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To conclude our Scream streak, longtime cohost Jeff Kaplan returns for a chat about their first non-Dischord album, No More Censorship. This episode is the first Patron-selected episode. Every five shows, we will do a special Patron's Choice episode (and no, it doesn't need to be a Dischord or DC band). It was pure kismet that one of the very first suggestions was actually this record! And I'm pretty proud of the conversation I had with the band's secret weapon on guitar (and one of the nicest guys you're likely to come across), Franz Stahl. Hit me!
Bassist Jonathan Anastas (DYS, Slapshot) joins the show this week to discuss the 40th anniversary of Brotherhood, the early days of Straight Edge Hardcore, cool music scenes in the New England region, what "success" looked like for a Hardcore band in the early 80's and much moreDONATE TO THE DAVE SMALLEY GOFUNDME - https://gofund.me/2b325a6chttp://www.b9store.com/dyshttps://www.instagram.com/dys_boston_officialhttps://www.instagram.com/jabostontola/https://www.facebook.com/DYSBostonPCHInstagram - www.instagram.com/powerchordhourTwitter - www.twitter.com/powerchordhourFacebook - www.facebook.com/powerchordhourYoutube - www.youtube.com/channel/UC6jTfzjB3-mzmWM-51c8LggSpotify Episode Playlists - https://open.spotify.com/user/kzavhk5ghelpnthfby9o41gnr?si=4WvOdgAmSsKoswf_HTh_MgDonate to help show costs -https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/pchanthonyhttps://cash.app/$anthmerchpowerchordhour@gmail.comCheck out the Power Chord Hour radio show every Friday night at 8 to 11 est/Tuesday Midnight to 3 est on 107.9 WRFA in Jamestown, NY. Stream the station online at wrfalp.com/streaming/ or listen on the WRFA app.Special Thanks to my buddy Jay Vics for the behind the scenes help on this episode!https://www.meettheexpertspodcast.comhttps://www.jvimobile.com
Franz Stahl, guitarist of seminal hardcore band Scream, helped shape the band's journey from its inception in 1979. Alongside drummer Kent Stacks(AKA Kent Stax), bassist Skeeter Enoch Thompson, and his brother Pete Stahl, Franz attended school in Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia, where they discovered the punk and new wave scene of Washington, D.C. Influenced by the Bad Brains like many other DC punk bands, Scream's fusion of punk with rock and roll set them apart. Their collaboration with Ian MacKaye and Eddie Janney led to the recording of Dischord's first full-length album, Still Screaming, in 1982. Over the years, they experienced lineup changes, with Franz's friend Harley Davidson joining on second guitar, and eventually, a local drummer named Dave Grohl. Scream's legacy endures, with their latest album, DC Special, set to release in November of 2023 on Dischord Records.
Our guest this episode is Franz Stahl, DC hardcore legend and a founding member of both Scream and Wool and a one-time member of Foo Fighters. Franz and Scream were the last band to record at the the legendary Inner Ear Studio in DC and that recording will be releasing in the Fall of 2023 on Dischord Records. The album, titled DC Special, features cameo performances by many DC legends and is a beautiful grand finale for the legendary Inner Ear. In our conversation we talk about various gigs Franz has had, amazing experiences touring and playing music, and the day to day grind we dig into so that we are able to remain creative and make music. Also, Scream will be touring Europe in the Summer (2023). Catch them if you can! I hope you enjoy this casual catch up! If you are enjoying Couch Riffs Podcast please support us on Patreon. Patreon support is what enables Couch Riffs to be prolific and continue releasing podcasts and cover song videos on a regular schedule. Patreon support is non-contractual and you can cancel at any time. Your support is crucial and very much appreciated. Thank you so much! https://patreon.com/couchriffs https://couchriffs.com https://www.dischord.com/band/scream https://varietycoffeeroasters.com
David Eric Grohl was born in Warren, Ohio on January 14, 1969. Mom is teacher Virginia Jean Hanlon and dad was news writer James Harper Grohl. In addition to being an award-winning journalist, Dave's dad had also served as the special assistant to Republican Congressman and US Senator Robert Taft Jr. When Dave was young, the Grohl family moved to Springfield, Virginia. When he was seven, his parents divorced, and he was raised primarily by his mom. At the age of 12, he began learning to play the guitar. He grew tired of lessons and instead taught himself, eventually playing in bands with friends. He said, "I was going in the direction of faster, louder, darker while my sister, Lisa, three years older, was getting seriously into new wave territory. We'd meet in the middle sometimes with Bowie and Siouxsie and the Banshees." At 13, Grohl and his sister spent the summer at their cousin Tracey's house in Illinois. Cousin Tracey introduced them to punk rock by taking the pair to shows by several different punk bands. His first concert was Naked Raygun at The Cubby Bear in Chicago in 1982. Grohl recalled, "From then on we were totally punk. We went home and bought Maximumrocknroll, (a punk subculture music zine that ran from 1982 to 2019) and tried to figure it all out." In Virginia, he attended Thomas Jefferson High School as a freshman and was shockingly elected class vice-president. He taught himself to play pieces of songs by punk bands like Circle Jerks and Bad Brains and, using his clout as vice president, would play them over the school intercom before his morning announcements. His mother decided he should transfer to Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria because he was smoking too much weed and it was affecting his grades. He stayed there for two years, one of those repeating his first year. After his second year, he transferred yet again to Annandale High School. While in high school, he played in several local bands, including a short stint as guitarist in a band called Freak Baby. It was during this period that he thought it was a good idea to switch to learning drums. When Freak Baby kicked out its bass player and reshuffled its lineup, Davel took on the role of drummer and history was made. Show's over, folks! The band then changed their name to “Mission Impossible.” Dave has said he did not take drumming lessons and instead learned by listening to Rush and punk rock bands. Obviously, insanely talented and possible robot and Rush drummer Neil Peart was an early influence: "When I got 2112 when I was eight years old, it fucking changed the direction of my life. I heard the drums. It made me want to become a drummer." During his beginning years as a drummer, Grohl cited John Bonham as his greatest influence, and eventually had Bonham's three-rings symbol tattooed on his right shoulder. Mission Impossible changed their name once again to “Fast” before breaking up, after which Dave joined the hardcore punk band Dain Bramage in December 1985. Dain Bramage ended in March 1987 when Dave up and quit without warning to join Scream, having produced the I Scream Not Coming Down LP. Many of Dave's early influences were at the 9:30 Club, a music venue in Washington, D.C. He said, "I went to the 9:30 Club hundreds of times. I was always so excited to get there, and I was always bummed when it closed. I spent my teenage years at the club and saw some shows that changed my life." As a teenager in D.C.,Dave briefly thought about joining shock-rocker punk/metal band, GWAR, who were looking for a drummer around this time. At age 17, Dave auditioned with local Washington, D.C. favorites Scream to fill the vacancy left by the departure of drummer Kent Stax. In order to be considered for the position, Dave lied about his age, saying he was 34. I'm kidding but he did say he was older. To Dave's surprise, the band asked him to join and so he pulled a Jay-Z (last week's Icon) and dropped out of high school in his junior year. He has been quoted as saying, "I was 17 and extremely anxious to see the world, so I did it." Over the next four years, Grohl toured extensively with Scream, recording a couple of live albums (their show of May 4, 1990 in Alzey, Germany being released by Tobby Holzinger as Your Choice Live Series Vol.10) and two studio albums, No More Censorship and Fumble, on which Grohl penned and sang vocals on the song "Gods Look Down". During a Toronto stop on their 1987 tour, Grohl played drums for Iggy Pop at a CD release party held at the El Mocambo, which became best known for the 1977 surprise show by The Rolling Stones, which became popular when then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's wife, Margaret Trudeau, showed up and partied with the Stones.. In 1990, Scream unexpectedly disbanded mid-tour when bassist Skeeter Thompson left the band. Nirvana (1990–1994) We obviously can't talk about Foo Fighters without discussing Nirvana. They'll definitely have their own episode so we won't get too into them today. While playing in Scream, Grohl became a fan of the Melvins and eventually befriended them. During a 1990 tour stop on the West Coast, Melvins guitarist Buzz Osborne took his friends Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic, of future Icons Nirvana, to go see Scream. Grohl called Osborne for advice after Scream disbanded and Osborne informed him that Nirvana was looking for a drummer. He gave Dave the phone numbers of Cobain and Novoselic, who then invited Grohl out to Seattle to audition. Grohl soon joined the band. Novoselic later said, "We knew in two minutes that he was the right drummer." Dave told the U.K. based magazine Q: "I remember being in the same room with them and thinking, 'What? That's Nirvana? Are you kidding?' Because on their record cover they looked like psycho lumberjacks... I was like, 'What, that little dude and that big motherfucker? You're kidding me'." When Dave joined Nirvana, they had already recorded several demos for the follow-up to their debut album Bleach, produced and recorded by Butch Vig. Initially, the plan was to release the album on Sub Pop, but they received a ton of label interest