Wasting Light is still my favorite Foo Fighters album

 

It has been almost a month since Sonic Highways by Foo Fighters has been released and I want to share my thoughts about the album. I found an article/review from Consequence of Sound and I agree in almost everything it said about the band’s process in creating this album.

First off, let me just make it clear that I am in no way disappointed with the album, it still kicks ass as expected of the band. Did it exceed expectations? Maybe not, but they still made great rock & roll music; and for me they did not lose their identity in the process. It’s still a Foo Fighters album all throughout. Dave Grohl is a genius, and this is one thing that none of us can ever deny.

It’s in Grohl’s lyrics that the concept frays, his assumption that he is a talented enough lyricist to whip out a memorable turn-of-phrase with unmasked historical references at the moment he is demanded. Frankly, he isn’t.

I totally agree that this album does not have the best lyrics Dave has ever written. The band wanted a different process in making their album, but I think writing the lyrics before recording the actual song is a big NO. I get that he made the process so in order to get snippets from quotes of the different musical heroes he has interviewed. What can I do to preserve/conserve you? Yes, I do think that sounds awkward! Sometimes it feels, dare I say, forced. But you know, it all works out really. All their songs in Sonic Highways, for me, leave a mark. I would lie awake in bed and these songs would be ringing in my head.

Dave should really stick with the same lyric-writing process he did in writing their greatest hits like Everlong, Best of You and My Hero. Pure and simple, but with raw emotions.

This kind of a songwriting experiment keeps the Sonic Highways album from being essential listening. It’s more of a failed experiment, a diversion from a real Foo Fighters album.

HBO’s Sonic Highways IS the side project here, not the Sonic Highways album… but why does it feel like the other way around?!

The only song that attempts beauty on Sonic Highways comes at the end with “I Am a River”, a heavy-handed grab at the heartstrings, which is particularly jarring since Grohl and co. typically show such delicate taste when they decide to let their pretty side shine. Emotions aren’t requested; they are demanded.

Exactly. I am a River is that song, that gets stuck in my head more and what makes listening to the album feel fulfilling because it’s the last track you hear; when silence starts you think to yourself, that was a great album, but really the song that’s on repeat in your head is the wailing of ‘I am a Riveeeeeer…..’

Wasting Light is still my favorite Foo Fighters album.