The Foo Fighters crashed spectacularly into view following the untimely demise of Nirvana. Few people realized that
behind the Nirvana drum kit lurked a man of such prodigious musical talents. Prime mover Dave Grohl (guitar/vocals) played
guitar before he took up the drums, and had served time with a number of hardcore groups, including the legendary Scream.
Throughout the roller-coasting nightmare of fame and fortune that was Nirvana's short lifetime, Grohl nurtured a desire to create his own
music. During periods off the road he took time out to write his own material, an example of which, "Marigold", emerged as the low-key
B-side to Nirvana's penultimate single, "Heart Shaped Box". Following the period of confusion after Cobain's suicide, Grohl decided to
do what he had always wanted to do since he recorded his first song all by himself.
In September 1994 he booked himself into a 24-track studio and recruited a band: Nate Mendel (bass) and William
Goldsmith (drums) from short-lived Sub Pop hopefuls Sunny Day Real Estate, plus old acquaintance Pat Smear (guitar),
who had joined Nirvana on their final tour. Taking their name from the jargon used by World War II fighter pilots to describe UFOs,
a new phenomenon was born: cool songs combined with supercool B-movie imagery.
The record company (Capitol) and media cicus were salivating at the prospect, and the anticipation was such that the first single,
'This Is A Call', sailed into the upper reaches of the chart in June 1995. In the same month, Foo Fighters was released
on the Roswell label (to keep the UFO theme running), to near-universal acclaim. The brilliance of the single was no fluke: drawing on
his early punk influences, Grohl had crafted twelve euphoric shots of hardcore melody and layered vocal harmonies. The lyrics were
impenetrable but no one cared; it was the sound of the summer, earning them the label 'the hardcore Beach Boys'. Naturally the
Nirvana tag was wheeled out time after time, but the ragged Foo Fighters sound owed little to the heavier Nirvana vibe.
The subsequent US tour was a major blast, then late August brought them back to the UK for the Reading Rock Festival, where, in a
move that defies explanation, they were booked to play the small Second Stage tent, a venue that couldn't contain all the punters
who wanted to see them - havoc naturally ensued. The remainder of the year brought the release of two further singles ("I'll Stick
Around" and "For All The Cows") and more very successful live shows.
Whereas the first album was essentially a recording of Grohl alone (the band having been recruited between recording and mixing
down the album), The Colour and the Shape (Roswell / Parlophone 1997) was a genuine Foos album, and was
produced by Gil Norton, known for his stirling work with the Pixies. The band had changed drummers - exit Goldsmith, enter Taylor
Hawkins - and Grohl himself took the drummer's stool for most of the recording as well as writing most of the music. The
Colour and the Shape did little to dispel the band's growing reputation for 'grunge-lite' in the eyes of the press but it sold well
enough. In part autobiographical, and with a good deal of cathartic screaming, the album is no radical departure from standard grunge
(itself in danger of becoming as formulaic and dull as the big-hair metal bands it had blown away a decade before). However standout
pieces such as "Everlong", "Walking After You" and "New Way Home" - the three closing tracks on the album - are enough to
reaffirm one's faith in loud guitars as the road to salvation. Successfully exorcizing the ghosts of the past, the Foo Fighters have so far
proved that there is life after Nirvana.