Love, Listen, Despise 02.10.10: Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Them Crooked Vultures

Posted by Chris Crowing on 02.10.2010

Chris Crowing returns to cast a disrespectful eye and decide which of Dave Grohl’s bands he Loves, would Listen to and which he would despise.....



Hi folks,

I've returned to cause controversy and debate amongst the 411 Music readership. Here's how the format works...

Have you ever heard of a game called Snog, Marry, Avoid? or alternatively F#ck, Marry, Kill?. This column works a bit like that, and each week I'll have three bands to discuss and I have to decide which of the three I LOVE, which of the three I LISTEN to and which of the three I DESPISE.

Ideally, I'd like YOU, the readers to decide on the bands I write about, as this will be a lot more fun if I have some curveballs thrown at me, so please get suggesting some triads to me!

Anyways, lets' get started...

Week One: Nirvana, Foo Fighters and Them Crooked Vultures suggested by Mitch Michaels

Our beneficent music editor has given thrown me to the wolves with the first selection, as these three bands are linked by a musical personality I love - Dave Grohl. How could I possibly DESPISE anything attached to the Nicest Man in Rock (c). Best take this band by band I guess...

Nirvana

Every fan of alternative, or even not-that-alternative-at-all music is aware of, familiar with and has an opinion on Nirvana. Whether you consider them to be the most important band in the last twenty years (sheesh, that's gonna have to be 25 years soon) or the band who kicked open the door for the debasement and commercialisation of heavy music, you have a position on Nirvana, and it is very rarely an apathetic one.

I remember listening to In Utero when I was still pretty young, about 13 years old and quite liking it, especially "Rape Me" (there is nothing will amuse a 13 year old as much as singing a ‘bad' word) - but then again I was listening to some pretty varied stuff at the time, like Ultra-sonic, "The Girl From Ipanema", "Suicide is Painless", Blur and such so Nirvana were just one of many diverse things forming my soundtrack at the time.

I don't remember the news of Cobain's death - which shows just HOW into or aware of music I was when I was thirteen.

However, when I did start making inroads into alternative music, Nirvana swiftly became important - I remember nearly breaking my foot by smashing it off a table when jumping about to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and some of the first songs I learned on guitar were from the Nirvana songbook, indeed "Come As You Are", "About A Girl" and a few others remain part of my canon to this day.



So Nirvana were an important stopping point on my musical education, and I'll also happily endorse their importance in musical history. However...

I DO NOT endorse the 'Cult of Kurt' and the relentless, near-annual hyperbole and hysteria that marks his passing. For one thing, the man himself HATED the mainstream appeal, and would be horrified to see a generation of kids, who weren't BORN when he died crying on the anniversary of his death.

For another thing, Nirvana are more important in that they helped open the door to alternative music with their more accessible style than for their awesome musicianship or massive stylistic originality.

Nirvana's breakout success shone the spotlight on alternative music, which allowed grunge, groove metal, alt rock, nu-metal etc. to take root in the warming glow of mainstream money and the whole 'alternative music scene' we take for granted these days to exist. Whether that is for good or for ill is up to you, I guess...



Was Kurt a great musician - no. I'm a mediocre guitarist, and if I can play your whole back catalogue, then you're not exactly Mozart are you? Kurt's genius was in his turn of phrase, his affecting song-writing, and I like to think that if he had broken free of Courtney Love (who I loathe with a burning passion), gotten happy (or at least balanced) he would have turned into an interesting solo folk musician. However, while he helped to shine a spotlight on grunge, alternative and heavier music as a whole, more credit for the style needs to go to less celebrated acts like the Melvins, Sonic Youth, the Meat Puppets and others…

So, I'm a fan of the band, but not so much of the legend. I wonder where they will fall...

Foo Fighters

I was first introduced to the Foo Fighters by my cousins around the time of The Colour and the Shape, and it was some time before I made the connection of the short haired front-man to the long-haired drummer from Nirvana. This was entirely secondary anyway, as the first time I heard them on Radio 1's at-the-time awesome Evening Session I immediately fell in love with "Monkey Wrench" and "Everlong."



The Colour & the Shape remains one of my favourite albums of all time, and formed a nice counterpoint to the Pantera and Fear Factory which dominated my listening at the time – incidentally forming a bridge between the indie which had been my previous musical neighbourhood and my more metallic tastes.

For me, it's a near perfect record with the joyous crunchy bounce of "Monkey Wrench", the polished, yet earnest emotion of "My Hero" or "Everlong" and the super-nice "Walking After You." Hey, as far as I'm concerned the album tracks like "My Poor Brain", "Wind Up", "February Stars" and "Up In Arms" are streets ahead of most bands very best efforts.