based on their demos. Dave spent the initial months with Nirvana traveling to various labels as the band shopped for a deal, eventually signing with DGC Records. In the spring of 1991, the band entered the infamous Sound City Studios in Los Angeles to record Nevermind as seen in Dave's amazing documentary, Sound City, from 2013. The album Nevermind was released later that year and exceeded all expectations becoming a worldwide commercial success. At the same time, Dave was compiling and recording his own material, which he released on a cassette called Pocketwatch in 1992 on indie label Simple Machines. Rather than using his own name for the project, Dave released the songs under his pseudonym "Late!" In the later years of Nirvana, Dave's songwriting increased. In his first months in Olympia, Washington, Kurt Cobain overheard him working on a song called "Color Pictures of a Marigold", and they wound up working on it together. Dave would later record the song for the Pocketwatch cassette. Dave stated in a 2014 episode of the documentary series, Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways, that Kurt kissed him when he first heard a demo of "Alone + Easy Target" that Dave had recently recorded. According to Dave, "I'd told him I was recording and he said, 'Oh, I wanna hear it, bring it by.' He was sitting in the bath-tub with a walkman on, listening to the song, and when the tape ended, he took the headphones off and kissed me and said, 'Oh, finally, now I don't have to be the only songwriter in the band!' I said, 'No, no, no, I think we're doing just fine with your songs.'" Nirvana would jam Dave's song on soundchecks during their 1991 European tour. Dave reluctantly held back his songs in the beginning. In a 1997 interview he said, "I was in awe of [Kurt Cobain's songs], and [I was] intimidated. I thought it was best that I kept my songs to myself." During the sessions for In Utero, Nirvana's third and final studio album, the band decided to re-record "Color Pictures of a Marigold" and released it as a B-side on the "Heart-Shaped Box" single, with a slight title change; "Marigold". Dave also wrote the main guitar riff for "Scentless Apprentice", another song on In Utero. In a 1993 MTV interview, Kurt had said that, at first, he thought the riff was "kind of boneheaded", but was happy with how the song developed. Part of this development process can be heard in a demo on the Nirvana box set ``With the Lights Out”, released in 2004. Cobain had said that he was excited at the possibility of having Chris Novoselic and Dave contribute more to the band's songwriting. Before embarking on their 1994 European tour, Nirvana scheduled session time at the popular Robert Lang Studios in Seattle to knock out some demos. The recording session was only 3 days long and Cobain wasn't there for most of it, so Chris and Dave worked on demos of their own songs. They completed several of Dave's songs, including future Foo Fighters songs "Exhausted", "Big Me", "February Stars", and "Butterflies". On the third day, Kurt finally arrived, and the band recorded a demo of a song later Titled "You Know You're Right". It was to be Nirvana's last studio recording. After the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994, the band known as Nirvana broke up. Dave received numerous offers to work with various artists and there were rumors saying he might join Pearl Jam. Dave almost accepted a position as the drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He later said: "I was supposed to just join another band and be a drummer the rest of my life. I thought that I would rather do what no one expected me to do." Instead he booked time at Robert Lang Studios in October 1994 and began recording 15 of his own songs. Dave played every instrument and sang every vocal part on the record with the exception of one guitar part on "X-Static", which was played by Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs,. He completed an album's worth of material in only five days and handed out cassette copies of the sessions to his friends for feedback. Dave hoped to keep his anonymity and release the recordings in a limited run under the title "Foo Fighters", taken from the World War II term "foo fighter", used to refer to unidentified flying objects. "Around the time that I recorded the first FF tape, I was reading a lot of books on UFO's. Not only is it a fascinating subject, but there's a treasure trove of band names in those UFO books!" he said. "So, since I had recorded the first record by myself, playing all the instruments, but I wanted people to think that it was a group, I figured that FOO FIGHTERS might lead people to believe that it was more than just one guy. Silly, huh?" Continuing, Dave contends that a better band name could have been created. "Had I actually considered this to be a career, I probably would have called it something else, because it's the stupidest fucking band name in the world." The demo tape circulated the music industry, creating serious interest among record labels. This WAS the drummer from arguably the biggest rock band in the world, right? Dave put together a band to support the album. He talked to Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic about joining, but they both decided against it; Dave said it would have felt "really natural" for them to work together, but would have been "weird" for the others and place more pressure on himself. Having heard about Sunny Day Real Estate breaking up, Dave snagged the group's bass player, Nate Mendel, and their drummer, William Goldsmith. Dave then asked George Ruthenberg to join the band as their second guitarist. George, better known as Pat Smear, played as a touring guitarist for Nirvana after the release of In Utero. Pat was one of the founding members of the iconic punk band, The Germs, and Dave was a huge fan. Dave then licensed the album to Capitol Records, releasing it on his new record label, Roswell Records. Get it? Roswell. UFO's? The very first Foo Fighters show happened on February 19th, 1995. They played above a boat house in Seattle in front of friends and family. They made their official live, public debut on February 23rd, 1995 at a gig at the Jambalaya Club in Arcata California. They just happened to be in the area mixing their album when a local promoter asked the cover band, The Unseen, if Foo Fighters could open for them. They agreed. Dave and his band of Foo Fighters then embarked on their first US tour in April of 1995 in support of The Stooges and Porno For Pyros bass player Mike Watt's solo tour. This tour featured an additional new band called “Hovercraft”, an instrumental outfit featuring Pearl Jam singer, Eddie Vedder. Dave refused to play large venues or even do interviews to promote their debut album. The first single, “This Is A Call”, was released in June of 1995 and the album, “Foo Fighters”, was released in July containing the follow up singles “I'll Stick Around”, “For All the Cows”, and “Big Me”. Foo Fighters toured for almost an entire year and then jumped right back into the studio. This time it was Bear Creek Studio in Woodinville, Washington with English producer Gil Norton who produced the Pixies, Jimmie Eat World, Counting Crows and so many more. Dave, of course, wrote the songs but the band had a hand in arrangements. Nearly finished, he took the rough mixes to LA to finish his vocal and guitar parts. As he was listening to the mixes, something just didn't sound right. It wasn't what he envisioned. The drums weren't perfect, not that they were bad. Dave was a drummer. He knew drums. He had a career based on playing the drums and could arguably be considered one of the greatest rock drummers of all time. So, he set up some drums, mic'd them up and re-recorded the drums for the album. All of them. Dave wanted Goldsmith to remain as their live drummer, but he was rightfully butthurt. Goldsmith quit. He quit what would become one of the biggest rock bands ever. Recently, drummer William Goldsmith has said “It was a pain in the ass. Like, that's the only band that I wish I could just, like, remove that from.” He continued by saying: “It doesn't matter what happened because the Foo Fighters are like Disney. Everyone wants to love Mickey Mouse. Everyone loves Mickey Mouse, so it's a difficult thing, but sometimes Mickey Mouse is a little rough around the edges. It's a no win scenario, so I'd rather remove it. I think the best thing to do is have a one on one conversation with Mickey.” He has gone to say that he has no ill will towards Dave. Shortly after this, Pat Smear decided to leave, as well, claiming he was exhausted and burnt out. Goldsmith and Smear were replaced by the late, great Taylor Hawkins and former Scream guitarist Franz Stahl, respectively, although Stahl was fired before the recording of the group's third album, There Is Nothing Left to Lose in 1999. Drummer Taylor Hawkins had played as Alanis Morissette's drummer from June of 1995 until March of 1997 in support of her “Jagged Little Pill” and “Can't Not” tours. I thought it would be cool to hear Taylor explain how he wound up being Foo Fighters drummer and Dave Grohl's best friend. This is all from interviews Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohkl did with NME, Entertainment Weekly and Kerrang. “I'd met Dave at this [US radio station] K-Rock Christmas show because Foo Fighters were on their way up and Alanis Morrissette was through the f***ing stratosphere at that point,”. “Me and Dave just looked like long lost brothers in a weird way. “We had a similar vibe and I don't know why. I remember my friend playing with the Foo Fighters before I met Dave and watching them goof around backstage. He said to me, ‘That guy could be like your brother.' “And sure enough, when we met, we just thought, ‘We're brothers from another mother!' It was instantaneous – so much so that Alanis Morrisette just said ‘What are you going to do when Dave asks you to be the drummer in the Foo Fighters?'” “I was driving with my girlfriend at the time, and we were listening to KROQ,” “I heard William had departed and they were looking for a new drummer.” Tylor immediately