Indiecast - Foo Fighters + Indie Bands Who Need Greatest Hits LPs

Episode Date: February 5, 2021

This week kicks off with an enlightening discussion of which indie bands should release greatest hits albums. Then, Steven and Ian are diving into one of the biggest releases of 2021 so far: Foo Fighters’ tenth studio album 'Medicine At Midnight.' The album doesn’t really sound like anything the Foos have released to date, continuing down the path that began with 2014’s 'Sonic Highways,' moving away from the thrashing rock that seems to have culminated in 2011’s 'Wasting Light.' 25 years into the band’s career, Hyden and Cohen try to figure out where the experimental 'Medicine At Midnight' stacks up in Foo Fighters’ massive catalogue.In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is loving 'Earbudz,' the first charity compilation from artist development company No Earbuds, which is now available for Bandcamp Friday. All proceeds will be donated The Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to cannabis-related criminal justice reform. Steven, on the other hand, can’t get enough of Yasmin Williams’ captivating instrumental guitar album 'Urban Driftwood.'See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Indycast is presented by Uprox's indie mixtape. Hello everyone and welcome to Indycasts. On this show, we talk about the biggest indie news of the week. We review albums and we hash out trends. In this episode, we're going to be talking about one of the most popular mainstream rock bands on the planet, the foo fighters. My name is Stephen Hayden, and I'm joined by my friend and co-host, Ian Cohen. Ian, how are you?

You know, as much as we joke about having an intern, and by the way, I like the fact that it's still kind of a mystery, whether we're going to hire one or not. But I think we've gotten like, I've gotten legit like resumes from people who are like, yeah, I want to be the intern. I want to be monitoring Lana Del Rey News. You know, where do I sign up? And I have to explain to them that this was a joke that you made up.

But maybe it will manifest. I think it will maybe manifest itself in an actual internship. Who knows? Yeah, because I mean, on Tuesday, we could have really just like live tweeted, like, or live podcasted like music Twitter on Tuesday. day. The day began with an announcement of a new Ice Age single, which, you know, like, I mean, Real Rock is back, New York music media in a tizzy. And then... Yeah, there were like nine music writers in Brooklyn that got really excited about that Ice Age news.

Yeah, and they signed a Mexican summer, which had just dropped Ariel Pink, so they were really solidifying their grip on, you know, pitchfork 2014 readers. And then... Wasn't like Ice Age ever problematic? Did they have like Nazi? Yeah. Back in the day, back in the day, like they kind of toyed around with similar to like Joy Division or a lot of bands in that realm, kind of Nazi iconography. But yeah, I think that was just like them being like teenage edge lords in Denmark.

So I think they've gotten out of being any, I think those days of them being considered problematic or long gone. But speaking of, but then, then. We heard about a new band or a new artist signed to Sacred Bones who they're going to release an album recorded by an unborn child. It's like ultrasounds or whatever. And I just, I'm thinking that, speaking of Ariel Pink, like, if this album gets like totally slammed, like, you might see them on like Fox News talking about, you know, reproductive rights and like, you know, how like music critics don't consider like unborn child to be musician. So, I mean, that's another possibility. So that's just like before 7 a.m.

My first thought about like the baby making a record was that like, wow, like now I have reason to feel even more secure about keeping up with the kids. It's like it's hard enough to keep up with like the zoomers who are teenagers. You know, like that makes me feel old. But now there's like actual like hipster babies making records. Yeah, unborn children. They're not even born yet. It's like I got to keep up with the unborn now. Like, come on.

Give me a break here. It's like it's hard enough as, you know, a middle-aged music critic to keep up with these trends. I want to just be worried about people who are actually like out of the womb. Now I'm going to be, you know, fretting about people inside the wound. Also on Tuesday, well, this was later on Tuesday. Yeah. It was the Morgan Wallen news, which isn't really like normally in the indie sphere. But like Morgan Wallen, you know, he put out that record in January called Danes.

The Double Album, which the double album is like in the album title, which is like, it's pretty hilarious. But he was getting, you know, indie creed. I know Stereo gum did a feature on him. A lot of people did. I don't think pitchfork reviewed that record. They did. They did.

They did review it. It was positive, it was like positive, but kind of like keeping a little, basically saying, like, yeah, this is good stuff. There's also 30 songs on here, and it gets a little tiresome. Right. It's representative of what I feel is like that creeping sense. If you can't beat them, join them. It's like there's nothing out right now. Yeah, there's nothing.

Well, I'll just say about Wallin that like, okay, because this is like where I stepped in it this week on Twitter. I stepped in it in like sort of like a minor way. But like I've been listening to that Morgan Wallen record and, you know, I've been kind of enjoying it. I have a weakness for that kind of country music. because it reminds me of like being on a pontoon boat in the middle of summer, like listening to like really slick sounding country music, and you're drinking like a Miller High Life, and you're just like kind of like dawdling down like a nice, you know,

like river channel off of like a lake and you have no cares in the world. And it's like, yeah, like in this environment, I do want to hear a song called Sand in My Boots. You know, this is like kind of speaking to me. So I was tweeting about this on Tuesday morning, the same day that you were talking about. And then like literally 10 hours later, TMZ reports that he's like

yelling the N word in his own driveway. And I'm like, man, why did this have to be the same day that I had to like, you know, stump for Morgan Wallen? You know, I would have preferred, although I'm glad that it didn't happen the following day, because sometimes you go on Twitter and you don't check the news.

