Foo Foighters Learn to Love Again

Over the course of their xx-plus years in the business, Foo Fighters have assumed the role of being mail-grunge's Police & Order. They're not the nigh of import or influential band, and you might not be able to tell a couple of their songs apart immediately. Only they're always on, and they're always good: You change to the local rock station at any given point in the day, and you probably don't take to get more than an hour earlier hearing one of their hits — and when it's on, you sing along. They're the comfort food of the Culling Nation, and an inextricable role of modernistic stone culture. So, we've decided to rank the 152 songs that make up the world of Foo. B-sides, live tracks, and soundtrack cuts all count, though a song had to be featured on an official commercial release to be eligible. We'll be discussing the songs in groups of near ten until nosotros get to the top 80, then we'll blurb each individually. Read on below, and allow us know if you concur almost our have on the all-time (and worst) of Foo. ANDREW UNTERBERGER

152. "Ozone" ("I'll Stick Effectually" B-Side, 1995)
151. "The Deepest Blues Are Blackness" (In Your Honor, 2005)
150. "Podunk" ("This Is a Call" B-Side, 1995)
149. "Have a Cigar" ("Learn to Wing" B-Side, 1999)
148. "Cease Over Stop" (In Your Honor, 2005)
147. "Gas Chamber (BBC Session)" ("Large Me" B-Side, 1995)
146. "Once & For All (Demo)" (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (Deluxe Edition), 2007)
145. "Spill" ("Best of Yous" B-Side, 2005)
144. "Wattershed" (Foo Fighters, 1995)
143. "Marigold (Alive)" (Skin and Bones, 2006)
142. "I Experience Gratuitous" ("DOA" B-Side, 2005)
141. "If Always" ("The Pretender" B-Side, 2007)

Here we have a handful of the group's clunkiest covers, including Ace Frehley'due south "Ozone" (No. 152), the Angry Samoans' "Gas Chamber" (147), and nearly disappointingly, Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar" (149). There'due south also the Foos covering Dave'southward own "Marigold" (143), which actually has the stardom of being Grohl'south beginning recorded composition — Nirvana did information technology for the B-side to "Centre-Shaped Box." Only when the Foos played "Marigold" in a charmless arrangement for a live acoustic album, they removed practically all of the song's intrigue. Nosotros besides have their all-fourth dimension most insufferable album rail, in the brutally repetitive and overwrought "The Deepest Blues are Black" (151).A.U.

140. "Back and Forth" (Wasting Lite, 2011)
139. "What Did I Do? / God As My Witness" (Sonic Highways, 2014)
138. "Bad Reputation" (Medium Rare, 2011)
137. "Bangin" ("The Pretender" B-Side, 2007)
136. "This Will Exist Our Year" (Medium Rare, 2011)
135. "Born on the Bayou" ("Resolve" B-Side, 2005)
134. "Walking a Line" (One By 1 Special Express Edition, 2002)
133. "Fe and Stone" ("Acquire to Wing" B-Side, 1999)
132. "Life of Illusion" ("Times Similar These" B-Side, 2005)
131. "FFL" ("Best of You" B-Side, 2005)

A whole bunch more cover B-sides, though at present they're more just unmemorable than clunky — Joe Walsh's "Life of Illusion" (132) and Thin Lizzy'south "Bad Reputation" (138). "Dorsum and Forth" (140) is probably the most forgettable Wasting Low-cal cut but because the vocal doesn't much become anywhere, while "What Did I Practise? / God As My Witness" (139) is the low-point onSonic Highways considering information technology tries to arrive too many places in one vocal. "FFL" (131) is a fun, silly thrasher, just they've had funner.A.U.

130. "Come up Alive" (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, 2007)
129. "Free Me" (In Your Honor, 2005)
128. "Weenie Beenie" (Foo Fighters, 1995)
127. "Word Forrard" (Greatest Hits, 2009)
126. "Earth (Demo)" ("Resolve" B-Side, 2005)
125. "The Final Song" (In Your Laurels, 2005)
124. "Outside" (Sonic Highways, 2014)
123. "Tired of You" (I By One, 2002)
122. "Fortunate Son (With John Fogerty)" (Wrote a Song for Everyone, 2013)
121. "Planet Claire (Live with Fred Schnieder)" ("Times Like These" B-Side, 2005)

A whole bunch of album deep cuts here — "Come Alive" (130), "Costless Me" (129), "Exterior" (124), "Tired of You" (123) — that just aren't quite as ballsy as they'd like to think they are, failing to develop interestingly enough to justify their five and half-dozen-minute run times. On the other side, there'due south "Weenie Beenie" (128), the first representation from the band'due south kickoff album, an incomprehensible punk tune that's difficult to get likewise mad at, and "Planet Claire" (121), a cover of the B-52s song that'due south and then faithful it actually gets Fred Schneider to provide the lead vocal.A.U.

