Throwback Thursday: Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters

Original Release date: 4th July 1995

Available to stream on Spotify - see Spotify player below

Continuing the theme from the first 'Throwback Thursday' post last week on 'In Utero' by Nirvana, this weeks post looks at Dave Grohl's next musical steps: the self titled debut album from one of the biggest bands the world has ever seen.

'Foo Fighters' was released just over a year after Kurt Cobain's tragic suicide. It was met with approval from critics and fans a like with Rolling Stone and Spin magazine both rating it highly. But the conception of this album started in 1991 when Grohl had released a 10 track cassette called 'Late on the Washington'. The cassette was never actually released due to contractual restrictions, but with Cobain's death Nirvana were no more, leaving Grohl to pursue these solo aspirations.

This early 10 track cassette then formed the foundations for 'Foo Fighters', but really this album should have been known as the 'Dave Grohl Experience' as almost every musical note and every lyric was written, recorded and mixed by Grohl himself. When you consider he had lost a great friend and his place in arguably the most successful band of the era only a year earlier, this shows extreme drive and courage.

The majority of the tracks on the album, including love song and fan favourite 'Big Me', were written before or during Grohl's time in Nirvana. The heavier 'X-Static' and 'Wattershed' were written after Cobain's death. You can certainly hear an angrier tone in these tracks. The influence of Nirvana is also obvious, with the vocals being particularly grungy in 'X-Static' along with the distorted guitar tone.

'Foo Fighters' heralded the beginning of the modern rock music juggernaut that is Foo Fighters. Since this release, they have penned 6 successful studio albums, rocked every venue around the world (including the giants of Hyde Park and Wembley Stadium), released a documentary on their history and picked up countless awards. Without Foo Fighters the modern rock landscape would look very different. Actually scratch that, without Dave Grohl, modern rock music would be a very different place.

Key tracks: This Is A Call, Big Me, Good Grief