The self-titled debut record bulked out my collection with yet more awesomeness, and the third record There Is Nothing Left To Lose maintained a standard of excellence, while lacking some of the grungy heart of the first two records.

However, One by One had a few good songs and a bit of filler, and the bloated double album In Your Honour was mostly filler (aside from the excellent "Best of You" and passable "DOA") – was it possible that the Foos had burned out, that Dave had lost some of his alternative soul in the face of some incredible success?

Their most recent record Echoes, Patience, Silence & Grace indicates otherwise, with a newfound political spin most implicit in lead single "the Pretender" but also a new drive to the songs with "Let it Die" and "Erase/Replace" some of the most powerful tunes they've ever laid down.



I would probably say that despite their mid-noughties slump, the Foos are one of my favourite rock bands, with a massive canon of quality (if not particularly edgy or original in aspect) songs and an ever-impressive live show, fuelled by the sheer enthusiasm of Dave Grohl.

Hmm, I'm clearly a bit smitten with this act but can I love them in the face of their more celebrated, and perhaps credible brethren?

Them Crooked Vultures

On paper, it's just fantastic. Look at it like a recipe.

First, take the universally respected bass player of one of the bands responsible for founding the genres we know as rock, metal, alternative (delete as you feel appropriate) – in this case John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin.

Add in one of the most successful rock musicians of the modern age, in this case bringing the drumming skills used most famously in Nirvana but also for Scream, Probot, Killing Joke, Queens of the Stone Age and sometime in the Foo Fighters amongst others – of course this is the hero of our tale – Dave Grohl.

To front the group, we select the man who has fronted the critically acclaimed Queens of the Stone Age as well as being the driving force behind desert rock legends Kyuss - Josh Homme.

Sounds good doesn't it? However, I've never really been sold on the ideas of super-groups, especially after Audioslave and Velvet Revolver fell short of the awesomeness expected of them.

These failures are firstly because a majority of the bands in question come from one legendary act (Rage Against the Machine and Guns N' Roses respectively) which tends to skew the music and invite excessive comparisons to that act. Secondly, these acts fail because the singer tends to be of a different mind to the rest of the band (being from a different perspective, and often being an egomaniac and/or junkie) and the music suffers before the singer inevitably goes off to rejoin the band they felt more comfortable being the focus of. Happily, this has resulted in the (somewhat) reformation of Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden.

How does this apply to the band in question? Well Grohl and Homme have worked together before in Queens of the Stone Age and both clearly venerate the Zeppelin veteran Jones, so there should be musical harmony there and given that the singer is also the guitarist and has worked with the drummer before there shouldn't be any egomania or friction to be found there.



Sadly, this is why Them Crooked Vultures leave me cold. While the album is good, with a pile of entertaining songs and just a little filler, it doesn't feel vital, new or particularly interesting. The whole project smacks of rich, complacent rock stars wanting to play with their idol and sadly, the sought-after musical alchemy just falls short of the mythical gold we had hoped for.

I can't really blame it on the musicianship on show (which is exemplary) but more a sense that this is a rose by another name. Put it this way, if Queens of the Stone Age had held onto Nick Oliveri and replaced Mark Lanegan with Jon Paul Jones after Songs for the Deaf and Grohl had signed up for another tour on drums, then I feel that would have been a more exciting, vital, ORGANIC album.

Perhaps it's just that having Homme on guitar and vocals makes it too close to QOTSA, and perhaps Them Crooked Vultures would have benefited from another singer. Perhaps Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge could have stepped in, seeing as he is at a loose end given his band-mates are otherwise engaged with Creed and after all, he was mooted to replace Robert Plant in a mooted Led Zeppelin tour this summer – can you think of a more suitable choice?

So, despite being one of my top twenty records of 2009, Them Crooked Vultures haven't exactly set my world on fire, but surely I couldn't despise a band containing such a collection of legends?

The Reckoning

So now we come down to it, and I have to choose.

I LOVE the Foo Fighters, because of sincere emotional attachment and their consistent quality,

I LISTEN to Nirvana, because of the influence on my early education and an enduring canon of good songs,

and finally, I DESPISE, Them Crooked Vultures for being less than I had hoped, and coming across as more of a rock stars plaything than an earnest musical project, despite the evident quality of the music.



This is the bit where I field your comments, so if you disagree (or even agree) with me on any particular point, or want to suggest a new triad to face the Love, Listen or Despise treatment, get involved and put it in the comments!

I'm done for this week, I hope you've enjoyed the column and I'll see you next week!

Slainte,
Chris Crowing

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