120. "Over and Out" (In Your Honor, 2005)
119. "Holiday in Camobida (Live with Serj Tankian)" ("Long Road to Ruin" B-Side, 2007)
118. "Burn down Abroad" (1 By One, 2002)
117. "Winnebago" ("Wearied" B-Side, 1995)
116. "Go on the Automobile Running (Live)" ("Long Road to Ruin" B-Side, 2007)
115. "Overdrive" (I By One, 2002)
114. "Young man Blues (Live)" (Medium Rare, 2011)
113. "Miss the Misery" (Wasting Lite, 2011)
112. "Improve Off" (Wasting Light (Deluxe Edition), 2011)
111. "Halo" (1 By One, 2002)

A couple more than endless-seeming anthology tracks — "Over and Out" (120) and "Fire Abroad" (118) — and some increasingly enjoyable live covers. "Holiday in Kingdom of cambodia" (119) is made by invitee vocalist Serj Tankian'south Jello-worthy warbling, while "Young Man Blues" (114) has enough interaction with its VH1 Rock Honors crowd to be decently engaging. In that location's also "Winnebago" (117), ane of the group'southward better early B-sides, which the Foos still break out live every now and then equally a care for for long-time fans.A.U.

110. "Downwards in the Park" ("Monkey Wrench" B-Side, 1997)
109. "Oh, George" (Foo Fighters, 1995)
108. "I Am a River" (Sonic Highways, 2014)
107. "Come up Dorsum" (One By One, 2002)
106. "Doll" (The Color and the Shape, 1997)
105. "On the Mend" (In Your Honor, 2005)
104. "Make a Bet" ("Learn to Fly" B-Side, 1999)
103. "Never Talking to You Again (Alive)" ("Depression" B-Side, 2003)
102. "No Way Back" (In Your Honor, 2005)
101. "For All the Cows" (Foo Fighters, 1995)

"Doll" (106) may be the worst song on the band's best album (The Colour and the Shape), but it's also just an 84-second ballad that serves mostly as a intro to proper opener "Monkey Wrench," and information technology's likeable enough to nearly scissure the elevation 100 anyhow. "Oh, George" (109) was Grohl's own least-favorite song on the debut, and your feelings on the eight-minute One By One closer "Come Back" (107) and seven-minute Sonic Highways closer "I Am a River" (108) probable depend on how much patience you have left after getting through the residual of the album's draggy 2nd side and how much patience you take for the phrase "I am a river," respectively.A.U.
100. "X-Static" (Foo Fighters, 1995)
99. "Requiem" ("Everlong" B-Side, 1997)
98. "Summertime'southward Finish" (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, 2007)
97. "Fraternity" ("Generator" B-Side, 2000)
96. "Lonely As Yous" (Ane By Ane, 2002)
95. "Normal" ("Times Like These" B-Side, 2005)
94. "Phenomenon" (In Your Honor, 2005)
93. "Gimme Stitches" (There Is Nothing Left to Lose, 1999)
92. "The Sign" (In Your Award (Uk Edition), 2005)
91. "Savior Breath" (Saint Cecilia, 2015)

"Fraternity" (97) and "Normal" (95) are two of the band'southward poppiest B-side originals, while the band's cover of Killing Joke'south "Requiem" (99) calms down the righteousness of the original without losing its emotional intensity. (Remarkably, "The Sign" (87) is not a comprehend of the Ace of Base vocal, only rather an underappreciated jolt of free energy on the U.K. edition to their virtually tired-sounding album.) It'south hard to believe the Foos were ever as shoegaze-y as they audio on "Ten-Static" (95), which is pretty much a less-active drum part away from being a straight-up My Bloody Valentine song.A.U.
ninety. "Dear Lover" (Scream 2 Soundtrack, 1997)
89. "Friend of a Friend" (In Your Honor, 2005)
88. "Come across Yous" (The Colour and the Shape, 1997)
87. "Stranger Things Have Happened" (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, 2007)
86. "Sis Europe" ("All My Life" B-Side, 2002)
85. "Dear Rosemary" (Wasting Calorie-free, 2011)
84. "Danny Says" ("All My Life" B-Side, 2002)
83. "How I Miss You" ("I'll Stick Around" B-Side, 1995)
82. "Skilful Grief" (Foo Fighters, 1995)
81. "Subterranean" (Sonic Highways, 2014)

The Colour and the Shape probably had 1 too many tender ballads already — including "Encounter You" (89) — but soundtrack cut "Dear Lover" (90) would take otherwise been a worthy improver. "Subterraneans" (81), the sonic certificate from the  Seattle visit of Sonic Highways, isn't nearly as grunge-influenced as you might conceptualize, but rather sounds more similar an atmospheric late-'70s radio hit by Gary Wright or Al Stewart. And shout out to a couple of '80s heroes in the Psychedelic Furs, whose enigmatic "Sis Europe" (82) makes for one of the grouping'due south most interesting cover choices, and Bob Mould of Hüsker Dü, who contributes guest vocals to "Dear Rosemary" (81). A.U.

fourscore. "Resolve" (In Your Honor, 2005)
This jangle-rock cut has dream-pop in its verses and Tom Petty in its chorus, with a weathered experience to the chords that mirrors the beleaguered John Kerry campaign that inspired In Your Honor. "A piffling bit of resolve," sighed Grohl and the rest of the globe, "is what I need now." Added bonus for indie geeks: The tune has hit similarities to the Wrens' "Thirteen Thou" from a couple of years before, which was also when indie geeks noted, "Hey, that guy from the Wrens who sings 'Thirteen 1000' sounds a lot similar Dave Grohl." Take we ever seen them in the same room together? D.West.

