You'd have to be to be able to pass Dave's expectations right. The guitar melodies, and riffs are very well constructed and flow through the album precisely the way they should. Or so it sounds that way. We really can't tell what the bands super happy with, and not as happy with you know. Which every release has those up and down tunes right. The stand out tracks for me are Bridge Burning, Rope, White Lemo, Arlandria, Back & Forth, and A Matter of Time. So as Waisting light goes I'd have to say that I'm pretty pleased with it. It's heavier but not so bold as to sound unlike the Foo Fighters, which some people would say that's a bad thing. Try to branch out, and try new styles right. I say right as well and they are to an extent but they play what comes naturally and this is what comes out in the this stage of the Foo Fighters. You can hear the different stages of growth throughout their career pretty well from the first record which Dave did everything on that record and had pretty much every song already done from doing demos and his own recording while in Nirvana. Than their masterpiece The Colour and the Shape which is my favorite record from them. I really liked In Your Honor with the double album with an acoustic second album. I can listen to those tunes all the time and really hear a different, softer side to them. To their 2007 Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace which did very well, and I'd have to say I really liked it was well. It would be nice to see them do a Jazz fusion or like a bluesy rock album but honestly it may end up sounding to forced which wouldn't be good as well so I say keep doing it the way it works for them right.

Foo Fighters like I said will be one of those bands that I will forever listen to until they grow old and can't play anymore. Haha, but that won't be for a long long time. I know they will continue to give us great tunes in the future and who knows what's in the making for the Foo Fighters. Dave could go off and do some other crazy side project like Them Crooked Vultures, or a solo album which would be cool to hear. I mean the first Foo record is really a solo record but I know his music tastes, and talents have evolved into the musician he is today so it would be cool to hear what kind of solo stuff he could come up with. So until next time stay hard, stay heavy.