And, you know, it would have been funny if I had gone on Twitter after this had been reported. And I was like, oh yeah, Morgan Wallen has some great songs. about being on a pontoon boat. Then I probably would have been canceled. I'm glad that didn't happen. Yeah, there is a phenomenon sometimes where like,

something like that happens and you realize like, oh, crap, when was the last time I said something positive about this artist? And then it gets into the whole, it's like, do you support, like, do you supporting this artist does this like equate to supporting their views? And I think with Morgan Wallen is like one of the things I think really troubled people was how much stuff, problematic stuff beforehand, that was like being overlooked. And when I say like the can't beat him, join him sort of thing, well, it's like, well, yeah, he did kind of violate COVID things.

And he, you know, isn't paying child support to his kid or whatever. But like, you know, he's that rap scallion who's like making that pop music with trap drums and all this. And I mean, like, I think it's been said, you know, you get kind of some strange bedfellows or like looking for love in all the wrong places type thing happening when. you're really just trying to like report on music trends as if it were sports as opposed to like treating it from like a critical standpoint but um but i mean it's just kind of it's unbelievable though that like he's actually like being pulled like he's seeing like real deal consequences in real time

oh yeah like and i think he's definitely bearing the brunt of like a lot of neglect in the country music industry in regards to race it seems like you know i mean i i think it's appropriate for for his, I mean, his record label, I guess, suspended him. I'm not really sure what that means. Yeah. If he's, like, sent a detention or something, like, or, you know, he can't go to class now, like, for, like, two weeks. I'm not sure what that means.

But, you know, like, the ACMs said that, like, they're not going to consider him in categories. I mean, the big thing with him is that, like, cumulus and I think even IHeart radios, like, just deep-sixth him from their playlist. And, like, country radio is still, like, a huge deal in the country music industry. So to be like taken out like Dixie Chick style is like a big thing for him. And I don't know how long that's going to last.

But I mean, I didn't know some of the stuff from his past. Like apparently he like dropped an N-word on Twitter like when he was 18 because he was quoting like a meek mill lyric or something. So like he's had a history of that sort of thing. This was like a much like less serious story. but like speaking of like, you know, indie people caring about country music, there was also that that Dali Parton story this week where she's going to be like in a Super Bowl commercial singing like a re-recorded version of 9 to 5 called 5 to 9 where it's like a song about like side hustles basically. Yeah.

People having to take additional jobs in order to pay the rent. And I don't know what the context of that's going to be, but I mean the way it was presented in the press release, it made it, it's, they called it. all didn't ode to side hustles. Whereas I think a lot of people would say, oh, this is kind of a terrible thing about capitalism, that people have to work a side hustle just to, you know, put food on the table. So like, Dali Parton, who's been like this sort of sainted figure now. And there's like lots of good jokes that you see, like I've seen people make fun of like sort of the prototypical like

Brooklyn hipster person who like just stands for Dali Parton all of a sudden. Which is kind of funny. And look, I love Dolly Parton. I think she's a great artist and just like a very, you know, endearing personality. But it was interesting to see her kind of take some guff online this week for that, for that whole thing. Yeah, I think that, like with many things in following music, like the moment you find out the person that you've elevated to this, like, sainted thing. Like the moment you find out they don't share your exact politics or that like rich people live very different lives than us. It causes people to have like a lot of anxiety about it.

Now, Dali Parton, I think like on the whole, like, you know, people are still like she's still like a very much a force for good. But it was just kind of, it's more funny to see the hand wringing about it where it's like, yeah, she's maybe not like a card carrying socialist or whatever. or that, you know, she, she's, like, willing to, like, make a song, like, like, you know, you hear it's like, oh, five, nine, that's kind of fun. That's kind of a joke. Like, maybe you don't think of, like, the huge, like, class warfare in, you know, indications. But I mean, what? Like, our podcast is a side hustle. You know, I, like, I guess we're just Oh, many side hustles. Yeah, I guess we're just built different. I got, like, three or four side hustles.

Yeah. Hustle mentality, man, rise and grind. It's 7 a.m. I'm up podcasting. But, you know, like, getting on a microphone and. And talking about Morgan Wayland isn't really that hard of a job. It's a pretty great job. And I will say, too, that Dolly Parton was probably glad to see the Morgan Wallen story happen. Because if anyone was tempted to write like a think piece about Dolly Parton, like Morgan Wallen pretty much drop kicked. Oh, God, yeah.

You know, Dolly Parton think pieces out the door this week. Since we're like talking a lot about Twitter here in our preamble section, we haven't really talked about the Eve Six guy. Yeah, it's a long time coming, man. Yeah, his Twitter account And like I feel like we're finally inspired Or I'm inspired to bring it up

Because you sent me a tweet this week Where he was like talking smack about Bush And Which was annoying And like just to backtrack here a little bit For people who aren't like extremely online The singer from Eve 6 His name's Max Collins I think

Nah It's definitely Max Max something He got on Twitter, I guess like a couple months ago. Yeah. And his account kind of became like a minor sensation because like he has like a pretty good sense of humor and it's like a very like ironic and self-aware sense of humor.