called Dave. “I said, ‘I heard you guys are looking for a drummer,' and he said, ‘Well, do you know any?' I thought Alanis wanted to go in a more laid-back direction, and it seemed like the right time to jump. Alanis didn't need me! I basically said to Dave, ‘I'll play drums for you,' and we jammed a couple of times. “I remember I was at home watching Showgirls with my girlfriend, and Dave called to ask if I wanted to join.” Initially, Dave never thought Taylor would leave Morissette and Taylor's allegiance was always with Alanis; that's why he asked Taylor if he knew of any good drummers. When Hawkins agreed to join, all Dave cared about was that he was getting a friend, not a great drummer. Dave told Entertainment Weekly, “I sent Taylor a tape of one of the new songs. It was ‘Monkey Wrench.' I went over to his little house in Topanga Canyon, he sat down and played for three seconds, and the first time he hit a snare drum, I knew it.” Dave knew Taylor was the guy. “I swear to God, I was like, ‘That's all I need to f***ing hear. I love you as a person. You've just given me hearing damage for the rest of my life in three seconds. You have to be in the band.” Later, Grohl said Hawkins came into his life like an F5 tornado. “When he joined the band, his drumming was the least important factor – I just thought I want to travel the world with this guy, I want to jump on stage and drink beers with this person. That was my biggest concern,”. Morissette didn't take Hawkins leaving personally. They remained friends over the years. Taylor has said he would have been delivering pizzas if it wasn't for her. She was the first person who gave him a break in the music world. “She gave me a lot of space to do what I wanted. It was probably the biggest album of the year (referencing her debut album “Jagged Little Pill”), and there was a lot of pressure on her. She was having to learn to be this leader on the job, which isn't easy. But it was really one of the most fun times of my life.” The band announced Tylor would be its new drummer on March 18, 1997. His first appearance with the Foo Fighters was in the music video for the 1997 single "Monkey Wrench", although the song was recorded before he joined the band. Foo Fighter's second album, “The Colour and the Shape” was released on May 20th, 1997 through Capitol and Roswell Records with the legendary singles, “Monkey Wrench”, “Everlong” and “My Hero” blasting through the airwaves. The album charted at number ten on the Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy in 1998 for best rock album. It has sold more than 2 million copies. The band then traveled to Dave's home state of Virginia in 1998 to record their third album, “There Is Nothing Left To Lose”. Dave and Pat Smear's replacement, Franz Stahl, just couldn't see eye to eye as songwriters. Dave said "in those few weeks it just seemed like the three of us were moving in one direction and Franz wasn't." Franz was Dave's childhood friend and the decision to fire him from the band was a hard one. Then, shortly after Franz's termination, bassist Nate Mendel called Dave and said he was quitting to rejoin Sunny Day Real Estate, but the next day changed his mind and decided not to leave. Dave, Taylor and Nate spent the next several months recording their third album at Dave's home studio. “There Is Nothing Left To Lose” spawned mega hits like “Learn To Fly”, “Stacked Actors”, “Generator” and “Break Out”. “Learn To Fly” was the band's first single to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100. Right before the album was released, the president of Capitol Records (Foo Fighters record label), Gary Gersh was forced out and with the help of a “key man clause” in their contract, they were allowed to leave Capitol upon Gersh's release. They left Capitol to sign with RCA who then bought the rights to their previous albums from Capitol. Upon completing the recording of their third album, the band started auditioning guitarists. Foo Fighters selected No Use For A Name and, what I didn't know, Me First and The Gimmie Gimmies guitarist, Chris Shiflett. He was only supposed to come into the fold as the band's touring guitarist, but was hired on full time before they recorded “One By One”, their fourth studio album. Right around 2001, Dave and Taylor, being diehard fans of the band Queen, established a relationship with the future Icons and Outlaws episode subjects. Dave and Taylor had the distinct pleasure of inducting them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that same year and joined them to perform the 1976 classic, Tie Your Mother Down, with Taylor playing drums alongside Roger Taylor. Queen's legendary guitarist Brian May even added a guitar track to Foo Fighters' second cover of Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar", which was on the soundtrack to Mission: Impossible 2. In 2002, guitarist Brian May contributed guitar work to Tired of You and an outtake called Knucklehead. The bands have performed together on several occasions since, including VH1 Rock Honors and Foo Fighters' headlining gig at Hyde Park in London, England. At the end of 2001, the boys got together to record their fourth studio record, “One By One. They spent four months in a LA studio and something was off. The spark just wasn't there and the band were having issues, internally. So, Dave stepped away for a while and worked with Queens of the Stone Age, helping them complete their 2002 record, “Songs for the Deaf”. Touring commenced for Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age, but the internal struggles were still there and just as they were about to call it quits, they hit the stage at Coachella. Dave and Taylor wanted to complete the album and the next day, they rocked the festival and agreed to do so. Almost every part of the album was scrapped and re-recorded at Dave's studio in Virginia, in only ten days. Seven songs from the original recording of One By One eventually leaked, but the full album has never been released. That record has often been referred to as “Million Dollar Demos”. The band finally released its fourth album, One by One, in 2002. This record had hit singles like “All My Life”, “Have It All”, “Low” and “Times Like These”. This was Chris Shiflett's first recorded appearance as part of the band and where Taylor played all of the drums. “One By One” topped the charts globally and sold a million units in the U.S., bringing home a Grammy for Best Rock Album in 2004. Supporting One By One by touring for a year and half, Dave wasn't in a hurry to record another Foo Fighters album. He was more interested in doing an acoustic, solo record but it turned into a full band ordeal. They built a new studio in Northridge, Los Angeles, called Studio 606 West and began recording their 5th album, In Your Honor, a two disc set with full blown rock songs on one and the other with acoustic tracks. It was released in 2005 and had the hits, “DOA”, “Resolve” and one of my all time favorites, “Best of You”. The album also had guest performances by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, Queen of the Stone Age's Josh Homme and Norah Jones. It also featured their new keyboardist, Rami Jaffee of the Wallflowers, who wouldn't become a full-time member until 2017. “In Your Honor” was nominated for five Grammy Awards, hit the number one spot in five countries and number two in the U.S., selling more than a million copies. Foo Fighters released their first live CD, “Skin and Bones” in November of 2006, with 15 songs recorded at a 3 night performance at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles. The album featured a violinist, Pat Smear joining in and a three song encore with Dave playing “Best of You”, “Everlong”, and “Friend of a Friend”. The record debuted at number 21 on the Billboard 200, sold 49,000 copies in its first week and over 357,000 total. Foo Fighters released its sixth album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, in 2007 and recruited producer Gil Norton, who worked on the band's “The Colour and the Shape”. This was primarily because Dave felt the songs were different from the band's previous input and "had the potential to be something great". So, he considered that instead of doing something like the last three albums, the band had to go out of "our own comfort zone" and "needed someone to push us out of there". Preparing to record this album was extensive: first Dave started off developing demos with Taylor, but for the first time he tried to input vocals and lyrics early in the writing phase. After finalizing the song's composition with guitarist Chris and bassist Nate, Dave spent two weeks with Gil Norton discussing "arrangements, harmony and melody" and condensing the song ideas. They then spent four weeks rehearsing, and playing "a song a day, from noon to midnight". Taylor stated that "we basically played each of these songs 100 different times, trying every little thing every different way" and that it was the first time since The Colour and the Shape ``that Dave had to deal with someone in the room questioning all his ideas". Dave claimed the choices were for the "most powerful, dramatic songs" and that there was an effort to "make everything sound as natural as possible – just like on the albums we grew up listening to". On this album's sound, Taylor Hawkins said: "We haven't been ready to write a record like this until now. I know that Dave wouldn't have been comfortable putting violins on a song before. But for whatever reasons, it just felt like the right time to explore those things now. The last record, obviously, was half heavy stuff, half acoustic songs. So it really was like two sides of the coin. It sounds obvious, but this time around we weren't afraid of incorporating everything into one song if it felt right." The first single, “The Pretender”, topped Billboard's modern rock chart for 19 weeks. Other singles from this album were “Long Road to Ruin”, “Let It Die” and “Cheer Up Boys”. It was nominated for five Grammys, winning Best Rock Album and Best Hard Rock Performance and won the Brit Award, (Britain's version of the American Recording Academy) for Best International Album. Foo Fighters hit the road again in 2007 on a world tour and at the European MTV Music Awards, Pat Smear was confirmed as a returned member of the band. June 7th, 2008 saw Foo Fighters headline the world renowned Wembley Stadium in London, England. Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin joined them on stage and after rocking out the songs “Rock and Roll” and “Ramble On”, Dave excitedly shouted “Welcome to the greatest fucking day of my whole entire life!” The attendance at this amazing sold out concert was 85,000. In August 2010, the band began recording their seventh studio album with the return of producer Butch Vig. The album was recorded in Dave's garage using only analog equipment. The album won five Grammys and was nominated for six. Planning the seventh album, Dave realized he was bored of the band's typical recording process. Even though the group own 606 Studios, he is still a punk rocker at heart, and found himself yearning for a grittier, wholly analogue approach to recording. One night in his hotel room in Melbourne, while on tour with Them Crooked Vultures (his side project with Josh Homme and John Paul Jones), he hatched a plan to return to recording basics for what was to become Wasting Light. Dave told Sound on Sound.com, "I thought, rather than just record the album in the most expensive studio with the most state‑of‑the‑art equipment, what if Butch and I were to get back together after 20 years and dust off the tape machines and put them in my garage? We've recorded an album somewhere where no‑one has ever recorded before. We've not gone to the studio where Zeppelin made In Through The Out Door, we've gone into my garage. The only person that's recorded in my garage before is me for shitty demos that I've done for the last two records.” The first single from Wasting Light, "Rope", was released to radio in February 2011. On April 16, 2011, Foo Fighters released an album of covers, Medium Rare, as a limited-edition vinyl for Record Store Day. Wasting Light debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming the band's first album to do so. Other singles for the album were "Walk", "Arlandria", "These Days", and "Bridge Burning". Alongside Wasting Light's release, the band released a rockumentary, directed by Academy Award-winner James Moll. The film, titled Back and Forth, chronicles the band's career. Current and past members, and producer Butch Vig, tell the story of the band through interviews. After debuting on March 15, 2011, at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, it was released on DVD three months later. The first batch of ‘Wasting Light' CDs include pieces of the album's analog tape master Look inside your CD copy of the band's Wasting Light album. If you were one of the first fans to pick one up, chances are it includes a piece of the original analog tape the album was recorded on. After announcing a break after touring in support of Wasting Light, Dave said in 2013 that they were starting to write new material for their 8th studio album, “Sonic Highways”, bringing back Butch Vig. They announced their return to the stage by posting a video of Erik Estrada, one of the main actors from the 70's motorcycle cop show, CHIPS, riding a motorcycle and delivering each member of the band an invitation to play in Mexico. They announced that their eighth album would be released in November of 2014 and they would commemorate it and their 20th anniversary with an HBO TV series called “Sonic Highways”, directed by Dave, himself. Eight songs were written and recorded in eight studios in eight different American cities with video capturing the history and feel of each town. Each track features contributions from one or more musicians with ties to that city's musical history. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, with sales of 190,000 copies in the United States. It has sold over 617,500 copies in the US and had amazing songs like “Something From Nothing”, “The Feast and the Famine”, and “Congregation” featuring country artist, Zac Brown Foo Fighters were the last musical performance on Late Show with David Letterman on May 20th, 2015, as he retired from his 33 year career as a late night show host. On June 12th, 2015, Dave had the misfortune of falling off the stage in Gothenburg, Sweden and breaking his leg during the second song. The band kept playing while Dave was fixed up by the medical staff and then RETURNED TO THE STAGE to finish the last two hours of their set while sitting in a chair and a medic taking care of his leg. He was flown to London, England after the show and received six metal pins to stabilize the fracture in his leg. There was speculation that Foo Fighters would drop out of their 20th anniversary, fourth of July bash, after canceling their remaining European dates following Dave's accident. Instead, The band performed for 48,000 people with Dave in a custom-built moving throne which he claimed to have designed himself while on painkillers. They renamed the following tour the “Broken Leg Tour”. November 25th, 2015 Foo Fighters released a surprise EP named “Saint Cecilia”, available for digital download, and Dave announced an indefinite hiatus. This EP peaked at number 3 on Billboard's mainstream rock songs chart. Krist Novoselic, who played with Grohl in Nirvana, described Saint Cecilia as Foo Fighters' "statement on how they are the biggest rock band in the world". Novoselic also said that "Saint Cecilia is more straight-ahead rock that is done really well", and went on to say that "I went to the Foo's last gig at the Moda Center in Portland and they rocked a packed house. I love the drummer Matt Sorum (Guns and Roses). However, he is so wrong in his statement about danger and the Foo's somehow lacking it. First off all, I know about danger in rock. I was the bassist in Flipper — and survived! Look at a band like Queen, who totally rocked. They were way more dandy than danger. Queen knows how to rock a stadium. So do the Foo Fighters and you'll hear big rock on Saint Cecilia". Rumors about Foo Fighters breaking up were everywhere so, the band released a mockumentary video in March 2016 portraying Grohl leaving the band to pursue an electronic music career and Nick Lachey (formerly of 98 Degrees) becoming the group's new singer, ending with: "For the millionth time, we're not breaking up. And nobody's going fucking solo!" Dave announced that the band would spend most of 2017 recording their ninth studio album, “Concrete and Gold”. On June 1, 2017, their new single "Run" was released. Run topped the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart the following month. On June 20, 2017, the band announced that their new album, Concrete and Gold, would be released in September. On August 23, 2017, The Sky Is a Neighborhood was released as the second single and topped the Mainstream Rock chart. The Line was released in promotion of the album and later as the third single in 2018. Concrete and Gold was officially released on September 15, 2017, produced by Greg Kurstin. Concrete and Gold also features Justin Timberlake on vocals for Make It Right, Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Menon backing vocals for the song Concrete and Gold, and Paul McCartney on the drums for Sunday Rain. Concrete and Gold has sold over 262,000 units. In October 2019, the band announced that they were recording their tenth studio album based on Dave's demos. In November 2019, the band began releasing a series of EPs under the umbrella name of the Foo Files, largely consisting of previously released B sides and live performances. By February 2020, Dave announced that the new album was complete but by May, it was delayed indefinitely because of a little unforeseen event called the COVID-19 pandemic, saying, "We've kind of shelved it for now to figure out exactly when it's going to happen." Starting in November 2020, promotion for the album ramped up. Its title, Medicine at Midnight, and release date, February 5, 2021, were announced. The band released three singles ahead of the album: "Shame Shame", "No Son of Mine", and "Waiting on a War". On February 10, 2021, Foo Fighters were announced as one of the 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees in their first year of eligibility as their debut album had been released 25 years prior. On May 12, 2021, Foo Fighters were announced as one of 6 performer inductees. For Record Store Day on July 17, 2021, the Foo Fighters released an album of disco covers, Hail Satin, under the name Dee Gees. The album contains four Bee Gees covers, a cover of Andy Gibb's "Shadow Dancing", plus five live versions of Medicine at Midnight tracks.] On February 25, 2022, the band released a comedy horror film, Studio 666, directed by BJ McDonnell. It stars the band members as themselves, alongside Will Forte, Whitney Cummings, Jeff Garlin, and Jenna Ortega. In the movie, the band attempts to record an album in a haunted mansion; Dave is possessed by a demonic spirit and the other members are killed off one by one. It was filmed in the same mansion in which the band had recorded their most recent album, Medicine at Midnight. Studio 666 is currently available on Amazon Prime Video. Dave has recently released an EP of songs from the film, Dream Widow, on March 25, 2022. On March 25, 2022, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins died in his room at the Casa Medina hotel in Bogotá, Colombia. No cause of death was given. Taylor had suffered chest pain, and had ten substances in his system at the time of his death, including opioids, benzodiazepines, tricyclic antidepressants, and THC. Foo Fighters were scheduled to perform that night at the Estéreo Picnic Festival as part of their ongoing South American tour; the festival stage was turned into a candlelight vigil for Taylor. A few days later, the band canceled all remaining tour dates. According to Sony Music Japan, FOO FIGHTERS sold over 32,000,000 albums worldwide, including 9,065,000 in the United States and 5,260,000 in the United Kingdom. The best-selling album by FOO FIGHTERS is GREATEST HITS, which sold over 2,775,000 copies .
