Rrrrrrright so now its time for the 2nd part of my look at my pick of the best Foo Fighters songs which will cover the top 10 so there might be the odd surprise choice in here and again these are just personal favs. So let's get going....
10. My poor brain
It has to be said that this song, My poor brain, which features on their second, Colour and the shape, is one of my favourites. For starters I love the way the track slowly ups its voume at the start and grows louder into a cacophony of noise before it goes into its clean verse riff and it uses the quiet-loud dynamic. The chorus is also great with Dave singing "This is a blackout! Don't let it go to waste! This is a black. I wanna detonate!" and followed by the rather strange but catchy line "Sometimes I feel I'm getting stuck, between the handshake and the fuck!". The song finishes up great as well with Dave screeching "Sometimes I wish that I could change! I can't save you from my poor brain! Brain.... brain.... brain...! OK!" and its the "OK" bit I like the most just before the song closes out with one of their catchiest riffs, which proves again the Foos just know how to produce popular yet quality songs.
9. Aurora
Next at number 9 is Aurora, which remains one of the Foos most mellow and emotionally uplifting songs with its delayed effect peddle adding to the nostalgic feel the song has. The song was apparently written and dedicated to Dave's grandmother who had passed away and it shows the band continuing to develop their sound beyond the realms of standard rock. The lyrics are also quite floaty and dreamy in style and it features some of Dave's best lines such as "You believe there's somewhere else where its easier than this, and you see outside yourself and you buy the hole you fill and its on and on...". And another impressive aspect of the song is the way in which it builds into a crescendo and it ends on a real high note with the effect peddled guitar notes repeating again and again till the last note echoes. In short great stuff.
8. All my life
Although its definitely a top 10 song, All my life perhaps could be nearer the top but with so many songs to choose from I thought All my life deserves being at number 8. But getting back to the song, All my life is a cracker and the way it starts really grabs you with the G5 power chord chugging in the background and Dave quietly singing those great lyrics "All my life I've been searching for something, something never comes never leads to nothing, nothing satisfies but I'm getting close, getting closer to the end of the rope! All night long I dream of the day, when it comes around its taken away, leaves me with the feeling that I feel the most, feel it come to life when I see your ghost". And then it rips into the songs great central riff in what is easily one of the Foos most intense songs and it builds into a fine chorus and afteward it heads into its rockin outro with Dave yelling "Done, done onto the next one!! Done I'm done and I'm onto the next one!". In short All my life is one of the best Foos songs and the stuff that moshing at concerts was made for.
7. The Pretender
Well the Pretender is another track that had to be in here somewhere so it deseves a top 10 spot and here it is at No.7. Dave again never directly said what the meaning of the song was except he felt it mirrored the times and the political climate in the US and he felt people were getting screwed over by the government (obviously this was during the Bush administration!). Well what to say about it, I like the way the song starts with its mournful melody based on A minor, which breaks into a stomping ryhthym and Dave's lyrics: "Send in your skeletons, see their bones come marching in again. The need you bury deep the secrets that you keep, the secrets that you keep are ever ready. Are you ready??". And then it goes into its great chorus with the lyric "What if I say I'm not like the others? What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays? You're the pretender. What if I say I will never surrender?!". And then the song suddenly breaks into a blues boogie style similar to Chuck Berry which actually helps break up the song's morose tone at that point. And the song builds up nicely into the finale with its chorus and Dave finishing it off by screaming "So who are you? Yeah, who are you? YEAH, WHO ARE YOU????!" and then it comes to an end. So The Pretender adds up to one of the best Foos songs which again features a nice structure as well as some great lyrics and its well worth putting in the top 10.
6. No way back
Found on the double disc In Your Honor album, No way back is easily one of the Foo Fighters most upbeat tracks and its somewhat simplistic in its structure but its such a good fun song to listen to (and even play). The nature of the song could be somewhat dark in terms of the lyrics yet it makes it so optmistic which remains part of the band's appeal. The chorus lyrics to a lesser extent echo The Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the devil" with Dave singing "Please to meet you take my hand, there is no way back from here. Pleased to meet you say your prayers, there is no way back from here, but I don't care! No way back from here!". At this stage the Foos solos were pretty much in their infancy and the song features yet another mini solo but remains part of what makes the song a pleasure to listen to. And the ending of the song is also great with its little moments of staccato and Taylor's great drum fills which ends the song on an abrupt but satisfying moment in what is one of the most purely enjoyable songs the band has recorded.
5. DOA
Up next we have DOA which let's face it is easily one of the Foos best ever songs and its structure is pretty cool the way it starts with its slightly staccato rythyms before it launches into the verse. The song also features some of Dave's lyrics which start off with "You know I did it, its over and I feel fine. Nothing you could say is gonna change my mind. Waited and I waited the longest night nothing like the taste of sweet decline". It also has a great pre-chorus moment with Dave singing "Never mind there's nothing I can do, bet your life there's something killing you!". And the chorus lyrics are easily some of the most memorable of any Foo Fighters song "Its a shame we have to die, my dear. No one is getting out of here alive this time! What a way to go, they have no fear, no one is getting out of here alive this time!". So while the lyrics are again pretty dark in subject matter (especially as DOA stands for dead on arrival, term used for patients who died at the time of arrival at hospitals) the Foos yet again defy them by making it such an upbeat track. And perhaps that's why it ranks so high because as band they can make even a dark subject into something light and regardless of what you want to look at it, DOA is a great song in its own right and deserves a top 5 slot here.