So he was kind of making fun of like basically being a guy in a alt rock band that like no one really cares about anymore. And I think a lot of people found it endearing and they thought, oh, the Eve Six guy. He's on Twitter. Isn't he funny? And I kind of thought it was funny at first, but then after a while it started to get like a little tiresome. And you could start to see that like, is this going to be like a way that people have comebacks now? Like where, you know, you can't do the reunion tour really.

So like you're going to go on Twitter and you're going to adopt this sort of like knowing self-aware persona where like you're laughing at yourself and you're letting other people laugh at you. but there's sort of like an acknowledgement that we're all in on the joke together. Like Huba Stank, the guy from Hube Stank, yeah. Had out something recently where he apologized for the band name, he's like, no one's perfect. No, I'm not a perfect person. That's the lyric from the reason.

That's why it's funny. That's why it's funny. I get it. So it seemed like the Hube Stank guy saw the Eve 6 guy and he's like, oh, wait, this is the new gold rush, like the ironic. alt rock, like, has been act. That's going to be the new thing. But then it's like you're taking shots at Bush for being a crappy band. It's like, dude, Gavin Rostale wrote glycerine, man. And he married Gwen Stefani. Like, what have you done besides be ironic on Twitter? He wrote the

heart and a blender song, which is kind of the annoying thing. So you refers to inside out as the heart and the blender song, the most memorable lyric. But I think that, like, first off, like Bush has written at least five good songs. Like, let's not like, undersell what Gavin Rossdale and company have accomplished over the years. But you're right in that it's been like, it's so easy to endear yourself to people by like, especially if like you're an alt rock guy from like back in the day by like kind of making fun of yourself. Like Hootie and the Blowfish, they did that a bit and all of a sudden you get into the New York Times.

Was Hootie and the Blowfish a great American band? Art from Everclear has been good about that. But art from Everclear has like a lot of really awesome stories. But that's, yeah, I think like Eve 6 like kind of found a cheat code. Because when it comes right down to it, when we're talking about like all these stories so far about like the baby, Dolly Parton and Eve 6 particularly, we are so bored right now. Like as a culture. Like we are almost approaching a year of lockdown.

and soon enough we'll have like memories of being in lockdown last year or like, you know, the pandemic starting. And we were just like so damn bored that anything that can take our attention, like for like, like the guy from Eve 6, you know, airing out stories about late 90s Alt Rock, which by the way is very entertaining because that was like amongst the last eras where there was just like a lot of money flowing around in Alt Rock. You know, that was like, oh yeah. You get great stories from that era. So I can hear them all day. And if I could go to a bar and hang out with Max, I'm sure I'd have a great time. I would love to hear stories about, you know, being at the MTV Beach House and, you know, playing the same song over and over again for, like, bikini-clad teenagers.

I'm sure, like, he's got a lot of great stories like that. But, you know, to go back to Gavin Rostale for a minute, you know, I feel like the thing I appreciate about Gavin Rostale, because, like, I'm not a huge Bush fan. But the thing I suspect about Gavin Rostale is that, like, he doesn't have a sense of people thinking that he's lame. You know, I don't think that he would have that kind of self-aware gene in him. And, like, I find that actually endearing at this point. Yeah. You know, the sort of maligned band that doesn't recognize why they're maligned.

But they just kind of go about their business and they think, yeah, we're actually great. And, you know, the haters somehow don't get to them. You know, maybe I'm wrong. maybe Gavin Rostale does know that, but like that, my sense of him is that he doesn't. Or why would he? He's like an extremely handsome man who's very rich and I'm sure he has a great life, even though like Gwen Stefani left him for Blake Shelton, which is like a terrible insult. But, you know, the self-aware thing, I just feel like, like you said, it feels like a bit of a cheat code sometimes.

And I just like want to be, I kind of like a 90s rock star who's like, yeah, I'm awesome. And I've always been awesome and I'm still awesome. even if they aren't. Well, that's third eye blind. That's the third eye blind guy, and he's got a lot of... Right. There are a lot of things wrong with, well, I won't get into that. But if you ask the...

Yeah, if you ask the right people, you'll hear about that, dude. Yeah, that may be a story in the future. We'll see. Well, let's go to our mailbag segment. And our listener question this week comes from Joe M. and he's from Madison, Wisconsin. I got a shout out my fellow Wisconsinites out there. Joe, thanks for writing in.

In the last mailbag episode, you or Ian mentioned that Manchester Orchestra is a band that could benefit from a good greatest hits album. That was Ian, by the way, who said that. Can you think of other 21st century indie bands that fit this need, or are the Spotify This Is Bandex playlist, the new greatest hits album?

Great question, Joe. I'm gonna, before we get into like, because Ian and I both have a lot of thoughts about this about bands that we think could benefit from a Greatest Hits album. I just want to do though like, just to kind of answer the second part of that question first. I actually feel like Greatest Hits albums do have a use, even if they're not like a physical album.