This week we strap on our old Doc Martins trudge through the muck and grime of the springtime in the US Pacific Northwest. Yep, time for our annual spring GRUNGE episode! We discuss the bands just outside the usual suspects of Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, and Pearl Jam. Your hosts remember this time fondly, as we were young adults when the Seattle scene invaded all rock n' roll avenues in the US. In retrospect, this sounds like less of a movement and more of a melting pot of many of the genres that had been established in silos during the 70s and 80s. What do you think?This episode features songs from bands outside the big 4 of grunge, but we don't think you'll be totally surprised. A perfect amalgam of punk, classic rock, and metal is right in Kevin's wheelhouse, and we find out the impact this had on Robert's musical path. We discuss the origins of the movement and have a lot of fun reminiscing about this unique time in rock history. Come jump on the hike with us to grab a Starbucks and some flannel.Songs this week include:Kerbdog – “Cleaver” from Kerbdog (1994)Hammerbox – “Hole” from Numb (1993)Pond – “Tree” from Pond (1993) Brad – “Raise Love” from Shame (1993)The Gits – “Another Shot Of Whiskey” from Frenching The Bully (1992)Mudhoney – “Living Wreck” from Piece Of Cake (1992)7 Year Bitch – “M.I.A.” from Viva Zapata! (1994) Please subscribe everywhere that you listen to podcasts!Visit us: https://inobscuria.com/https://www.facebook.com/InObscuriahttps://twitter.com/inobscuriahttps://www.instagram.com/inobscuria/Buy cool stuff with our logo on it!: https://www.redbubble.com/people/InObscuria?asc=uCheck out Robert's amazing fire sculptures and metal workings here: http://flamewerx.com/If you'd like to check out Kevin's band THE SWEAR, take a listen on all streaming services or pick up a digital copy of their latest release here: https://theswear.bandcamp.com/If you want to hear Robert and Kevin's band from the late 90s – early 00s BIG JACK PNEUMATIC, check it out here: https://bigjackpnuematic.bandcamp.com/
Foo Fighters - Lyrics That Camus Would Call The Antidote Of Absurdity! Hi, I'm Christy Shriver, and we're here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us. And I am Garry Shriver, and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast. You have heard Christy say, over dozens of times if you've listened to a lot of our episodes that we're here to discuss books. Having said that, the word “books” is being used as a synecdoche- to use a literary word- in other words, books is a word we're using to symbolize something bigger of which books is just a part- and that something bigger is this concept of words. Words that have moved the world and have moved us. And so, in that spirit, this week, we're pausing from looking at traditional text and looking at music lyrics, specifically rock lyrics, specifically the phenomena that is Foo Fighters and their music. And let me just add, for Garry, this is an exciting change of pace. He's been a guitar-head since childhood. He's a rock and roll and has been since, as a young teenager he saved up his money to buy his first amp. Tell us that story, Garry…this is for all the rock-n-roll heads who share a similar experience. The story….. And if you are like me, until I met Garry I had no idea that playing the guitar is akin to jumping down Alice in Wonderland's rabbit hole. To parody Freud, sometimes a guitar is not just a guitar- No, for me the guitar was the gateway instrument into a whole new world of Rock and it was the way that I discovered a bigger world other than the small town I grew up in.…and I will add, not just me. David Grohl, who started the band Foo Fighters, in 1995 talks about hearing the Album The Record by the band Fear and wanting to become a musician. In fact, if you listen to Grohl's ac Well, you say ___________, It's still a bit of a rabbit hole- I mean just in terms of gear, for those of us who didn't know, you can be a Gibson person, a telecaster person, a stratacaster person, a Gretch person- just to name a few of the kinds of electric guitars, nevermind the amps, the pedals, the boards, the pick ups, the tones- and that's not even the music side of it- just the tech of blasting music on an electrical guitar- think of Michael J Fox in Back to the Future. But having said that- once you put all those elements together, and if you do so in a genius sort of way, you will get a ticket to transcend into this other realm called Rock and Roll. Today, and this stat is only an American stat, I don't have the numbers worldwide, but today Rock is still the preferred genre of 56% of the American population, surpassing pop, country and rap- which I found surprising. Rock albums still account for the majority of all vinyl music sales- although they do not surpass rap or country when it comes to streaming services- that might tell you something about demographics. But in a world with so many things that divide us, Foo Fighter unite audiences which range over 4 generations and across all nation-states, rock and roll is a powerful unifier. Yes, and the uncontested leading rock band in the world in 2022 is The Foo Fighters. And how do we determine that? Well we can look at awards, they have won 12 grammies for one thing, including Best Album 4 times. But awards are not an awesome metric to measure human impact- especially for Rock. But there are others. Since David Grohl started his one man band in Seattle in 1994, They have released 9 albums, gone on 9 worldwide tours which each lasted over a year- just the 2017 tour from the album “Concrete and Gold” consisted of 113 shows on five continents grossing $114 million. They have sold out the famed Wembley stadium in London- not once but twice, oh and it sold out in 24 hours. That stadium holds 86,000 people. Another big hint as to the enormity of their impact from that same tour was the performance at Glastonbury, when over 150,000 people were documented singing in unison the lyrics to their song “Best of You”. Their top five songs, just on Spotify, which is only one and not even the largest of streaming services have over 2.5 billion downloads- and that is just on Spotify. They have 16 million monthly listeners on Spotify. In 2021 they were inducted into the rock and Roll hall of fame, the first year they were eligible. There is no overstating the influence, the passion, the commitment and connection that this group of men, led by Dave Grohl, has had on over 4 generations of humans of all ages, races, and gender from all over the world these last 25 years. Literally hundreds of millions have been touched by their music both in person and over the sound ways. And so today, we would like to look at the history and the music of this powerful force of positivity, and it has been a force of positivity. How has this group connected and improved the lives of so many? There are hundreds of millions of personal examples from fans, but here's a famous one. In 1995, David Letterman, who at the time was a famous late night comedian on tv, gave the foo fighters their first spotlight on television. They played a song from their album which I'll tell you about in a minute called “”This is a Call”. Letterman was hooked on the Foo Fighters. In 2000, he had a quintuple heart by-pass surgery and after his recovery, he asked them to come to NY and be on his first show back after his surgery. For him, them being with him was personal. He publically stated on the show that night that their song “Everlong” was what got him through his surgery and recovery. When Letterman retired from television, he asked that they play that song again for the last few minutes of his final show after he said farewell for the last time ending his long career. How did that song, this band, inspire him to fight off death as his heart struggled to regain strength? What has been the impact of their music on so many across the globe? The answer lies in the lyrics, in part. It lies in the musical talent, in part. It lies in the energy and passion, in part. It lies in the showmanship But all of these components are working together to produce a single effect- what is it? What is the power of Rock and Roll? I think we can see the answer by looking at this band and looking at three of our favorite Foo Fighters songs. I think we can too. What we see is that the Foo Fighters in general, and Dave Grohl personal story in particular in every way embody Camus' idea that life is best lived fighting the absurd, rebelling against meaningless, rebelling against the constant pressure to commit philosophical suicide. Dave Grohl's life and music showcase one man's fight to do this- in spite of pressure to conform, in spite of death, and in spite of the heavy-handed trappings of success, and that is the gift he shares in his lyrics as well as how he plays and how he lives his life on and off the stage. We mention Dave Grohl's story, first, because Foo Fighters really starts with him. For those who aren't familiar with that. Name, Dave Grohl was the drummer for the rock band Nirvana. In 1994, Nirvana was on top of the world with international success and Grohl became famous. Last week we mentioned the existential song, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”- that's Nirvana. Well, I want to add, Grohl's story is almost the classic Camus journey. His mother is a retired public school English teacher from the suburbs of Washington DC, so shout out to mom!!, btw. His father was a political speech writer- also from that Washington DC area. One finny thing is that his mom is a democrat and his dad a Republcan- so there you go navigating that as a kid!! He left this kind of suburban highly educated lifestyle at the age of 17 and literally dropped out of high school to play the drums. He even lied about his age because he was a minor. But he auditioned and joined this band called Scream. He lived for four years, sleeping on a sleeping bag, living out of a van with the 4 other band members and a roadie, playing night after night in dives to groups of 20-200 people max. That sounds kind of like a rock and roll movie, and, Of course I don't know, but I can't image his mother being very excited about those life-choices, especially the dropping out of school one. Probably not, especially since there was no guarantee it would work out. It almost never does. But as Grohl tells it, stardom wasn't really the end goal. He was pursuing music, a community, the life he wanted with nothing to prove really. At one point, Scream was really struggling. He was in LA and things were at a standstill. He hears about an opening with this other band called Nirvana. It wasn't mainstream, but was popular with the underground community on the West Coast, specially Washington state. David calls a friend who knows the band to try to get an audition and gets it. He calls his mom to ask her if he should drop Scream and go to Nirvana, with her encouragement he makes the change that would launch him into a different world. Well, Nirvana's success is pretty well documented, but of course, even people who don't follow rock music cannot think about Nirvana without thinking about the tragic suicide in 1994 of Nirvana's singer-guitarist Kurt Cobain. The famous Neil Young quote from his note, “It's better to burn out than to fade away” has been controversial itself and unfortunately led to teenage suicides since its release to the public, but for Grohl the loss was personal. Cobain's death left David heartbroken. He lived with Cobain, slept on his sofa during the early days. He had watched Cobain struggle with depression. He says he saw him have lows and he would go to his room and not come out, but Cobain also could be incredibly fun and alive. They traveled together, played together, worked together. He had grown to love his friend. Beyond just losing a friend, With Cobain's death, Nirvana was over, and Dave had to decide what to do. Tom Petty, famous in his own right, invited him to play the drums for him, but he decided he didn't want that. He didn't know if he even wanted to play the drums anymore. What he wanted was to carve out a new thing- make his own reality- and for him that meant recording an album all