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Developed out of the grunge phenomenon, the Foo Fighters have shifted their sound over the past 12 years to a new sound, creating albums that can be featured on Top 40, easy listening, alternative and hard rock stations alike.
Dave Grohl, the frontman for the outfit, spent almost four years as drummer for the legendary grunge band Nirvana. Grohl began writing songs, but kept them from the band for fear of ruining their chemistry. After Nirvana singer Kurt Cobains death in 1994, Grohl went into the studio to record some of the songs - he performed the vocals and every instrument. Eventually, he developed a band to support the album (being sure to keep it much different from the Nirvana sound).
"The Colour and the Shape" was released in 1997, and was an instant classic in the rock world, including the hit singles "Monkey Wrench," "My Hero," "Everlong" and "Walking After You." The band easily could have faded after such a successful debut, but they came back with There is Nothing Left to Lose," featuring the massive hit "Learn to Fly."
Since the bands inception, there has been a number of lineup changes. Since 1999, though, the band has been solid with Grohl on vocals, guitar, drums and piano, Taylor Hawkins on drums, piano and guitar, Nate Mendel on bass and Chris Shiflett on guitar and backing vocals. Pat Smear, Drew Hester, Rami Jaffee and Jessy Greene are touring members.
The band recorded their next album "One by One" at the end of 2001. After Grohl took time to help Queeens of the Stone Age to record an album, Grohl decided to re-work some songs on the album and they wound up re-recording almost every track over 10 days. Hit singles from that collection include "All My Life," "Have it All" and "Times Like These." When the latter was used in President George W. Bushs re-election campaign, Grohl lent his support to John Kerrys attempt at the Presidency.
In 2005, the band released the double-CD "In Your Honor" for its 10th anniversary. The collection included one CD of rock songs and the other of acoustic tracks. Hits from the album include "Best of You" and "DOA." To support the album, the group embarked on a solo tour in the summer of 2006, which was an interesting choice for a rock-oriented band - it was successful, as they released "Skin and Bones," their first live album, after recording one of these shows.
The groups most recent work is "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace," for which they brought on producer Gil Norton, who last worked on their debut album. The first single from the album, "The Pretender," was extremely popular this past summer, and "Long Road to Ruin" has also been doing very well on the charts.
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