Foo Fighters
There Is Nothing Left To Lose
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Foo Fighters
There Is Nothing Left To Lose
RCA/Roswell, 1999
RiYL: Cheap Trick, Nirvana, Lemonheads, Smashing Pumpkins |
However, that record's 1997 follow-up set a disturbing trend in progress: it advanced Grohl's commercial aims exponentially, but scaled back the debut's seething rock energy in favor of slick radio fodder. As frustrating as it was to listen to Grohl's underachievements, it was hard to fault him for attempting to move out from Nirvana's massive shadow.
Indeed, for the first thirty seconds of There Is Nothing Left To Lose, the Foo Fighters' third album, the distended bass and pounding drums trigger dreams of Grohl's hard-rocking past. But in a flash, "Stacked Actors" is subverted into a hushed verse. It turns out okay, but it also turns out to be a barometer for the entire album, which reinvents the Foo Fighters as a pumped-up Cheap Trick by way of such uninspiring classic rock throwbacks as Foghat or Boston. Jagged hooks and clever transitions have been buffed into predictable patterns, muting songs that have the potential to really rock, but rarely do.
Recorded at a time when the band's contract with Capitol had expired, There Is Nothing Left To Lose suffers further from its lack of clear directives. It wants to be everything at once -- ultra-hooky power-pop (the speedy "Breakout," the Cheap Trick homage "Gimme Stitches"), big, bad arena rock ("Live-In Skin," the Smashing Pumpkins-esque "Headwires"), and tender, subtle ballads (the plain "Next Year" and the alarmingly sappy "Ain't It The Life," replete with country twang) -- but never illuminates the context essential for this kind of genre-hopping. What the band is playing, and why they're playing it never seem quite in sync.
Thus, if one takes the songs purely at face value, There Is Nothing Left To Lose partially redeems itself. The songs are certainly well-constructed and very catchy, marked by the memorable riffs of "Headwires," "Generator" (replete with Frampton-style talking guitar effects), and the adequate but tame-by-Grohl-standards "Learn To Fly," the album's first single. The power-chord laden "Breakout" epitomizes the Foos' new, safe middle ground, marrying smily verses to great hooks, but only flaring up at its very end.
Still, it's tough to tolerate these shallow tunes when it's clear that Grohl can rock so much harder, let alone write songs that are so much more interesting. However prematurely, it raises a troublesome question: does Dave Grohl have more than one great album in him? Unfortunately, this one doesn't even contend.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"