by himself. So, that's what he did. In 1995, for five days he sat with the engineers in a studio by himself. He recorded the vocals, recorded the guitar parts, recorded the drum parts and then the engineers put it all on top of each other. He wanted to make it look like it was actually a band so he used this pseudonym Foo Fighters, He'd been reading some stuff about UFOs and kind of just used the name. Later when he was inducted into the hall of fame he said this, “had I actually considered this a career, I probably would have called it something else, because it's the stupidest _________ band name in the world,” BTW, if you listen to Grohl talk on platforms meant for educational purposes, you will have to get used to a bleeping. Grohl is passionate and very colorful, it's funny, but there are a lot of bleeps. The point I want to make by bringing up David's personal history is because it's here we see Grohl, like Camus, choosing to fight the absurd and choosing also to fight philosophical suicide. He did not conform to th suburbs just because it certainly was an easy thing to do growing up in DC. He didn't say, “it doesn't matter” when his friend died, because it does matter. No where in this story can you find someone taking the easy way out- or lying to themselves. This is the story of a child growing into a man determined to be as completely honest as possible and committed to creating meaning- his own meaning- in this world. And so the Foo Fighters are born. This very first album was a success and they even got on David Letterman, but it is on the second album The Colour and the Shape that we find one of their most endearing hits, Everlong, the one Letterman had them perform when he retired. Which I find so interesting because the song isn't really about anything I would think Letterman would like on the surface, in terms of lyrics. Grohl wrote it in 1996 after going through an ugly divorce. He had met another girl, Louise Post, and they just connected. It's such a funny story. He originally recorded at a friend's studio in DC, again playing all the parts himself, but it was rough. When it came time to record the album the The Colour and the Shape, the producer wanted to include Everlong. He raelly thought it brought the album together thematically. Grohl was cool with this but he wanted Post to sing the real back up vocals for it because it was about her. Post recalls, and this is from her Instagram post and I quote, “I sang these back-ups over the phone at 2am after being woken up from a deep sleep in Chicago by David Grohl who was tracking the vocals for “EverLong” in LA. Again- and this is why a song is not just words - lyrics are VOICE plus words. And the voice, if it is good, functions to enshrine language – elevate it beyond just the content of the words. In Grohl's case, he doesn't have the range of someone like Mariah Carey or even Steve Perry from Journey. But the voice is action and it's that movement that Grohl and all the Foo Fighters communicate. Grohl screams at times, but his voice is communicating something beyond the words on the page. What do you hear? There's just an authenticity there. I heard him talking about the origins of the song, Everlong and I was shocked when I learned that he doesn't even know how to read music. He never studied formally. He just strummed a new combination and heard a song. I don't want to use the word innocence because that's not the right word, but it's this raw pursuit of wanting life and bringing people along and it has captivated the world- obviously only an authentic genius could ever do what he does, especially self-taught. But, when you think about how songs, and this song in particular lives in the hearts of so many, we know that the human voice holds a special place. It is a human instrument, where the soul, to sound mystical- unifies with the lungs, the diaphragm, the abs- to do something different. But Let's look at those famous lyrics and talk about them. Hello I've waited here for you Everlong Tonight, I throw myself into And out of the red Out of her head, she sang Come down and waste away with me Down with me Slow, how you wanted it to be I'm over my head Out of her head, she sang And I wonder When I sing along with you If everything could ever be this real forever If anything could ever be this good again The only thing I'll ever ask of you You've got to promise not to stop when I say when She sang Breathe out So I can breathe you in Hold you in And now I know you've always been Out of your head Out of my head, I sang And I wonder When I sing along with you If everything could ever feel this real forever If anything could ever be this good again The only thing I'll ever ask of you You've got to promise not to stop when I say when She sang And I wonder If everything could ever feel this real forever If anything could ever be this good again The only thing I'll ever ask of you You've got to promise not to stop when I say when The words are simple- which is why they work as lyrics. No one has time to explicate poetry while they're at a rock concert. You have to understand the idea in a instant. There is also a lot of repetition, when you just read it, like we did it feels redundant, but when you add the voice the repetition plays a different role. It signifies hooks and choruses and gives us a sense of excitement and anticipation for the next drum riff or energetic pulse. Well, the ear is listening for something different in music than it is in poetry. Then you add the signature guitar riffs to that- you have a different emotional experience. And I want to point out that all good music that people love is emotional. The song Everlong has two versions- the version with the whole band as well as just the acoustic version- both are powerful, but really two different experiences. The emotions are different. For sure, but Everlong, like all rock ballads is meant to be sung. The contrasting anaphors of If everything, if anything, rhyme with the following line- the only thing----are drawn together in your ear because of that rhyme and they create this tension that leads you to the climatic line of feeling real. In fact, that's the central idea- whether it be in the acoustic or the band version- they both convey a universal feeling of holding on to one single moment- and making it feel eternal- holding on -look at the word he chooses- what is real. It's really a paradox- eternity felt in a moment- on the surface it doesn't make sense, but it's a feeling we all have or at least want to have- and he expresses it so simply, with simple words- but the drums, the bass, the guitars plus the screaming vocals- make the idea completely alive. “And I Wonder when I sing along with you” you feel the power of the line that “If everything could ever feel this real forever” whether your heart pounds with that overpowering electrical guitar or with just the strumming of the acoustic one- you're inspired to hold on- to feel the moment again- just like that repeating riff. YOu know, Everlong is an interesting example of a hit song that grows into its success overtime. People liked it when it came out, but over time it's just grown and grown to the point that it's the song everyone most wants to hear when they go to a Foo Fighters concert- and they end their concerts with it., but it wasn't that way at the first. If you want their first hit that entered the BillBoard hop 100, you have to go to the next album they recorded called Echoes and the song from there that we all remember is Learn to Fly. I want to ask a question, what is the BillBoards or the Billboard Hot 100- that is a term everyone uses to determine success. Sure, Billboard is a magazine, Billboard biz is the online extension. Billboard tabulates the popularity of songs on a weekly basis. Sometimes the charts are genre specific, for example you have the country chart or the rock chart, but they cover all genres. They are ranked according to sales, streams, airplay, thst sort of thing. The Billboard Hot 100 combines all aspecits of a single's performance (sales, radio airplay and streaming activity) and ranks how successful any one song is, it has to be a single. The top rated songs on Billboard will be the songs featured on radio because they draw the audience that leads to higher advertising rates. The Song Learn to Fly actually won a grammy for its music video. The lyrics were written, not just by David Grohl, but Taylor Hawkins the drummer and Nate Mendel. By this point in the history of the Foo Fighters, What we have seen evolve is the vision of one man, Dave Grohl, into a collective- a brotherhood. Foo Fighters by 1997 is no longer a one-man band. “Learn to Fly” has three co-writers. There have been a couple of entrances and exits over the years, but not many really. Today Foo Fighters is David Grohl, Chris Shiflett, Nate Mendel, Franz Stahl, Rami Jafee, Pat Smear, and until his untimely passing Tayler Hawkins. Let's read this famous anthem. “Learn to Fly” Run and tell all of the angels This could take all night Think I need a devil to help me get things right Hook me up a new revolution Cause this one is a lie We sat around laughin' and watched the last one die Now, I'm lookin' to the sky to save me Lookin' for a sign of life Lookin' for somethin' to help me burn out bright And I'm lookin' for a complication Lookin' cause I'm tired of lyin' Make my way back home when I learn to fly high I think I'm dyin' nursing patience It can wait one night I'd give it all away if you give me one last try We'll live happily ever trapped if you just save my life Run and tell the angels that everything's alright Now I'm lookin' to the sky to save me Lookin' for a sign of life Lookin' for somethin' to help me burn out bright I'm lookin' for a complication Lookin' cause I'm tired of tryin' Make my way back home when I learn to fly high Make my way back home when I learn to Fly along with me, I can't quite make it alone Try to make this life my own Fly along with me, I can't quite make it alone Try to make this life my own I'm lookin' to the sky to save me Lookin' for a sign of life Lookin' for somethin' to help me burn out bright And I'm lookin' for a complication Lookin' cause I'm tired of tryin' Make my way back home when I learn to I'm lookin' to the sky to save me Lookin' for a sign of life Lookin' for somethin' to help me burn out bright And I'm lookin' for a complication Lookin' cause I'm tired of tryin' Make my way back home when I learn to fly high Make my way back home when I learn to fly Make my way back home when I learn to Again when you read the song, you see the repetition that characterizes a lot of great music. You see the anaphoras Now what is an anaphora It's when you read the beginning of a phrase but you change the ending Make my way back home when I learn to fly high Make my way bak home when I learn to fly Make my way back home when I learn to In that case, the phrase starts the same, but the ending is different- in this case, it drifts off and is shortened each time. The effect only works when you sing and play it. The power is lost when you read it. Song lyrics are just not the same as poetry for that reason- their power is different. the rhythm bends the lyrics into different shapes or patterns that aren't the natural flow of conversation or even in reading poetry. The percussive breaks the lines on the page, the rhyme and repetition springs out in different places than in normal poetry- for example the word “lookin'” it's all over the song and your ear catches it when we sing it, but if you just look at it on the page, it looks random. I heard it said once that song lyrics exist in the air, and that is a good way of thinking about them. When you watch a video of people watching the performance of this song, all you see are arms raised, everyone singing in unison, Everyone identifying something personal in those words. They're looking for something honest- looking for something to help push through the absurd and in this song it's represented in the sky the sky. This is a great example of how music and poetry for that matter take a life of their own. It's symbolic. It's universal- looking to the sky- but what does the sky represent? Should