Daily Staff Writer

“The Color And The Shape”

Foo Fighters

Maybe if Kurt Cobain would have been strong enough to live, we wouldn’t be forced to listen to crap like Foo Fighters.

There once was a time when Dave Grohl played excellent angst-laced punk music with one of the most influential groups of the past decade. Unfortunately, Grohl wasn’t paying much attention at the time. Instead of mimicking Nirvana’s slow/fast breaks, he treats us to watered-down versions.

Most of the songs on the CD sound like they were once outtakes from his previous band. Then what’s the problem? Too much happiness and not enough hostility. Too much of an effort to be radio friendly. Too many cheesy lyrics.

These things hurt songs like “Hey, Johnny Park!” with its harmonized vocals which come off like a bad trip at a Crosby, Stills and Nash concert. “Up In Arms” seems to rely too heavily on Pavement’s signature guitar riffs. Unfortunately, neither Grohl nor former Nirvana guitarist Pat Smear do them very well.

“My Hero” is the run of the mill radio-friendly crap that killed alternative music for everybody. “See You” is basically poorly made lounge music with even worse blues guitar riffs. “February Stars” would be better placed on the Pat Boone album, where he mangles heavy metal songs.

However, there is an upside to all of this. All the worthless material makes the mediocre material look exceptional. This includes the overplayed “Monkey Wrench.”

“Wind Up” has some fairly decent guitar licks from Smear, and “Enough Space” actually begins to boil. Too bad the lyrics suck, even if Grohl does prove that he can scream really loud.

It would help immensely if Grohl could write some decent lyrics. But what would help most of all is if Foo Fighters simply disappeared forever and took all of its CDs with them. Too bad Grohl is such a media slut that he wouldn’t even consider it.

1 star out of five.

— Ben Jones