One of my favorite albums from the 90′s is the Foo Fighters The Colour And The Shape album that followed their debut self titled album.  The first album was a quick recording of some tracks Dave Grohl had wrote while he was in Nirvana but was too shy and nervous to suggest them or start his own side project.  When Kurt Cobain died the band obviously had to break up so it became the perfect chance for Grohl to show case his talent in lyric and song writing.  Almost immediately after his first tour for the debut album he started recording for The Colour And The Shape and like the albums predecessor he played every instrument while tracking and mixing the album.  The album became an instant classic and their are several reasons why it can be labeled as a classic album.

The album opens up with an intro song in “Doll” and immediately kicks into the second track entitled “Monkey Wrench” which is a pretty heavy song for the Foo Fighters.  The ending verse where he starts ripping into the guitar and screaming “One last thing before I quit…” was one of those verses as a kid I would be a kook and air guitar and lip synch to and I still do when the song comes on the radio.  The third track which is one of my new favorites off the album is “Hey, Johnny Park!” and I think it’s mainly because of the build up the song does into the final verse which kicks into heavy distorted guitars.  The opening to this album is held by two solid songs in a row and gives you a nice taste for the album and the sound the Foo Fighters were doing in a time of shitty music.  The slow jam that eventually rocks out in “Up In Arms” is a radio song you hear randomly on local Alternative stations but it’s no where near the intensity of arguably one of the best songs the Foo Fighters ever wrote in “My Hero”.  That song fucking is probably one of the most perfect alternative rock songs of the 90′s and it’s highly underrated because of the monstrocity of “Everlong”.  The guitar riff for “My Hero” is just so awesome throughout the entire song and the video makes the song even more great because it’s just so perfect for the song. 

The ending of the album is where the band blew up and it’s mostly because of the song “Everlong” which ties for me as favorite Foo song.  The song was the first single off the album and the main reason for it’s success and you could even go as far to say as it’s the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” of the Foo Fighters.  Either way you listen to the song, album track, or acoustic the song gives you chills and the lyrics are so fucking sweet it just makes you melt every time you hear it.  It’s one of those songs you can listen to a million times and still want to listen to it a million more and that’s what makes a band great in being able to accomplish that.  The following song “Walking After You” is the ballad of the album and it’s a good song to chill too especially after “Everlong”.

Either way you slice it, the album is the back bone of the Foo Fighters and their most accomplished work to date.  Most people around my age have it and if you don’t you should at least download the hits because their a gravy train on biscuit wheels.  Below is the video for “My Hero” just because I think it matches the song so perfectly and everybody knows the “Everlong” video anyway.

Track Listing