we look up the archetype? Is it something unattainable? Is it something spiritual? For each person, it's something totally different thing and you can see it in the eyes of every person in the stadium or in the field of the festival. Kelly Clarkson asked the band, one time on her show, what it was the song was about- at least what it was for then when they originally wrote it, Grohl revealed the secret. At the time I wanted to become a pilot! I wanted to learn to fly. Well, I can tell you, and I've seen that interview, too, the Foo Fighters absolutely know this song is about more than being a pilot. And if you ever had any doubt, those doubts were laid to rest with the Rockin 1000. Oh yes. Tell us what that is. So, in 2014, a man by the name of Fabio Zaffagnini had a vision to get Foo Fighters to come to Italy. His plan was insane. He wanted to unite 1000 musicians: drummers, guitarists, , bassists, vocalists, everything- and he did it. In July of 2015, over 1000 musicisns gathered in a field in a little town in north east Italy called Cesena and together- in unison- all 1000 played this song “Learn to Fly”. It's an amazing YouTube video, everyone should watch it. At the end of their performance, Fabio appeals to the band and asks them to come play in their little town of Cesena. Of course the band soon tweeted, “Ci Vediamo a presto, Cesena”- or See you soon, Cesena. Well, I've watched that YouTube, and it almost makes you cry. It's so beautiful, so passionate, how could they possibly say no. Those musicians of every age- both men and women jumped, waved in the air, sang with their hearts. Well, exactly and why would they. Three months after the Rockin 1000 video went viral, the Foo Fighters played in Cesena, on the night of the concert, Dave Grohl admitted to the audience that their video made him cry. This group of musicians represent everything Foo Fighters is giving to the world: energy, passion, the fight and will to live and live well. It's who the Foo Fighters are. And there are endless examples of this band doing just that. On their tour of Iceland, the night before the concert they were out in the country having dinner when they drove past a barn where a group of local punk rockers were practicing. The Foos stopped and went in and jammed with this little local band called Nilfisk AND invited them to play their original song “Jacking Around” as an opening act for the Foos. The front man for this band at the time was 16 years old. In May of 2005, they released one most of the most recognizable and highly regarded of all Foo Fighters, “Best of You.” Prince even performed it during the half time show at SuperBowl. Let's read these lyrics and talk about why this song has resonated around the world. 've got another confession to make I'm your fool Everyone's got their chains to break Holding you Were you born to resist or be abused Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you Are you gone and on to someone new? I needed somewhere to hang my head Without your noose You gave me something that I didn't have But had no use I was too weak to give in Too strong to lose My heart is under arrest again But I break loose My head is giving me life or death But I can't choose I swear I'll never give in, I refuse Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you Has someone taken your faith? It's real, the pain you feel Your trust, you must confess Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you Oh Oh, ho-oh, oh, oh-oh, oh, oh-oh, oh Has someone taken your faith? It's real, the pain you feel The life, the love you'd die to heal The hope that starts the broken hearts Your trust, you must confess Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you I've got another confession my friend I'm no fool I'm getting tired of starting again Somewhere new Were you born to resist or be abused? I swear I'll never give in, I refuse Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you Has someone taken your faith It's real, the pain you feel Your trust, you must confess Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you Oh Well, first of all the word “best” is repeated 40 times. And repetition is emphasis. We know that. This song is about that. We all have secrets in their heads about themselves. We all fight something inside to overcome the worst in us. This song is a personal fight song, an anthem of recovery from brokenness. It's also a lot about the drums. Taylor Hawkins inspired the millions who watched him lead the band with this anthem. His drumming was raw. He pounds these eighth-note accents that you can hear from the back of a stadium. There's so much power and energy- it's driving- it builds. In an interview during that 2005 tour a journalist from the Globe and Mail asked Hawkins what kept his work interesting. He said this, “I'm scared to death every time I get on stage. I have insane stage fright. If Nate screws up, the beat goes on. If Dave screws up, everyone laughs. But if I drop the beat, we can all go down in flames. It's like jumping off a cliff every time.” I don't know how you could NOT be. So much is at stake. 10s of thousands of people have spent hundreds of dollars and come with astronomically high expectations to have their lives changed and to be inspired. I can't imagine the weight of it. But I think I understand, at least in part, the heart of it. In 2011, the band released their 7th studio album. Wasting Light would eventually win four grammies including Best Rock Album. I think how they created that album really captures who they are as a band, what they represent and why their essence reverberates around the world. Tell is the story, Garry, Well, they decided to record in in Grohl's garage with no computers. The album is messy, distorted, over the top and they had to rehearse for three weeks to even do it because they used old fashioned editing techniques that didn't allow for mistakes to be fixed in post-production. And why do it? Well, they wanted it to be real. Grohl speaks to that at the Grammy's after they won Best Album of the year, and his words became highly controversial almost immediately. He said this, ““This is a great honour, because this record was a special record for our band. Rather than go to the best studio in the world down the street in Hollywood and rather than use all of the fanciest computers that money can buy, we made this one in my garage with some microphones and a tape machine...It's not about being perfect, it's not about sounding absolutely correct, it's not about what goes on in a computer.” So, what's controversial about that. Well, it was taken to insult everyone else in the industry who is using auto-tune to fix their voices so they never go off key, or any number of editing tricks that could make someone like you or me sound like Rihanna with the right computer. Pro tools is the recording software that can make anyone sound like they are good. The next day Grohl released a statement clarifying his comment. This is what he said, I love music. Electronic or acoustic, it doesn't matter to me. The simple act of creating music is a beautiful gift that ALL human beings are blessed with. And the diversity of one musician's personality to the next is what makes music so exciting and … human.” That's exactly what I was referring to. The ‘human element.' That thing that happens when a song speeds up slightly, or a vocal goes a little sharp. That thing that makes people sound like PEOPLE. Somewhere along the line those things became “bad” things, and with the great advances in digital recording technology over the years they became easily ‘fixed.' The end result? I my humble opinion…..a lot of music that sounds perfect, but lacks personality. The one thing that makes music so exciting in the first place.And, unfortunately, some of these great advances have taken the focus off of the actual craft of performance. Look, I am not Yngwie Malmsteen. I am not John Bonham. Hell…I'm not even Josh Groban, for that matter. But I try really f—ing hard so that I don't have to rely on anything but my hands and my heart to play a song. I do the best that I possibly can within my limitations, and accept that it sounds like me. Because that's what I think is most important. It should be real, right? Everybody wants something real. An interesting aside – live orchestra music actually prefers when the concert attendees cough and make noise. It proved the recording is a live take and the orchestra truly is as good as it sounds. Everybody wants something real…there's that word again that brings us back to Camus…we do want real, we want honest, we want someone with the courage to show us what it looks like. The history of the Foo Fighters is just one crazy example of this after another. In Sweden in June of 2015. They were in the second song of a show that consisted of 26 songs in front of 53,000 people, Grohl landed wrong from a jump and his ankle collapsed and he fell. He had broken his leg. The band didn't know what had happened and they just played. Grohl grabbed the microphone, and said this, ““You have my promise right now that the Foo Fighters, we're gonna come back and finish this show,” he said. “But right now, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna go to the hospital, I'm gonna fix my leg. But then I'm gonna come back, and we're gonna play for you again! I'm so sorry!” He handed over the show to Taylor Hawkins who led the band til Grohl came back an hour later. They had to cancel a few dates, but by the fourth of July they had the problem solved. They built a giant throne made just the occasion the Foo Fighters came out for their 20th anniversary Fourth of July blowout at RFK, and Grohl who screams and jumps lead the band sitting down. That tour continued with 60 more shows. And that's what I mean about fighting the absurd. Taylor, Nate, Chris, Pat, Rami, Chris, Franz, Will and Dave lead with their lyrics, their beat, their riffs, but also their example. This is what “not surrendering either to the absurd or to philosophical suicide can look like”. This is what not giving in looks like. This is what finding the best in yourself looks like. Dave Grohl spoke about what it felt like when Cobain died. He said at one point he didn't know if he ever wanted to play music again, but then he realized that music was the one that had healed him over the course of his entire life. It had saved his life more than once. I can absolutely understand and agree with this 100%. Music absolutely been there for me personally and has kept me sane in the worst moments of my own life. Unfortunately, Dave and the rest of the band are going to have to face the full force and pain of absurd in a very personal way yet again. On March 20th, Foo Fighters played at Lollapalooza in Argentina. They ended their set with Everlong, as they usually do with Hawkins on the drum. At the end of the song, Hawkins tossed his drum sticks to the audience, threw his arm over Grohl's shoulder, and took a bow with the rest of the band. Although no one had any idea, this would be his last performance. That night Dave Grohl ended the show with these ironic words, “I don't say goodbye,” Dave Grohl told the crowd before kicking it off. “I don't like to say goodbye. I know that we'll always come back. If you come back, we'll come back. Will you come back? If you come back, we'll come back, so then I won't have to say goodbye.” Hawkins said goodbye, but the music he made, the energy he emitted does. not And so, we end this episode saying, thank you, Foo Fighters. Thank you for pushing forward, encouraging the world to not let the world get the best of us, for inspiring us to look to the sky, learn to fly and holding on to the moments of eternity when they come. Thank you for sharing with us in this episode on a different sort of book- the music of the Foo Fighters. As always please feel free to connect with us on any of our social media: FB, Insta, Twitter, LinkedIn. Email us, tweet us, if you are a teacher, visit our website for educational support, if you are a friend, check out our merch on the website as well. In any case, if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend, when you share about us, we grow. Peace out….