Because, you know, these Spotify playlists I've noticed or Apple music playlist, like if you're actually a fan of the band and you listen to some of these playlists, like they're pretty poorly assembled a lot of the time. And the thing I think that's great about like the best greatest hits albums is that you feel the hand of a curator at work. You know, like, yeah, there's some hits on that record, but there's also maybe some

carefully selected songs from like the deep cuts that complement the hits that make a greatest since album. Stand alone is like something that can really act as like a primer for people to get into an artist. And, you know, I, I think. think if we think of like the best examples of that and you know that's a whole other discussion talking about the best greatest hits albums but I think you really feel that in a way that you don't always from playlists so maybe I'm saying that like the people who make these playlists like

they should get better people to do them like maybe that's the problem or or maybe we need like you know to bring greatest hits albums back but I definitely think there's a use for it but as far as like an artist that would really benefit from this? I mean, I've got a couple thoughts. For some reason, I know you disagree with this, because we've talked about this a little bit before we recorded, but the first artist that came to my mind was Beach House, which is an act I really like. I know a lot of people, a lot of huge Beach House fans out there, people who love all their albums. I know that for me, I tend to love like two or three songs from each record that like I'll listen to those songs on repeat and then like the rest of the record kind of blends into the background.

And I just feel like if you took those two or three songs from each record, it made one super record, I would love it. I mean, because I just think that they're like a vibe band. And if you don't have like a really strong song in the middle of those vibes, you just have the vibes and they're very pleasant. And I, you know, it's, it's a pleasure to listen to them in a lot of ways. But like, it's also like a little bit boring for me over the course of an entire record. So I feel like they would really benefit from that. What about you? Like who comes to mind as far as like what like who would benefit from a greatest hits record?

Well, you were mentioning about how the Spotify essential or the Apple like such and such essentials or this is band X type playlist don't really like suit the need. They do seem like really haphazard and not like they're curated but like not well. I think if you go to the Jimmy Eat World, Apple Essentials, it begins with like a demo version of the middle. So, which, you know, I guess would be like really contrarian or counterintuitive, but it doesn't really suit the need. Beach House is a band I'll like get trades back to in a minute. But like I think there are two types of like two types of acts that I think would really benefit from a great, like a really intentionally put together greatest hits similar to the one the weekend put together prior to Super Bowl performance. but they're they're the ones who've just never really nailed it as an album. Like these bands remind me of like the CDs I would buy in the 90s because I saw like a couple songs on MTV and I liked them.

And I really only liked those two songs. But I kept the CD around and I would all like have these weird positive associations with it where I think it's way better than it is. And a lot of those bands are British nowadays. They're the ones I see at like 6 p.m. every two years of Coachella, for example, a full. come to mind. They're a band that's like released a lot of really great singles and like they've never put more than five on an album. Like totally forever, the first half is awesome. And then I forget every other song on it. Same with Holy Fire. The horrors, hot chip. I know people would disagree with me on that one. But like they have like two or three really awesome songs like that would and they

would really benefit from having them all put together because there's like a through line of like their kind of sensibilities. And also, I know the drums aren't British, but like they might as well be with the style of music they played. Very under, like, it's very underappreciate how popular that band is. But I think if you put their songs together in like a playlist, that people would really start to recognize, like, how good they've been and how consistent they've been. It's just they never made an album that I would give like over a seven five.

And then Beach House. I want to do like one, I want to do like one quick interjection here because like this is, because as far as like bands that have like a lot of records, like a lot of good songs, but they've never made like one sort of go-to great album. Yeah. I would also add the band Woods. Ah, yes. Uh, who is a band that like, like, I really, I pretty much like all of their records, but like I wouldn't say that there's a, like, a particular record that I love. Yeah. And I think that if you compiled like a really good greatest hits.

In a similar way to what was done for the Brian Jones Town Massacre, they have this great compilation called Tepid Peppermint Wonderland, which is like a great album. And they're like the total epitome of a band that has like so many scattershot records. But if you compile, like all their jams into like one like really well made compilation, it just works extremely well. So I put Woods in there. And I'd also put Ty Segal in there who's someone, he's like, one of those people that just makes like two or three records every year at this point. And he's another one like where I tend to like a lot of his stuff. But again,

I don't think he's made like that defining masterpiece that like you would go to and just listen to it from beginning to end. But I think even like a double disc compilation for Taisegal like would just bang from beginning to end. I think that would be really great. Yeah. The thing about Woods is like I've looked at this before and I think there's no band that has like a more consistent like metacritic score like every single one of their album is like 78 or something like that it's just like eerily consistent but i think yeah woods would be a great

band for it tie seagull even i'd listen to that probably because you know you got a couple songs that i dig um but there's when you talk about like beach house or like ty segal like this kind of makes me think of another uh type of greatest hits album that would really be beneficial i think which is you know how maybe like you know if you're anything like me you own those like double CDs for the Beatles greatest hits at first before you got in the album one was red one was blue the blue one one I believe was like the second half of the career like 67 to 70 and I think Beach House would be great for one of those if you did everything past Teen Dream Teen Dream. Teen Dream to me is like the one and after that like every album they put out is like really enjoyable to me but like I think to myself

once the last time I listened to seven all the way through or depression cherry all the way through. And similarly, like, Deer Hunter, Post Halcyon Digest, like those albums are good, but like I never think like, I'd really like to listen to fading frontier end to end. Same with like real estate after days. Just bands of that nature who I think at this point we kind of take them for granted because they're no longer at the center of indie rock discussion. but they're still making good records. And I know like when you talk to real estate for their last album, you know, they kind of talked about like what it's like to be kind of on the,

not the downside because like they're still doing really well. But like what happens when you've kind of tipped over to being a little outside the center of like what, you know, what you used to be. And, you know, like I think that they, you put together like second half career, like post peak greatest hits for those kind of bands.

I think that they'd be. be re-appreciated. And also, I would say I would listen to a nice age greatest hits album. They have a couple songs that I really dig on each album, but I'm more just, you know, kind of against the whole way they're talked about. Well, this is a good segue to our main topic of this episode. It's a band that actually does have a greatest hits album, but I feel like if you could somehow compile, like, the best songs from every album. The best. The best. The best. Maybe after, yeah, I call it. maybe every album, like, since, you know, like, after one by one, I feel like one by one is, like, the end of, like, a certain era for them.

Anyway, I'm talking about the Food Fighters, by the way. I'm talking about Food Fighters albums, like, people would know them by name. I feel like the Food Fighters are banned. They're not necessarily, like, an album band. They're, like, maybe more of, like, a song band. But we'll get into that as we get into our discussion here. The reason that we're talking about the Food Fighters is that they have a new album out today. it's called Medicine at Midnight.

And I actually, I wrote something about Food Fighters that is going to run, I think, on Monday, the Monday after this podcast post. I wrote about their entire career. And I was going to review this album. But, like, I've reviewed the last couple Food Fighters records. And I was like, I can't review another late period Food Fighters record because you kind of say the same thing. I mean, I'm professionally obligated to listen to these albums. I'm kind of interested on a personal level. But, like, I would say, like, their 2010's work, I guess, going into the 20s.

Not very good. I'll just say that. Like, have you heard this record, Madison at Midnight? You know, you mentioned, like, how just that the feedism of, like, oh, my God, like, I got to review another Food Fighters album. Even though they don't come out very often. But this kind of connects to last week. We talked about Weezer. it's like if with this band with weezer with smashing pumpkins like you're pretty solid if you review

one out of like every three albums they put out because then you can come back at it with like a like you know maybe say the things you would have said six years ago but they're new to you but um you know like a foo fighters album like you know like our like our podcasting brothers in arms might say uh music exists you know like this foo fighters album it it definitely exists it is out there. You can stream it. You can buy it. Um, and I, like, you mentioned one by one, uh, a little while. I'm like, I don't remember that year. Like, I don't remember when, uh, that was 02. That was like the record with all my life. Uh, that's all I'm kind of rock. Times like these. Yeah, that was like right around the time of their, of Dave Grohl's Queens of the Stone Age.

Yeah. Dalliance. And like that record definitely has like a Queens of the Stone Age type sound. But getting back to medicine at midnight for a moment here, you know, I, reviewed Sonic Highways. I reviewed Concrete and Gold. If you could name the 2017 Foo Fighters album, you're either like a huge Food Fighters fan or you're like a professional music critic

who gets assigned Foo Fathers Records. I reviewed an EP. The EP that he did. Oh, whatever that one was like. Yes, I did that one. I'm telling you, man, I can rattle off the names of like second and third-tier Food Fighters albums, like, you would never believe. But, like, you know, as someone

who has, like, listened to all these records and written about them, you know, I can hear that Dave Grohl, in his own way, is trying to sort of bring Food Fighters forward or, in some way, slightly reinvent what they do. Like, if you read the stories that have been written about the new record, it's been branded as, like, kind of like a dancey type record. like where they're playing with like dance influences. And there's been elements of that on other records. And, you know, it just doesn't come off that well. I mean, like, there's like these sort of like

pointlessly complicated time signatures. You know, they're trying to get funky in the rhythm section and it kind of falls flat. And Dave Grohl is, you know, doing, like, he does that like voice. I'm trying to describe it. It's kind of like Lemmy meets Paul Stanley, like that very sort of like hopped up arena rock growly voice that he does. Like there's a song on the new record called No Son of Mine. I don't know if you've heard this song.

The Genesis cover? No, exactly. I thought of that too, which is like a great reference. That's like, like, we can't dance era Genesis. Uh-huh. Very off-brand. For a dance record, uh, maybe, maybe. Ah, there you go.

There we go. But like no... That song No Son of Mine. Like, Dave Grohl's phrasing in that song is like very James Hetfield sounding. Like, he's doing like, no son of mine. No son of mine. You know, and the thing I realized about Foo Fighters, because, you know, again, I wrote this piece that's going to run next week where I revisited their entire catalog. And I wrote a list basically ranking their favorite songs, their best songs.

Guess what song is number one, by the way, on the best Food Fighter's song list? It's like the least surprising choice of all time. Oh, Everlon. Yeah, exactly. Everlong's like the best song of the 90s. You can't, yeah, like the gap, look, I'm spoiling my own list, but like if you don't expect Everlong to be at the top of a Food Fighters list, then I don't know what you're thinking.

Because I think, like, the gap between Everlong and every other Food Fighter's song is maybe wider than it is for any other major rock band, like, with their best song versus, like, the rest of their catalog. You know, like, for like most bands, you would say, like, well, there's like a good dozen songs in contention for, like, what could be credibly called their best song. With Food Fighters, it's ever long. And if you don't say ever long, then, like, you're just trying too hard to be contrarian, I think. But the thing I realized about Food Fighters is that, like, their most popular songs are almost always their best songs. Yeah.

