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Yes, my fellow connoisseurs of all things heavy, today is the day you’ve been waiting for: NIRVANA DAY! As you all well know, November 3rd sees the release of several Nirvana and Nirvana-related releases. For those of you who haven’t already created your NIRVANA DAY CHECKLIST, here’s a handy cheat sheet of the day’s releases:
Honestly, I was never that excited about Them Crooked Vultures, for the simple reason that supergroups are anticlimactic nine out of ten times (and the fact that Queens of the Stone Age haven’t made a record I’ve wanted to listen to more than once since Songs for the Deaf didn’t help). Still, I was open to giving the band a shot.
Then I heard their first single, “New Fang.”
When Gary Suarez described this band’s music as “seriously generic and geriatric classic rock,” he wasn’t kidding.
It’s hard to believe the Foo Fighters have released 6 albums already. That in and of itself would be impressive for any band, but toss in the fact that Dave Grohl has aligned himself with umpteen side projects (Probot, Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, etc) and has continued to crank out hit after hit for the Foos, and it’s pretty damn astonishing. Here we are 13 years later, and the frickin’ drummer from Nirvana has penned so many hits that he probably had to make some pretty tough choices whilst whittling down tracks to be included on the band’s Greatest Hits package, coming November 3. AND the compilation has two new songs on it.
The Foo Fighters certainly aren’t metal, but Grohl’s got undeniable metal cred and an un-fuck-withable level of bad-assery. Even when he’s singing pure pop anthems like the new track “Wheels,” which I just streamed on the band’s MySpace page for the third fucking time in a row because it’s so good.
All hail Dave Grohl.
-VN
We’ve all been cringing at Courtney Love’s latest desecration of her dead husband for a quick buck. Thankfully, the Hole frontwoman and executor of Kurt Cobain’s estate isn’t standing in the way of an absolutely awesome reissue of Bleach, Nirvana’s classic grunge/sludge debut. First released twenty years ago on Sub Pop, the album has been remastered for the label under the direction of bassist Krist Novoselic and original producer Jack Endino.
Metal Hammer reports that Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones (those are the dudes from Queens of the Stone Age / Kyuss, Foo FIghters / Nirvana and Led fucking Zeppelin respectively, for the uninitiated or just plain retarded), in what would be the second extremely boner-worthy collaboration involving Josh Homme to surface in the past month.
Grohl is kinda-sorta getting his childhood/ongoing wet-dream of playing drums for Zep, kinda sorta. The man can pretty much do no wrong in my book, whatwith Probot, playing with Mastodon, a million other side projects, and of course the continued quality output of Foo Fighters. A collabo with Josh Homme makes perfect sense given his stoner/metal background, and JPJ is just the icing on the cake! Gonna be some deep, stoney shit.
-VN
So. Unless you live under a rock, chances are you’re aware that the movie adaptation of Watchmen opens tomorrow. The reviews are decidedly mixed and I’m still not convinced it won’t suck, but it’s already apparently making a ton of bank in ticket pre-sales, so, uh, yeah, people wanna see this bitch I guess.
Anyways, this week iTunes had some members of the cast do their celebrity playlist thing. A few actors chose a few metal songs – Patrick Wilson (who plays “Nite Owl II”) has some Van Halen and Extreme songs, Malin Akerman (”Silk Spectre II”) has some Nine Inch Nails, Jeffery Dean Morgan (”The Comedian”) was apparently pals with Layne Staley and included “Rooster” in his mix, etc.
But Jackie Earle Haley – the Oscar nominated actor playing the ultimate right wing sociopathic fascistic badass, Rorschach – created a list that is almost entirely comprised of metal.
Terrible metal.
The economy’s in the shitter and the sun is setting earlier and earlier every day. Still, there was reason to rejoice this week in the world of metal:
Sayonara suckers. See you next week.
-VN
Okay, not quite. But I’d like to imagine that’s what they’re thinking.
According to The Huffington Post, Dave Grohl and company are not pleased that McCain has been using the Foo Fighters anthem “My Hero” for his campaign. A statement from the band reads as follows:
“The saddest thing about this is that `My Hero’ was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential. To have it appropriated without our knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song.”
The band allegedly didn’t learn about McCain’s use of the song until they read about it in news reports.
So I guess the Foo Fighters won’t be touring with Sammy Hagar anytime soon, eh?
-AR
[Thanks to Dan Bennett for the tip!]
- Lemmy. Check.
- Melvins. Check.
- Venom, King Diamond, Max Cavalera. Check.
- led Zeppelin (sort of). Check.
Next up – Metallica.
In an open letter to Metallica [Blabbermouth via Idolator], Foo Fighters / ex-Nirvana skinsman Dave Grohl did a little hint-hint, nudge-nudge at the godfathers of thrash:
Dear METALLICA,
Hey, it’s Dave! Remember me? Yeah, I’m the guy that’s been listening to your band faithfully since 1983. I bought your first album ‘Kill ‘Em All’ from a mailorder catalogue called Under The Rainbow, I think. Actually I can’t remember. It was 1983 for Christsakes! But that album changed my life and I’ve been listening to your albums ever since (even ‘St Anger’!).
I can’t wait to hear the new shit, and no matter what you guys do I’ll always be first one at the shop waiting to hear it. I’m sure you’ll come out and blow everybody’s fuckin’ minds, because you’re fuckin’ METALLICA!
Good luck. And don’t release it until it’s kick-ass.
Yours, Dave Grohl.
P.S. Are you finished recording the drums yet?
At this point why wouldn’t Metallica hire on Dave for a guest spot at some point? He’s definitely reached that elder-statesman / overall bad-ass status in rock culture that allows him to do this type of thing, and lord knows they could use the cred. I mean, who doesn’t like Dave Grohl?
Plus, the dude is sickly talented behind the kit, in stark contrast to what some of you had to say about Metallica’s current drummer.
-VN
Proof that if you clamor loud enough you might just get what you ask for… almost. Though Dave Grohl didn’t quite get his publicly-announced wish (yet!) of playing drums for the reunited Led Zeppelin, he got the next best thing. Grohl somehow convinced Led Zep bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones to join the Foo Fighters on bass for a performance of their hit “The Pretender” at Sunday’s Grammy Awards, a childhood dream if you ask me. Oh, and there was also a full symphony orchestra on stage. Watch an excited Grohl perform the song with JPJ + orchestra below.
-VN
Rock and roll’s elder badass Dave Grohl is back with another Foo Fighters album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. And by “another Foo Fighters album” I mean exactly that, but in the best of ways; Foo Fighters have come to define a sound and have set a certain level of excellence that is met with every effort, and this one is no different. Though the Foos’ format of ’90s-style alternative guitar rock has been beat into the ground by many, Echoes proves why Grohl is still the best, a masterful songwriter and arranger; this album is full of good songs with endless melodies, hooks, and hard rocking riffs as well as acoustic ballads.
Most of the big debuts in hard rock and metal came last week with the Foo Fighters, Dethklok, Down and Arch Enemy — but all of these held respectable positions, while Nightwish and The Cult made Top 100 debuts. Chart positions and sales numbers after the jump.
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