Foo Fighters "In Your Honor"

Let’s face it, the Foo Fighters just may be one of least hated bands in the world. It’s rather common to see them on someone’s list of favorite bands. But think about it, have you ever seen or heard anyone talk about how much they hated or couldn’t stand the Foo Fighters? I know I haven’t. One of the things that has lead to their popularity is their consistency. Most music fans agree, there’s yet to be a “bad” Foo Fighters album. And trust me, that’s not something that changes with the release of In Your Honor. More than just giving us more of the same, the Foo Fighters have really done something amazing here. They’ve pleased everyone. You see, there are two schools of thought when it comes to the Foo Fighters. The first school of thought maintains that on recent releases the Foo Fighters have wondered a bit too far from the rocking alternative material that made them popular in the first place. The second school of thought comes from the more mainstream audience, most of which have grown to know the Foo Fighters based on the success of some of their more mellow singles. This school of thought really doesn’t have any interest in the loud rock and high shrieks that littered the early Foo Fighter albums. When in a situation like this, bands have to make an interesting decision. Do you make an album to please your mainstream fans, much like the band Sugar Ray did? Or do you stick to your roots and rock out, possibly alienating your mainstream fans but keeping your core audience in tact? Foo Fighters decided to do both.

You see, In Your Honor is a double album. The first disc is a return to the early years. Loud guitars, screaming vocals, busy drumming, yelling choruses. There are still a few songs that are gentler, much like some of the Foo Fighters recent singles. The lyrics also remain on the same level as they have been the last few albums. Dave Grohl has done a lot of growing up and it really shows lyrically on this album. Personal relationships, love, emotions of hurt and loss, these are the types of things explored on the rocking disc one. The first disc very much would appeal to the older fans of the Foo Fighters. Now the second disc seems designed for the more mainstream radio fans that have recently become Foo Fighter fans. This disc is all acoustic and contains a quiet Grohl probing subjects like life, love, heart break, and nostalgia. Most of the tracks feel very heartfelt and being that I generally enjoy the hard rocking Foo more than the quiet introspective Foo, I was surprised by how much I really liked the second disc.

All in all, this album is great. But beneath this great album I do find a lot of things to be concerned about. You can’t put out two albums worth of material every time, and one day soon the Foo Fighters are going to have to decide once and for all what direction to take their band in. However, that’s tomorrow. Today we have a great new album by one of the best bands of the last ten years, and it’s certainly worth purchasing. There’s a lot of great material between the two albums. The discs are like day and night, and it’s really a lot of fun to be able to see two sides to the band with the switch of a disc. No complaints here, pick it up and I’m sure you’ll have none either. Unless of course you hate the Foo Fighters. Then you may have some complaints.

FOUR AND A HALF OUT OF FIVE STARS

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