This episode features songs from bands outside the big 4 of grunge, but we don’t think you’ll be totally surprised. A perfect amalgam of punk, classic rock, and metal is right in Kevin’s wheelhouse, and we continue to find out more about the impact this had on Robert’s musical path. We have a lot of fun reminiscing about this unique time in rock history. Grab a Starbucks and some flannel, and jump on the hike with us this week!Songs this week include:Urge Overkill – “Tequila Sunrise” from Saturation (1993)PAW – “Sleeping Bag” from Dragline (1993)Sweet Water – “King Of ‘79” from Sweet Water (1993)The Toadies – “Mister Love” from Rubberneck (1994)Wool – “Clear My Head” from Budspawn (1992)Life Sex & Death – “Tank” from The Silent Majority (1992)Wipers – “Silver Sail” from Silver Sail (1993)Please subscribe everywhere that you listen to podcasts!Visit us: https://inobscuria.com/https://www.facebook.com/InObscuriahttps://twitter.com/inobscuriahttps://www.instagram.com/inobscuria/Buy cool stuff with our logo on it!: https://www.redbubble.com/people/InObscuria?asc=uCheck out Robert’s amazing fire sculptures and metal workings here: http://flamewerx.com/If you’d like to check out Kevin’s band THE SWEAR, take a listen on all streaming services or pick up a digital copy of their latest release here: https://theswear.bandcamp.com/If you want to hear Robert and Kevin’s band from the late 90s – early 00s BIG JACK PNEUMATIC, check it out here: https://bigjackpnuematic.bandcamp.com/
Foo Fighters es una banda estadounidense de rock alternativo formada en la ciudad de Seattle en 1994 por Dave Grohl, exbaterista de Nirvana y Scream. El grupo debe su nombre a los ovnis y los diversos fenómenos aéreos que fueron reportados por los pilotos de los aviones aliados en la Segunda Guerra Mundial, que se conocen colectivamente como Foo Fighters. Antes del lanzamiento de su álbum debut en 1995, Grohl, como único miembro oficial, reclutó al bajista Nate Mendel y el baterista William Goldsmith, ambos anteriormente miembros de Sunny Day Real Estate, así como su compañero en las giras de Nirvana, Pat Smear como guitarrista para completar la alineación. La banda comenzó con actuaciones en Portland, Oregón. Goldsmith renunció durante la grabación del segundo álbum del grupo, "The Colour and the Shape" (1997), cuando la mayoría de las partes de batería fueron re-grabadas por el propio Grohl, hasta que luego se unió Taylor Hawkins como baterista. La partida de Smear siguió poco después. Fue reemplazado por Franz Stahl, respectivamente, aunque fue despedido antes de la grabación del tercer álbum del grupo, "There Is Nothing Left to Lose" (1999). La banda continuó brevemente como trío hasta que Chris Shiflett se unió como guitarrista principal de la banda después de la finalización de "There Is Nothing Left to Lose". La banda lanzó su cuarto álbum, "One by One", en 2002. El grupo siguió esa versión con la de dos discos "In Your Honor" (2005), que se divide entre canciones acústicas y material más pesado. Pat Smear volvió a la banda en ese mismo año. Foo Fighters han vendido más de 15 millones de discos en todo el mundo. Foo Fighters lanzó su sexto álbum, "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace" en 2007. En 2010, se confirmó que Smear se había unido oficialmente a la banda después de la gira con Foo Fighters como un miembro no oficial entre 2006 y 2009. En el transcurso de la carrera de la banda, cuatro de sus álbumes han ganado el Premio Grammy al mejor álbum de rock. El séptimo álbum de estudio de la banda, "Wasting Light", producido por Butch Vig (reconocido productor de Nirvana), fue lanzado en 2011 y su octavo álbum, "Sonic Highways", además de su segundo grabado con Butch Vig, se dio a conocer en noviembre de 2014. Su noveno álbum fue "Concrete and Gold", producido por Greg Kurstin y lanzado en todo el mundo el 15 de septiembre de 2017, a través de RCA Records. El álbum presenta una fusión de géneros musicales como Hard rock y Pop.
Foo Fighters es una banda estadounidense de rock alternativo formada en la ciudad de Seattle en 1994 por Dave Grohl, exbaterista de Nirvana y Scream. El grupo debe su nombre a los ovnis y los diversos fenómenos aéreos que fueron reportados por los pilotos de los aviones aliados en la Segunda Guerra Mundial, que se conocen colectivamente como Foo Fighters. Antes del lanzamiento de su álbum debut en 1995, Grohl, como único miembro oficial, reclutó al bajista Nate Mendel y el baterista William Goldsmith, ambos anteriormente miembros de Sunny Day Real Estate, así como su compañero en las giras de Nirvana, Pat Smear como guitarrista para completar la alineación. La banda comenzó con actuaciones en Portland, Oregón. Goldsmith renunció durante la grabación del segundo álbum del grupo, "The Colour and the Shape" (1997), cuando la mayoría de las partes de batería fueron re-grabadas por el propio Grohl, hasta que luego se unió Taylor Hawkins como baterista. La partida de Smear siguió poco después. Fue reemplazado por Franz Stahl, respectivamente, aunque fue despedido antes de la grabación del tercer álbum del grupo, "There Is Nothing Left to Lose" (1999). La banda continuó brevemente como trío hasta que Chris Shiflett se unió como guitarrista principal de la banda después de la finalización de "There Is Nothing Left to Lose". La banda lanzó su cuarto álbum, "One by One", en 2002. El grupo siguió esa versión con la de dos discos "In Your Honor" (2005), que se divide entre canciones acústicas y material más pesado. Pat Smear volvió a la banda en ese mismo año. Foo Fighters han vendido más de 15 millones de discos en todo el mundo. Foo Fighters lanzó su sexto álbum, "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace" en 2007. En 2010, se confirmó que Smear se había unido oficialmente a la banda después de la gira con Foo Fighters como un miembro no oficial entre 2006 y 2009. En el transcurso de la carrera de la banda, cuatro de sus álbumes han ganado el Premio Grammy al mejor álbum de rock. El séptimo álbum de estudio de la banda, "Wasting Light", producido por Butch Vig (reconocido productor de Nirvana), fue lanzado en 2011 y su octavo álbum, "Sonic Highways", además de su segundo grabado con Butch Vig, se dio a conocer en noviembre de 2014. Su noveno álbum fue "Concrete and Gold", producido por Greg Kurstin y lanzado en todo el mundo el 15 de septiembre de 2017, a través de RCA Records. El álbum presenta una fusión de géneros musicales como Hard rock y Pop.
Those VA boys strike again!This time it was with an album that blew almost everything else at the time away. Scream were one of the hardest working bands around and with these songs and this recording, adding Harley to the lineup on second guitar, they took their songwriting to the next level (and in my mind, their absolute peak). Jeff and I discuss the bands brilliant second LP, though as usual, we take many side-roads to get there. Franz and Kent fill in the details they remember (these were decidedly not straight edge dudes, ya know). It was an honor to have the chance to gush about one of the defining records of the era for a few short hours!
Enoch "Skeeter" Thompson grew up in Bailey's Crossroads and got his first guitar as a reward from his baseball coach for pitching a no-hitter in the championship game. From there, he met Franz Stahl at school and his new friend helped him learn how to play that guitar. The two, along with Franz’s older brother Pete Stahl on vocals and Kent Stax on drums formed a band called Scream, inspired by the hardcore sound exploding out of DC, particularly bands like Bad Brains and the Teen Idles. Skeeter switched to bass because he had the rhythm to play it and the band wasn't able to find anybody else on the instrument with the right feel to complete their sound. In 1982, they went to Inner Ear Studio and recorded Dischord Records' first-full length release, Still Screaming. Scream released five albums and continued to play until the beginning of the '90s, doing a number of U.S. and European tours. When Stax left the band, they asked a young drummer, Dave Grohl, to take over. After their break up and dealing with family health issues (as well as playing in Soylent Green), Thompson went down to Little Rock, Arkansas to find his daughter and played in and formed several bands there. He then returned to Northern VA and has been playing in hard rock and hardcore bands such as Fallout Shelter, Rise-Defy, and several projects with Nathan Turney. He also put out a solo album in 2018 called The Book of Enoch in E Minor. You can find it at https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/skeeterenochthompsoninc
Toi qui entre ici, abandonne toute morosité et bienvenue dans le GrohlCast, l’émission consacrée à Dave Grohl, multi-instrumentiste hyperactif qui a participé à des dizaines de projets. Plus de trente ans de carrière passés au crible par nos deux experts Grohlement bien renseignés : Benjamin François et Stéphane Bouley. Avec ce huitième épisode le Grohlcast … Continuer la lecture de « Episode 8 : Halte a la censure »
Toi qui entre ici, abandonne toute morosité et bienvenue dans le GrohlCast, l’émission consacrée à Dave Grohl. Multi-instrumentiste hyperactif, Dave Grohl possède à son actif des dizaines d’albums et de collaborations diverses, un trésor musical inestimable qui fait de lui l’une des figures incontournables du rock moderne. Plus de trente ans d’une carrière qui n’est … Continuer la lecture de « Episode 1 : La couleur & la forme »
Chris chats with founding member of Scream and former guitarist of Foo Fighters, Franz Stahl! Make sure to check out Scream's awesome reissue of their classic 1988 album, "No More Censorship" at: screamsl.bandcamp.com Please subscribe, rate, and review on Itunes! Buy some TOTOT gear: http://tee.pub/lic/tototpodcast This week's sponsor is the band, Awful Normals! Check them out at: facebook.com/awful.normals.com instragram.com/awful_normals awfulnormals.bandcamp.com awfulnormals.com Bands...to sponsor a show, email us: tototpodcast@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We hope you're still screaming; because The Stahl Bros are here! Today on the show: Damian is joined by Pete and Franz Stahl, from Scream and Wool, to talk the good, bad and ugly of punk. From being halfway between the PMA & the Georgetown Punx, to The Robbie Brookside Connection, to the return of LA in the 90s, to grunge happening, to the power of DC's brand of Hardcore, to never wanting to stop being a punk and so much more: THIS IS NOT TO BE MISSED!Also, don't miss Scream's fantastic new lp: DC Special. Available everywhere now, from Dischord Records.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy