Foo Fighters Rock On With New Album

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Image Courtesy of Tone Deaf

By Renee Rasmussen

The year 2020 should have been an unforgettable and remarkable year for the Foo Fighters with the band coming up on its 25th anniversary. Scheduled to come out in February of 2020 to celebrate this milestone, Medicine at Midnight was destined to be the party anthem that would take the band through their best tour yet. 

Instead, all of their plans got halted and delayed due to the pandemic, and instead of having a year-long celebration, the Foo Fighters were forced, like everyone, to go into quarantine. 

A year later, the Foo Fighters finally were able to release the long-awaited album titled Medicine at Midnight, a short nine track compilation of upbeat rock songs that are bound to take fans by surprise. 

The Foo Fighters have a long history of doing this; Sonic Highways was an eight track album with each song being recorded in a different U.S city and Wasting Light contains a song titled “White Limo” that is practically a screamo fest. Medicine at Midnight has a slightly tame tone that is not often found on a Foo Fighter line up. 

Their newest album is definitely more upbeat and hopeful than past tracks. Opening with “Making a Fire,” fans get a fun intro of soft drums and electric guitar that set the stage for Dave Grohl to make an appearance. Although fun and catchy, the opening track of their newest album is slightly predictable and boring. Grohl himself seems unenthused while singing, lacking his usual energy that makes his songs so captivating. 

Despite the lackluster opening track, the album shifts tones dramatically with the second track “Shame Shame.” This track is more mysterious and demands more from its listeners. Its edgy guitar background mixed with the lyrical voice of Grohl creates a soft grunge atmosphere that is then taken over by repetitive lyrics. The only fault in this song is that it’s a minute too long. 

The album then returns to the Foo Fighters’ roots with the next song “Cloudspotter.” Although it starts similarly to “Shame Shame,” this is a song reminiscent of Concrete and Gold and the hit song “The Sky is a Neighborhood.” Here we finally get the raw, emotional Grohl, screaming into the mic that makes Foo Fighters songs so iconic and enjoyable to listen to. 

The album takes that momentum and carries it into the next two tracks, “Waiting on a War” and “Medicine at Midnight.” Although both were written before the chaos of 2020, they easily speak to an audience that has been put through an exhausting year. “Waiting on a War” is beautifully written and perfectly performed, all while containing the emotional energy that makes Grohl’s songs so authentic. 

Meanwhile “Medicine at Midnight” is a harrowing love ballad that sounds almost gothic and peaks when Grohl sings, “I remember dancing hard under the dead moon / Howling with you, howling.” Unlike the Foo Fighters’ common love songs that are either slow and sweet or bitter in tone, this song in particular takes the audience by surprise and makes them feel as though they are dancing in a smoky bar. 

The album continues with fairly generic songs but ends on the perfect note with “Love Dies Young.” Unexpected from the title, the closer song is an upbeat, dance worthy song that dwells in serious themes. For the bridge, Grohl drops the heavy line,“Never-ending cemeteries, funeral parades / All your dreams are buried in their place.” It’s the perfect song to end an album that comes at such a monumental time in the band’s career. 

All things considered, the Foo Fighters should have never lasted as long as they did. They were born in the 90’s when there were thousands of grunge rock bands trying to do the exact same thing that they were. But the Foo Fighters either did it better, or wanted it more, because 25 years later they are still here, adapting their music to fit the times. 

This album, although slightly superficial and repetitive, is simply fun and enjoyable. It is a celebratory album that makes you smile, if not even dance along, and is the exact medicine we all needed after the long year of 2020. 
Not every rock album needs to radically change the industry, because good music is simply timeless. This album may not be as thoughtful as Concrete and Gold, or as innovative as Sonic Highways, but it is a well deserved nod to the years that formed the band, and the gratitude they feel to still be doing what they love: playing music for their fans.

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