Like, they don't, they don't really have, like, a lot of, like, great deep cuts. right? And what am I wrong about that? I mean, I would not say, I have no idea because like, you know, the post Queens of the Stone Age, you know, ambassador of rock, Dave Grohl, like, I don't know those deep cuts. But, you know, you look back on the first Foo Fighters record and, I mean, there are some great deep cuts on that. Like that album to me, like, and it's so hard to, you know, consider Dave Grohl to be cool at one point. but I think back when that came out in 94-95, it almost to me was like, you know, the Breeders' Last Splash, you know,

like, you know, the Pixies being Nirvana, the side project. And it's just this cobbled together, like, hodgepodge of like alt rock sounds from the 90s. And like, look, if I were at Coachella and Dave Grohl pulled out, like, ecstatic, you know, the song he did, like the Shugay song he did with Greg Dooley or like Weenie, I'd be super stoked for that. Oh yeah, or exhausted. Or George.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, like, certainly like the first three records, I think, are apart from the rest. And there are, I think, more deep cuts on those records than there are on the later records, like where it seems like once you get into the odds, like, there's a real focus on let's have two or three just monster radio songs. And like all the attention goes on that. And the rest of the album sounds a little filler-ish. I mean, like, you look at a song like The Pretender, for instance, that comes out in 2007.

That was like a top 40 pop hit. I mean, I think that was like their last song that entered the top 40. But like Food Fighters had like songs like that, you know, Best of You All My Life, you know, that were not just big rock hits, but they like did pretty well on pop radio too. but it is interesting, like you say, going back to that first record, which I feel like it's kind of lost now a little bit, like in like the foo fighters world. Like I saw the foo fighters in 2018.

And they didn't play a single song from that record. What? And not even I'll stick around or Big Me. I mean, like those are enormous hits. No. No, no songs. And believe me, they could have because there was a drum solo and a guitar solo.

and there were like several classic rock covers. Like they did like another one bites the dust and all this stuff. And, you know, and they're a good live band. And I think that's really become like their bread and butter in the last, say, 10 years. Like when their pop hits have really dried up. And like, you know, I think the major weakness of like these last three records, I think going back to like wasting light, like wasting light to me was like their last gasp, I think as like making.

like big radio songs. That song, that album has like walk on it and rope. I don't know what those songs sound like. If you heard them, you would probably recognize them. Okay. Because they were like fairly like played on the radio in their time and they probably still are. But like the last three records, I think what's missing is that, you know, core of like two or three undeniable songs that like get played on the radio that kind of justify the rest of the

record. And like, you hear them make stabs for that, but they don't really quite get there. It just feels like maybe that aspect of what they do is dried up a bit. But they've compensated by becoming this stadium rock band, really. Like, that really, to me, like, when I saw them live, it wasn't just that they were like the foo fighters, but it was almost like, we're here representing rock music. And, like, we're playing a show for people that maybe this is the only rock show they're going to see this year and maybe for like a couple years because again they were doing all of these sort of like generic rock type stuff again like the drum solo the guitar solo all these like classic rock covers they covered breakdown by tom petty you know and it just seemed like yeah like we're here to

represent rock so we're going to do a little bit of like you know all over the map here but yeah like they didn't play anything off the first record and that's still my favorite i guess a along with the color and the shape. Yeah. But that first record, which was basically a demo that Dave Grohl recorded by himself, it feels more like,

like it wasn't just tailored for, you know, radio stations in Cincinnati and Tulsa. You know, like, it feels like a little more personal to me. It's maybe more indie sounding, I guess,

than... Oh, yeah. Even by the color and the shape, like you listen to Monkey Wrench. Like, that song is like the blueprint for like, I think they're big singles after that.

Yeah. That kind of like hammer over the head, screaming the, you know, chorus type song that just works on the radio. They really kind of became a different band, you know, after that point. Yeah, I think with the color and the shape, like when you talk about like the personality of it,

like that record, I think was influenced by his breakup with one of the artists in Veruca Salt. So, you know, that kind of does. Yeah. Louis Poe. That's it, yeah. And also, like, that album is kind of like grandfathered into modern emo because it was produced by Gil Norton who did Jimmy Eat World's Futures. They famously incorporated half of Sunday Day Real Estate's lineup, but like kicked out William Goldsmith, the drummer, because Dave Grohl thought he could do the drum parts better. William Goldsmith still very mad about that online. Right. Yeah, I mean, he's in the documentary, too, by the way. He's in the documentary, too, by the way. He's in the

Which I'd recommend to people, even if you don't like Food Fighters, their documentary back and forth, which came out in like 2011, it's like surprisingly candid. And like William Goldsmith is in the movie. Yeah. And I actually respect Dave Grohl for like letting him be in the movie. Yeah, because he's mad. He is mad.

He's mad. He's mad. About a lot of things. And like he, and you know, to be clear, like Grohl didn't fire him. What he did was like he re-recorded the drum parts behind his back. essentially. And then still said, like, well, I want you to be in the band. I want you to, like, tour. And Goldsmith was like, you've just, like, shattered my confidence forever. I can't stay in this band. So then he, so he left. But you could say that he was like, you know, pushed off the ledge, I guess.

But he did technically jump off himself. But that, but yeah, it is like, it kind of sounds emoish. Yeah. Like, because you, when I've talked to the get up kids when they made their album, the right home about. They were like, yeah, we were listening to summer teeth and the color and the shape. And it was a huge influence on Bleed American as well. It's kind of that like triangulation between like the Hoosker Do slash sugar stuff that like Dave Roll wanted to do. And Sunday Day real estate and future Jimmy Eat World also February Stars is like a total hum rip off. So they had that going on as well. But I think that what happened after that is, you know, you're talking about like the way Dave Grohl seems to be getting in the mindset of like, you know, a DJ in Cincinnati or Tulsa or like one of those other markets.

But going from, you know, there's nothing enough to lose. He kind of became this like rock ambassador type person where if you make a documentary about the power of rock music, like Dave, you've got to get Dave Grohl on there. And like playing another one bites the dust and like breakdown in a stadium. like that to me signifies like what Dave Grohl's about and he you know his his desire to be this you know like it's kind of edge it's like kind of uncle rock you know it's like where it's not like dad rock but it's like the kind of uncle who might slip you a beer like when your dad's not looking but like still kind of take care of you and when I think about like where they're at right now and I think about you know his desire to be rock ambassador and like what's happening

this weekend. The Food Fighters played the inauguration. Like, that's a pretty big deal. But I really think that when they had their heart set on playing the Super Bowl halftime show, like every single thing that I think this band has done since the color and the shape has been in an attempt to be a Super Bowl halftime show, not just to be like, wow, the food fighters have been one of our most popular rock bands of, you know, the past 25 years. but it's like to kind of say something about like rock music in general, you know.

Like even if Dave Gould were to have to play this halftime show in an empty stadium, which is kind of what's happening now, he would still do it because it would be a statement about the power of rock music to span the generations. And, you know, he says all the right things about like Billy I was the new Kirk Covein or whatever. He'd bring in some guest stars to show like, you know, their connection to the greater pop world. But I think in reality, like, they're perfect for the inauguration because I think there's like a very kind of agreeable unity Joe Biden-esque message to a lot of what they do. You know, it's like, oh, good old Dave Grohl. You know, he's, he'll bring us back to those, the good old days.

And as far as like how this album will do one way or the other, I mean, it, I have, I would love to talk to a really passionate like Food Fighters fan. Like, I've been thinking about this my, you know, over the past 20 years, like, is there someone who, like, really loves and or hates Food Fighters albums? Like, is there someone who, you know. Is there someone who's like, one by one is garbage, but wasting light, like, they. I hear from them. And, like, you know, and I think, I think there's passionate fans. And I also think that there's an element to them that I think this was true of, like, you know, like later day Rolling Stones. Like, when people would go to see the stones at the stadium in their town.

it's like they identify as rock fans, but like maybe they're not like hardcore fans, but like they just want to go see a rock show. And it's like, maybe the Rolling Stones is like, they're like, oh, well, I don't really know any new bands, but like I know the Rolling Stones and they're a rock band. I'm going to go see them. And I think Foo Fighters are like taking that mantle. Like when the Rolling Stones finally have to retire, the food fighters are going to be the new Rolling Stones. And like they're going to be, and Dave Grohl is going to be touring when he's like 75. Yeah. Playing these songs. And like you talk about the Super Bowl halftime show, I have no doubt that they will eventually play that halftime show.

I really think that will happen. And I can imagine the set list. Like it's going to be my hero. My hero, followed by my hero. Well, no, it's going to be like the first song would be like whatever their single is. You got to promote that. Then it's going to be my, then it's going to be learned to fly. Yes.

Then it's going to be my hero. And then it's going to conclude with Best of You. Yeah. And it will kill. That will kill. Those songs, like, the thing with the Food Fighters, and I realized this when I was writing my piece, that, like, this is a band that I generally appreciate. Like, I'm not a huge fan of the Food Fighters, but I appreciate what they do.

And I think Dave Grohl is a very appealing guy. I respect what he does. But it's like, I notice that, like, whenever I write about them, it's hard to write about them and even talk about them on this show without, like, making fun of them. Yeah. You know? Because it's like, there's a lot of things that are kind of like that you can nitpick with them that are kind of easy to laugh at. But a lot of things, even like the negative things we're saying about them actually are like positives.

Yeah, kind of endearing. Well, if you put them like in an arena rock context or a Super Bowl type show context, like the negatives about them being like a little broad, a little like, you know, vague, you know, like lyrically, the songs. don't really mean anything at all. You know, musically, it's very obvious. It kind of beats you over the head. But if you, like, put that at the Super Bowl, all that stuff works great. It's like, you want music that's really broad and obvious

to be in that kind of environment. And, like, again, if they play, like, their crappy new single, then play Learn to Fly, my hero, and Best of You, I would probably be, like, cheering that halftime show. I think that would be actually, like, a pretty great halftime show and they kind of work perfectly in that environment. Making like a new record where they're like dabbling in dance rhythms. Not so much.

That's not their strength at this point. But yeah, put them at the Super Bowl show, halftime show. And I think they might kill it. Yeah, give them some guest stars or whatever. Like, they'll do that. And, you know, like just someone rapping over my hero or whatever. Like, Dave Grohl would be down for that. So, I mean, I just think that this year, like this year was kind of the year.

for them to do it. And I don't know. But they play the inaugural. They play times like these, the inauguration. Kind of a nice moment, like a melding of like a band's sentimentality and a politician's sentimentality. And look, I mean, they exist. I'm glad.

