Foo Fighters (album)
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
Foo Fighters is the debut album by the Foo Fighters. At the time, the only official member of the Foo Fighters was Dave Grohl, who wrote and recorded the entire album himself (with the exception of "X-Static", on which Greg Dulli played guitar) at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, Washington in 1994, prior to organizing the band. It was released July 4, 1995 on Roswell Records.
Background
Following the demise of Nirvana, and after a brief stint with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, musician Dave Grohl entered Robert Lang Studios with producer Barrett Jones in October 1994 to record some songs he had written. Grohl had been recording his own music for years prior, releasing the album Pocketwatch in 1992, under the name Late!. Like Pocketwatch, Grohl would record all vocal, guitar, bass and drum tracks himself, with the exception of a guitar part on "X-Static" provided by Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs. Grohl had previously worked with Jones, who helped produce Pocketwatch, and the studio setting of Robert Lang was familiar, due to Nirvana having recorded what would be their final session there, just nine months earlier.
Grohl completed an album's worth of material in about a week, and soon after was handing out cassette copies of the session to friends for feedback. Eddie Vedder premiered two songs from the recording on January 8, 1995 during his Self-Pollution radio broadcast. The recordings quickly circulated amongst the music industry, which in turn created record label interest. In an attempt to keep his anonymity, Grohl planned to release the songs under the name Foo Fighters, and soon recruited former Sunny Day Real Estate members; bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith, as well as Nirvana touring guitarist, and former Germs member, Pat Smear, to create a band that could perform the songs live.
That spring, the Foo Fighters embarked on their first ever United States tour with Hovercraft, supporting Mike Watt, who had just released his debut solo album that featured appearances by both Grohl and Smear. The tour would also be the first for Hovercraft, whose line-up included Vedder at the time. As well as performing with their own bands, Grohl and Vedder each picked up a role as a member of Watt's backing band throughout the tour, supplying drums and guitar respectively. Foo Fighters released "Exhausted" as their first single, issued on promotional 12" vinyl, followed shortly after by the bands first commercial single, "This Is a Call", released on June 19, 1995, prior to the albums' release.
Release and promotion
Foo Fighters was released July 4, 1995 on Roswell Records, distributed by Capitol Records. To further establish the fact that Foo Fighters were now a full fledged band, photos of the entire lineup appeared in the liner notes, despite Grohl being the album's only contributor. The band promoted the release that summer by completing another US tour and short tour of Europe with Wool and Shudder to Think. Wool included Peter Stahl and Franz Stahl, brothers who had previously been bandmates of Grohl in Scream, a band who issued several albums on Dischord Records, which was also the former label of Shudder to Think. During this tour, Foo Fighters played several of their largest shows up to that point, making their debut on the festival circuit with performances at Pukkelpop, Reading and Lowlands. Foo Fighters made their network television debut on The Late Show with David Letterman August 14, 1995 when they performed "This Is a Call", however no music video would be made for the song.
"I'll Stick Around" was issued as the second single on September 4, 1995 and would also mark Foo Fighters music video debut, directed by Gerald Casale. That fall, the band continued to tour extensively, completing a European tour with Built to Spill. Amid the tour, Foo Fighters filmed the MTV special I'm OK, Eur-OK: Foo Fighters Live in London which featured exclusive footage recorded on November 15, 1995 at the Brixton Academy in London, England, with the majority of the broadcast featuring songs culled from the debut album. "For All the Cows" was released as the third single from the album on November 21, 1995. Foo Fighters appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live for the first time on December 2, 1995 with host Anthony Edwards, and performed both "I'll Stick Around" and "For All the Cows". The band then closed out the year with their first trips to Japan and Australia.
Foo Fighters continued to tour in support of the album on into 1996, performing at the Summersault Festival that January. The band made an infamous appearance on the March 18, 1996 Rockline radio broadcast, where they performed acoustically. Included in the set was a version of "Wattershed" that contained improvised lyrics by Grohl, delivered in the vocal style of Fred Schneider from The B-52's. That same month Foo Fighters embarked on yet another US tour, this time with a revolving door of supporting acts, including That Dog (stylized as that dog.), Ween, Jawbreaker and The Amps. Most shows featuring That Dog on the bill included member Petra Haden joining Foo Fighters on stage during "Floaty" to provide violin.
On March 25, 1996, "Big Me" was released as the fourth single from the album, and the first commercial single made available in the US. The international version included a BBC session, while the American version was issued as a maxi-single that gathered all b-sides from the three previously released commercial singles, which were also included as a bonus disc to the Australian pressing of the album. "Big Me" was the second song from the album to see release as a music video, directed by Jesse Peretz, and was a parody of the Mentos television commercials. The final single released from the album was "Alone+Easy Target" issued only as a promotional CD. Foo Fighters made an appearance at the first ever Tibetan Freedom Concert on June 15, 1996, a high-profile festival organized by the Beastie Boys to benefit the cause of Tibetan independence, followed by a final tour of Europe that July, to close out support of the album.
