Dave Grohl, Rock and Roll's Critic-Proof Uncle

Dave Grohl, Rock and Roll’s Critic-Proof Uncle
The Foo Fighters frontman continues to release the same old song.

Criticizing Dave Grohl is sacrilege.

The lead singer/guitarist of Foo Fighters can seemingly do no wrong in the eyes of rock
journalists. There are a three humongous reasons why.

1. He played drums in Nirvana when Nirvana broke.
Though Grohl will never admit he’s a reason why Nirvana’s Nevermind sounds great, his
drumming cements that album. His chops behind the kit made an OK band become a
phenomenal band. You can hear it when he plays older Nirvana songs like “School”
from Live at Reading. You can hear it on “Scentless Apprentice” from In Utero. It didn’t
hurt that he had long hair that flailed around as he drummed like The Muppets’ Animal.

2. He has written some incredible rock singles with Foo Fighters.
That list includes “Big Me,” “My Hero,” “Everlong,” “Monkey Wrench,” “All My Life,”
“Learn to Fly,” “I’ll Stick Around,” “The One,” “The Pretender,” and “Rope.”

3. He has played drums on other band’s albums, and those albums rule.
Those albums include Queens of the Stone Age’s Songs for the Deaf, his metal one-off
Probot, a self-titled Killing Joke record, and Jack Black and Kyle Gass’ hilarious rock
spoof Tenacious D.

On top of those full-length collaborations, he’s played drums on songs for Nine Inch
Nails, Garbage, and Cat Power. He played SNL with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers,
and Mick Jagger. He formed a supergroup with Josh Homme and John Paul Jones
called Them Crooked Vultures, and that eponymous debut had exactly five insanely
great songs on it.

If you stop reading here, the verdict is in: Grohl is a super-qualified badass. Why, then,
with every subsequent release does it feel like he’s trying way too hard?

It’s not the interviews where he rambles about the mythology of rock music. It’s not that
he built a studio in his garage with a Neve soundboard he plucked from of the now-
shuttered Sound City recording studio (which he directed a 100%-certified fresh
documentary about and released an album full of covers utilizing that equipment, too).
It’s not that he eventually wants to drum for his daughter’s band. Nor is it his incessant
need to throw himself at every hitmaker, from deadmau5 to Cage the Elephant to Psy
to Zac Brown to Ghost. It’s not even his 22-minute song, titled “Play,” where he played

every instrument and made a mini-documentary about his process while doing so. All
of that is annoying, but, since 1999, his songs with Foo Fighters have felt thinner and
thinner.

The trend started with the 2002 release of One by One, an album that was sidetracked
as Grohl joined Queens of the Stone Age and bassist Nate Mendel reunited with Sunny
Day Real Estate. Initially, the album recording was a frustrating experience with barely
any songs coming together. According to Grohl, the band reconvened for a
performance at Coachella, then—voila—the fourth album was done.

One by One has some excellent songs, including the first single “All My Life,” a
dynamite rocker in “Low” that shreds Bloc Party’s existence off the map, and an epic
slow-burn finale in “Come Back.” However, it’s the album’s biggest single, “Times Like
These,” that marks a fork in the road for the band. Once “Times Like These” hit the
Billboard Hot 100 charts, a new band was formed, one that your 50-something dad
could enjoy as 30something who wore out three copies of The Colour and the Shape.

Musically, “Times Like These,” like most of Foo Fighters’ material, isn’t bad. It’s the
lyrics that make you wince.

I’m a street light shining
I’m a wild light blinding bright
Burning off and on

It’s times like these you learn to live again
It’s times like these you give and give again
It’s times like these you learn to love again
It’s times like these time and time again

Add a bridge where Grohl lets out his best “ohs,” and your local KROCK just found its
next song to be played ad nauseam behind “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

After “Times Like These,” Foo Fighters leaned into the everyman, blue collar rock with
the double-album, In Your Honor. One CD was rock material full of moments where
Grohl can replace lyrics with “Oh yeah!” when the band plays Wrigley Field. The other
CD was acoustic ballads, including a duet with Norah Jones.

In Your Honor includes a very big statement of a single like “Times Like These,” and
that single is “Best of You,” with its memeable lyrics of “I got another confession to
make” and chorus of “Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of

you.” Later on during the rock CD, Grohl pens a song called “The Deepest Blues Are
Black.” Jones shows up on a song called “Virginia Moon” that I would pay any Foo
Fighter fan to recall on the spot.

To the chagrin of fans of Foo Fighters’ first three records, the banality continues.
Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace has a kick-ass lead single, “The Pretender,” but the
song is made worse with an unnecessary two-measure breakdown that throws a typical
blues riff into an alt-rock song. There’s no reason to recall “Johnny B. Goode” in “The
Pretender,” but this is Grohl we’re discussing, and he wants you to know that he loves
Chuck Berry! The 2007 album’s second single is called “Long Road to Ruin,” four words
featured prominently in the chorus, another cliched phrase for Grohl to hoorah over
while the band marches into AOR complete with the only three chords that rock music
needs — C, G, and D.