Dave Grohl will, you know, if I met Dave Grohl, I'm sure him and I would have a lot to talk about. I'm sure he'd be a cool guy. But, I mean, you know, it, it, I already forgot what this. new album is called. All right, we've now reached a part of our episode called Recommendation Corner where we each talk about something that we're into this week. Ian, why don't you go first?

All right, so what I, if you've seen me on Twitter, like, you know that I'm like, I'm pretty excited about this compilation for charity called No Earbuds Compilation. It's put together by Jamie Coletta, who's been just a real fixture in this scene for years and years and years. it's kind of weird to be talking up like what is essentially like a PR person. But I think that she in her time has like really, you know, helped this wave of music that you would call like hardcore punk or emo get into, you know, kind of get into the mainstream.

And when you look at this band, the look at the track list for this compilation, it's a bunch of bands that she represents and works with covering each other. So you have Kara Kara covering Barty's Strange Mustang. You have Joey Van from Indian Lakes, a band that I really love, doing like an extremely chill cover of Doglegs Kawasaki backflip that really works. And for the one that, like the fact that it's for childable cause, it's great. But I think it really gives a sense of like the community that she's really helped foster within the emo, punk, you know,

feeling stuff, music subgenre. and it's something that's like really kind of been missing over the past year because you know that these bands would be touring together. You'd be seeing like, you know, Oso Oso and like Dog Lake touring together or like Carra Carre Bartish Strange. And since you can't get that sense of allegiance, a lot of these covers are really awesome to begin with. But secondly, it's more that you kind of get a sense that even in an online pandemic setting, there's still communication going on between bands. And that's really what Jamie's been all about. So I think this is kind of like a culmination of the hard, awesome work that she's done over the past decade. Awesome.

Yeah, Jamie Coletta, love you. Thanks for all your work. She's a great publicist, great person all around. I want to talk about a record called Urban Driftwood made by a guitarist from Virginia named Yasmin Williams. And this record has been getting a fair amount of attention, I think, more so than like a lot of instrumental guitar records. that come out over the course of the year. There's a lot of these kind of records that come out from that underground, like, primitive folk scene.

And I think the reason why this record has stood out is that, like, if you listen to, like, a lot of records that come out of that world, you can hear, like, a really strong influence from, like, John Fahey. He is definitely the main touchstone for artists of this kind. And even, like, the records that are good, it could be hard to really distinguish one from the other.

It seems like there's a lot of similarities going on, a lot of shared influences. And the thing with this record is that unlike a lot of instrumental guitar records that sort of lean into sort of the primitive aspect of this music, that when you listen to Urban Driftwood, there's something just like really kind of layered and lush and like big sounding about it, like where it actually sounds like more than the sum of its parts.

And I think that has a lot to do with just like Yasmin, William, technique as a guitar player. I would say, like, even if you're, like, not, like, a guitar person, you know, if you're not the kind of person that looks up, you know, guitarist on YouTube or something to see how they play, look up Yasmin Williams, because I think the way she plays is, like, really interesting and cool. Like, she has this finger-picking style where she plays in a conventional kind of way. But then, like, in the middle of the song, she actually, like, put her, like, acoustic guitar

on her lap and play that way. And then be doing, like, you know, Eddie Van Halen-type, like, finger taps on it as well. And it's really mesmerizing to watch, but more than that, I think musically, it creates the sound that, like, again, you can draw a line from it

to, like, those other instrumental guitar records, records that are drawing really on the roots of American music, you know, in folk and blues and jazz, but also really kind of taking those sounds in, like, a new direction that, again, to me, creates like a bigger sound.

It's not just about thinking that this is one person playing this. Sometimes you feel like there's almost like a symphonic quality to this record that is like totally unique and totally mesmerizing. And it's been a record that like

I've really loved and taken a lot of solace in, you know, in recent weeks. So even if you're not a person that normally listens to this kind of music, I would really recommend checking it out because again, I feel like this feels like a record

that is really kind of crossing over in like a small way to people who aren't normally in like the primitive folk audience. Again, the record is called Urban Driftwood. It's by Yasmin Williams. I also have to do a quick shout out to the new Vampire Weekend EP,

which is two covers of the song, 2021, including a 20-minute and 21 song cover by the jam band Goose from Connecticut. So just to get some jam band shoutouts into indie cast. I always like to do that when I can. So go check that out. With the Asman Williams album,

one of my friends actually, who's like totally not in that primitive John Fahey realm, he like texted me, he's like, you know what, this sounds more like Joe Satriani to me than like John Fahey. So, and I'm like, yeah,

there is kind of some surfing the alien vibes. I take this record too. Yeah, and like, and she actually got into guitar from playing guitar hero too. So, you know, I feel like there is, some sort of like, at least sort of like ambient metal influence maybe on what she's doing, even if like it doesn't really come across all that much musically on the record.

But yeah, definitely there are ghosts of Joe Satriani and John Fahey coming together on this record, which I think makes it really cool. So we have now reached the end of our latest episode of Indycast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll be back with more news and reviews and hashing out trends next week. And if you're looking for more music recommendations, sign up for the Indie Mix tape newsletter. You can go to uprocks.com backslash indie. And I recommend five albums per week and we'll send it directly to your email box.