Foo Fighters - The Color and the Shape

Ahh, early Foo. I think my copy of this album was the first CD ever to be worn out from overplaying. I probably played this thing in my old red Walkman CD player so many times that the laser that read the CD left a groove in the disc. It’s got more variety than many Foo albums to me, when Dave Grohl’s voice still had a little bit of clarity left underneath the growl, although after the one-breath shouting marsthon on Everlong I don’t really know how that’s possible.

This band is hard to hate, despite recent revelations about Grohl’s personal life. Some people today might say that’s because the music is mainstream, but that’s just from the perspective of 30 years of the band’s success. This is the purest quality rock to an entire generation, distilled to perfect clarity. OK, there are a few dud songs, but the classics shine through and the songs in between are still Foo rock, aka infinitely headbangable.

From the roundup Greatest Albums of 1997.