1001 Albums Summary

Man, I never could get on board with the Foo Fighters thing. I’m trying to listen with open ears, but I remember hearing Marigold (the In Utero outtake) way back in the day and I kind of thought Grohl was just trying to cash in. (Everybody with any sense did and it felt like a shitty and very un-punk thing to do.) And then came this album. It’s very mid. I didn’t like Sunny Day Real Estate then and I don’t much care for them now and that’s half of the band. I don’t know. Maybe I was just jealous of the man’s success and (at the same time) too chickenshit to go out there and try to make a name for myself. It’s easy to criticize. I’ll say that I’m sure Grohl would have faced a lot of criticism and bullshit from people like me (falling into the trap of comparing him and his songwriting to Cobain’s) and it’s admirable that he kept putting himself out there despite all of that. But, without any of that baggage, I really don’t think this music is for me. The lyrics and the vocal stylings are uninteresting, the guitar work is mostly barre chords and they don’t have any real verve. The hooks don’t really get you. The harmonic structures don’t imply or reveal any melodic information that’s compelling at all. Big Me is okay, but it’s really just a basic 50’s 101 rock ballad with really lame guitar work. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to listen to this whole thing.