By 2011, the notion of a Foo Fighters album being any good seemed impossible. But,
Wasting Light had more highs than lows, including Bob Mould assisting on background
vocals, the re-emergence of rhythm guitarist Pat Smear, and Grohl adding volume back
into the mix on songs like “White Limo,” “Bridge Burning,” and “Rope.” But by the
end of the album, there’s good old Mr. Rock returning to his old habits on “Walk.”

Learning to walk again
I believe I’ve waited long enough
Where do I begin?

After “Walk” climbed to No. 3 on Billboard’s US Hot Rock Songs chart, Grohl was back
on top, filming a documentary series for HBO and writing music in different cities for
Sonic Highways. In each episode, he went to obvious cities known for music—
Nashville, New Orleans, etc.—to collaborate with that city’s most obvious musicians—
Zac Brown, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

By 2017, the Foos were collaborating with pop producer Greg Kurstin (Adele, Kelly
Clarkson) for Concrete and Gold. The lead single, “Run,” featured another typical call
to arms.

Wake up
Run for your life with me
In another perfect life, in another perfect light
We run

The band charges into something that wouldn’t sound out of place on a latter-day
System of a Down album. “Run” does exactly what Grohl said the album would do
when describing Concrete & Gold to the press: this is the one where “hard rock
extremes and pop sensibilities collide.”

Now, it’s February 2021, days before the release of Foo Fighters tenth studio album,
Minutes to Midnight. Like many albums, this one was delayed due to the pandemic.
Now, Grohl is forging ahead, telling press that the band had to release it. As the
election was still not feeling great, the band played SNL, giving people some comfort
with a new song, “Shame, Shame.”

The first single from Medicine at Midnight is like every Foo Fighters song released
since “Times Like These.” It’s an intensely interesting modern rock song until the
chorus of WHOAs come in, reminding you of the band’s new brand. Two other singles,
“No Son of Mine” and “Waiting on a War,” solidify the Foos cool uncle status.
Medicine at Midnight is exactly how Grohl describes it, “filled with anthemic, huge,
sing-along rock songs.” Of course, there’s a riff on there that was first created 25 years
ago in Seattle. Of course, he thinks a track sounds like Bowie. Of course, it’s “fun.”

Grohl has always had the benefit of doubt and timing. Nevermind was a huge hit
because of timing. In 1991, pop music was Michael Jackson or Guns n Roses, both
failing to follow up masterpieces. Of course, mallrats wanted irreverent volume, and
Nevermind was a major label album that was everywhere. The same could be said of
Songs for the Deaf. Who didn’t want a break from Chad Kroeger’s “Hero” and Puddle
of Mudd’s “She Hates Me”? Wasting Light broke rock music out of the monotony of
Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, and LMFAO.

Still, while Grohl continues to coast, no rock critic calls out his constant cliches.
Concrete and Gold was giving winning notes from The A.V. Club, Rolling Stone, Uncut,
and even Pitchfork gave it a 6.5 (which is like an 8 for modern rock bands).

Rolling Stone said Sonic Highways was full of the band’s “most ambitious moments
yet.” Entertainment Weekly gave that same album a B.

Wasting Light was called “the fiercest album” the band made by AllMusic in a 4.5-star
review, and Spin gave it a 9 out of 10. Kerrang! named Wasting Light the fourth best
album of 2011.

Critical acclaim continued for Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, garnering an A
from Entertainment Weekly, 3.5 stars from Rolling Stone and 4 stars from Q.

AllMusic praised In Your Honor with 4 stars, the Los Angeles Times gave it 3.5 out of 4
stars, and Spin gave it a B+.

One by One got an A- from Entertainment Weekly, and 4 stars from Rolling Stone and
Uncut.

Through all of this, what’s surprising is how Pitchfork, the usual cynic on the block when
it comes to rock criticism, continues to up its score for each Foo release as if hating on
the most popular modern rock band will hurt Pitchfork’s status more than make people
realize the band is recycling its own material.

Each album has a wealth of award nominations, too. In Your Honor had five
nominations. Echoes… won two Grammys. “Run” from Concrete and Gold won the
Grammy for Best Rock Song.

I can’t fathom what it’s like to be the cornerstone of modern rock music since 1991, but
that’s what Grohl has been. For 30 years, he has been the constant in rock ’n’ roll. As
much as he is a badass, rock journalism has been careful not to point out his weakest
material for those reasons and not the music he continues to release.

As Medicine at Midnight becomes the next “great” Foo record, it’s times like these I
wish more rock critics had a backbone to call out the band’s bullshit.