4. New way home
As the final song on Colour and the shape, New way home it was a very strong way to finish the album and its remains one of the band's best songs. The start of the song sets it all up with its fairly jaunty pace and then it goes into the chorus which is one of the best Dave has written "I felt like this on my way home, I'm not scared. I passed the boats and the kingdom, I'm not scared". And after the first verse section the song becomes all quiet and Dave starts to repeat the chorus quietly as the song slowly starts to speed up and get louder and great thing here is underlying guitar track which accompanies it. And finally the songs reaches it crescendo as Dave yells the chorus line over and over and the song slowly fades out singalling the end of one of the Foos best albums. At the time it would be hard to figure this song would become one of the best signature songs of the group but over time it really has earned its place as one of the standout tracks not only on the Colour album but also of their career.
3. Everlong
So next up is Everlong, which is unquestionably one
of the band's finest efforts and the main riff in drop D is so simple to
play but is also very effective and the song quickly kicks in with the
hi-hats and the snare kicking away throughout. The song again also
features one of the band's most singable and also quite emotional
choruses where Dave sings out "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 gotta
promise not stop when I say when she sang". And again the song uses a
bit of that quiet-loud dynamic (popularised probably by the Pixies, who
coincidentally the producer of the Colour and the shape, Gil Norton,
recorded with) very well just before it ends on its emotional
crescendo. It still remains a favourite song of the band's and is easy
to see why however they have never played it the proper way in years and
Dave often starts if off singing and playing solo and he is only joined
by the rest of the band in the last minute, which I thought was all
wrong. Perhaps they have changed that since live I don't know, but it
took to see them perform during the live studio session recordings at
Studio 606, which can be found on Youtube, to finally see them play the
way it should be, all together as a band right from the start. So
Everlong is easily one of the most memorable tracks the band has ever
made.
2. My hero
The Foos have written a few songs that kind be described as anthems, the hugely overrated (in my opinion!) Best of You being the main one, but then there is My hero, which is a real rock anthem and still to this day one of the Foos very best songs. The song itself was said to have been a tribute to Kurt Cobain, but Dave has since refuted this by saying the song is more about seeing everyday people as his hero, which he reflects in the chorus where he sings "There goes my hero, watch him as he goes! There goes my hero, he's ordinary!". The structure of the song is also great from the start with the pounding drums coming in followed by Nate's bass and then the guitar line, and then the power chords E5 and C#5. Again Grohl's lyrics are very memorable here "Don't the best of them bleed it out, while the rest of them peter out. Truth or consequence, say it aloud, use that evidence, race it around!". The song also has a great bridge section where it stops for a breath and in builds up again goes back into the chorus and finally the song ends with some good feedback. In short My Hero is a terrific Foos number and it would be mad not to place it on this list.
1. Free me
OK OK OK, so you might wonder and ask the question "why the hell is this song right at the top of the list???" and "why isn't Best of You on here??". Well the reason why for me is Free Me remains one of the band's very best songs and it is criminally underrated and has probably not even been probably played since the In Your Honor tour. Not only that I also think that Best of You is one of the band's most overrated and blandest songs they ever wrote (not a popular opinion I'm sure but that's just the way I see it) so that's why its not here. Free me also probably has the best start to any Foo Fighters song where it begins in a continuous fashion from the previous track (on the In Your Honor) album and the central riff rings out quietly in the background with Dave singing "Free me now, right now, you take me away! Take it from me!" and then it crunches right into it. The lyrics are also great in this song and the way in which the main riff rings out in the background as the verse is played with a clean sound and not distorted is great and its also complimented by the 3/4 time signature. Dave's verse lyrics start with "Beautiful prisoner, left here for dead. Promises made and sentences read. Voices and visions are locked in my head like a safe full of sorrow." which is followed by its great chrous. And the bridge section is also great where Dave sings the lyric "Can you free what's keepin you! Well I need somebody to... FREE ME!!!!" which leads into Dave screaming the title of the song (perhaps that's one of the reasons maybe why they don't play it live so much as there is quite a bit of screaming involved!). The song also has a great rolling rythym on the drums and the guitar just before it ends on E5 with the string bend. So for me this stands as one of the very very best songs the Foo Fighters ever wrote and that's why it sits right at the top of this list and its a pity it remains one of the unsung songs by the band live as it surely deserves to be a regular on their set list.
Sooooooooo that's it for my exhaustive look at my top pick of the best 25 Foo Fighters songs and I hope you enjoyed it, even if you don't agree with it all, but again we all have our own opinions.
And with that I shall leave yeee there.
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