In all, half of the songs from Foo Fighters would be released as singles, including four commercial and two promotional releases. The album was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 1996 Grammy Awards ceremony, but lost to MTV Unplugged in New York, an album by Grohl's former band Nirvana.[1] Foo Fighters also won the band their first and only Video Music Award for "Big Me" at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards.[2]
Packaging
The name "Foo Fighters" was taken from the description World War II aircraft pilots would use to describe various UFOs. This theme is further continued with the album, released on Grohl's Capitol Records imprint, Roswell Records, a reference to Roswell, New Mexico known for the Roswell UFO incident of 1947. The gun featured on the album cover is the XZ-38 Disintegrator Pistol, which was originally released in 1935 as a tie-in toy for the Buck Rogers comic strip and radio show. The cover was shot by Grohl's then-wife, photographer Jennifer Youngblood (married 1993, divorced 1997). The album does not include lyrics to the songs in the booklet.
Reception
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [3] |
| Robert Christgau |  [4] |
| Entertainment Weekly | (B+)[5] |
| Rolling Stone | [6] |
| Spin |   [7] |
| The Tune |  [8] |
Critically, Foo Fighters received moderate positive reception. Many critics compared the album to Dave Grohl's previous band, Nirvana. Entertainment Weekly positively reviewed the album, saying, "[Grohl's] songs pack the riffy wallop of unpolished Nirvana demos, and his voice has Kurt Cobain's lunging, over-the-top passion."[5] Spin magazine stylistically compared the album to Nirvana's sophomore album, Nevermind, "The album's first half [...] owes much to Nevermind, and it's tempting to hear it in the way Nevermind taught us to hear."[7]
The album did receive minor criticism for its lack of intensity, which many proposed was due to the fact that Grohl played all the instruments himself. AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote, "Since he recorded the album by himself, they aren't as powerful as most band's primal sonic workouts, but the results are damn impressive for a solo musician."[3] Robert Christgau wrote on his review website that while "the spirit is strong [...] the identity is weak" before pointing out the better tracks on the album.[4]
Commercial reception
Commercially, Foo Fighters was a success. The album peaked at #3 in the UK and #23 in the US on the Billboard 200. On September 27, 1995, the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[9] On January 26, 1996, the album was later certified Platinum by the RIAA.[9]
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Dave Grohl except where noted.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "This Is a Call" | 3:53 |
| 2. | "I'll Stick Around" | 3:52 |
| 3. | "Big Me" | 2:12 |
| 4. | "Alone+Easy Target" | 4:05 |
| 5. | "Good Grief" | 4:01 |
| 6. | "Floaty" | 4:30 |
| 7. | "Weenie Beenie" | 2:45 |
| 8. | "Oh, George" | 3:00 |
| 9. | "For All the Cows" | 3:30 |
| 10. | "X-Static" | 4:13 |
| 11. | "Wattershed" | 2:15 |
| 12. | "Exhausted" | 5:45 |
| Total length: | 44:06 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Winnebago" (Grohl, Geoff Turner) | 4:13 |
| 2. | "Podunk" | 3:04 |
| 3. | "How I Miss You" | 4:54 |
| 4. | "Ozone" (Ace Frehley) | 4:16 |
| 5. | "For All the Cows" (live) | 3:33 |
| 6. | "Wattershed" (live) | 2:15 |
Personnel
- Dave Grohl – vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, bass, drums, producer
- Greg Dulli – guitar on "X-Static"
- Barrett Jones – producer
- Steve Culp – engineer
- Tom Rothrock – mixing
- Rob Schnapf – mixing
- Stephen Marcussen – mastering
- Tim Gabor – art direction, album design
- Jennifer Youngblood – cover photo, photography
- Jaq Chartier – jacket artwork
- Curt Doughty – photography
- Charles Peterson – photography
- Jeff Ross – photography
Chart positions
| Chart (1995) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart | 3 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 13 |
| Canadian Albums Chart | 5 |
| Finland Albums Chart | 21 |
| German Albums Chart | 33 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart | 2 |
| Swedish Albums Chart | 18 |
| UK Albums Chart | 3 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 23 |
| Chart (2003) | Peak position |
| Finland Mid-Price Chart | 3 |
References
- ^ "List of Grammy Nominees". CNN. January 4, 1996. Retrieved May 08, 2011.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "1996 MTV Video Music Awards". MTV. Viacom. Retrieved May 08, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Foo Fighters". Allmusic. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
- ^ a b Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: CG: Foo Fighters". Retrieved 17 April 2011.
- ^ a b Browne, David (14 July 1995). "Review of Foo Fighters". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Foege, Alex (10 August 1995). "Foo Fighters: Foo Fighters: Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b Sutton, Terri (10 August 1995). "Foo Fighters". Spin. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ The Tune Review
- ^ a b "Gold & Platinum - Search Results: Foo Fighters". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
