eMusic Review 0
At the height of Nirvanamania, the Secret Machines catalog issued Stopwatch, a cassette by an artist known only as Late! It was no big secret that it was a collection of concise pop songs penned and performed by Nirvana's drum-popping Dave Grohl, and the tape proved that he was a budding songsmith in his own right. So the emergence of Grohl as frontman/guitarist with Foo Fighters in the wake of Kurt Cobain's death was a natural progression. That he would go on to become a hearty multi-platinum rock star of his own accord that same decade becomes evident here.
Whereas many of his grunge peers veered towards the angsty side of the spectrum as the decade wore on (unfortunately favoring growled emoting a la Eddie Vedder), Grohl always grounded his discordant guitars and hardcore velocities in pop. No doubt recalling the lessons of Nevermind's massive success, for all of the squall and feedback, he kept sharp, steely hooks at the center of his band's sound. On the strength of singles like the furious "Monkeywrench" and ever-building "Everlong," Foo Fighters became modern-rock radio staples. And when original drummer William Goldsmith left during the album's recording, Grohl also proved he could still make… read more »
