Thursday, October 1, 2009

New Foo Fighters Video: "Wheels"


Do you think the Foo Fighters are anyone's favorite band? I mean, they've sold tens of millions of records on the strength of seemingly as many hits, but for some reason, I don't ever see Dave Grohl and co. as the type of guys that have legions of devotees who swear by everything the band does. They've always been that band that sort of floats along anonymously in the background, fulfilling their yearly quota of churning out pleasant, successful modern rock singles while somehow managing to consistently sell out entire tours. How do they do it? I don't think anyone passionately loathes the Foos - in fact, I think you can gather up most music fans and come out with a generally positive consensus of the band - but I've just never seen or heard anyone go absolutely apeshit over them. I guess a blogger in the 70's and 80's would've thought the same thing about Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: a band that slowly amassed a career's worth of monster hits without ever really being interesting.

I make that Tom Petty comparison not only for analogical purposes, but also because, hell, a lot of the Foos' catalog takes heavy cues from the Heartbreakers. Grohl has even admitted as much. So the fact that the band's new song, "Wheels," is in the vein of Petty's output from two decades ago shouldn't be surprising. It's a mid-tempo rocker with a nice central guitar riff and a vaguely enthusiastic chorus; lather, rinse, repeat. It's nothing more than a throwaway B-side that's being serviced as the band's victory lap single for the forthcoming Greatest Hits collection on Nov. 3. Good for them, though. They've been able to remain relevant for 15 years running, and hardly any bands have matched that kind of success in the same time period. So in keeping form with most Foo singles, "Wheels" isn't really anyone's thing... but it'll do.

Also, this video is pretty boring.

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