79. "Kiss the Bottle" ("Best of You" B-Side, 2005)
Foo Fighters and Jawbreaker toured together in the mid-'90s as the two bands were going in contrary directions, the one-time on their way to becoming one of the biggest groups in the state and the latter on their way to total dissolution. The Foos paid tribute to their quondam buds by covering their "Kiss the Bottle," sanding over the shambolic edge of the original but turning the alcoholic anthem into a pretty decent power-pop number, including an all-too-rare turn for guitarist Chris Shiflett on the mic. A.U.

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78. "Bridge Burning" (Wasting Low-cal, 2011)
This one rules a piffling but for that creepy, scab-picking intro, plucked out with dirty harmonics. It could be a 9 Inch Nails intro. Proficient on Butch Vig for scaring the bejeezus out of us, not something yous'd expect from a latter-day Foo Fighters anthology. D.W.

77. "Only, Honestly" (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, 2007)
One of the band'south breezier numbers, nigh demo-like in its austerity for its first few minutes as Dave sings over a chiming audio-visual riff, until the vocal swells into full album-climax intensity for a fret-racing 90-second outro. Would be about x spots higher if not for the "And this evening I give thanks the stars / Equally I count my lucky scars" lyric. A.U.

76. "The Color and the Shape" ("Monkey Wrench" B-Side, 1997)
You accept to dear when a band takes a genre trial-run so seriously that it transcends "B-side throwaway" and slides straight to "parallel universe." In the instance of this not-bodily-championship runway, it's an ever-blackening hole where Dave Grohl screams torrentially at the void over a riff that sounds similar James Iha jamming with members of Refused and Death from Higher up 1979 on Incesticide. What could've been. D.West.

75. "Thousand.I.A." (At that place Is Nothing Left to Lose, 1999)
A perfectly fine closer to the Foo Fighters' third album and showtime decade, equally Grohl decides to check out from the whole mess, declaring "You won't detect me / I'm going Chiliad.I.A." Because the turbulence the band had gone through pretty much since forming in earnest halfway through the '90s — line-upwards changes, personal crises, artistic differences, sometimes all 3 at once — y'all'd have been pretty surprised at the time to discover out the band was still in action 15 years afterwards. A.U.

74. "Arlandria" (Wasting Light, 2011)
Dave pays homage to his home neighborhood, treating it like an old lover he'due south begging to reconcile with, begging, "Fame, fame, go away" and declaring, "My sweet Virginia, I'g the same way I was in your arms." You tin't go habitation again, simply you lot can write a decently anthemic song nigh it. A.U.

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73. "Ring on the Run" ("Cheer Up, Boys" B-Side, 2008)
Originally appearing on the BBC's Radio 1 Established 1967 compilation, seeing artists covering twoscore different hits from '67 to '07, the Foos' "Band on the Run" was a highlight, the band tackling all iii parts of the Wings epic with typical gusto, particularly nailing the transition sections. At that place aren't many modern rock vocalists who could argue with Macca'south throaty wailing for the song'due south final verses, but Grohl does his time to come collaborator plenty proud hither. A.U.

72. "The Neverending Sigh" (Saint Cecilia, 2015)

The ring's Saint Cecilia closer begins where the feedback-laden outro to Haven' "D'You Know What I Mean" left off, but turns into something much leaner and meaner, riffs roiling as Grohl laments "My go out / No exit / No one lets anybody in." Finality never sounded this bitter in the Fooverse before. A.U.

71. "Hell" (In Your Honor, 2005)
What'southward not to like near a two-minute song with repeated shouts of "I'll see you in hell"? If anything, this arena-punk hybrid just leaves you lot wanting more than. D.R.

70. "A Matter of Time" (Wasting Light, 2011)
"One of the sweetest melodies I've e'er written," Grohl has said of this Wasting Light deep cutting, "But it has i of the heaviest riffs." The second role is definitely truthful, at least. And those lurching rhythms on the pre-chorus are mayhap the closest we'll ever get to the full-on Rush pastiche that these guys should've made a decade ago. A.U.

69. "Another Circular" (In Your Honour, 2005)
So languid in its bleary-eyed, empty-bar desolation that it well-nigh feels like a belatedly-period Walkmen song. No one volition ever confuse Dave Grohl for a hopeless romantic (emphasis on hopeless) similar Paul Westerberg, but a skilful harmonica solo tin can make any singer sound similar a beautiful loser for 1 song. A.U.

68. "Something From Nothing" (Sonic Highways, 2014)
As seen on the first episode of HBO's Sonic Highways, Grohl and co. recorded this song with Inexpensive Pull a fast one on guitarist Rick Nielsen at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio studios. It's a solid tribute to the ring's blues, punk, and rock predecessors, only there's little sense of that "something from nothing" urgency of a struggling rock ring. Thankfully, information technology's redeemed by the eventual breakup and a revved-upwards solo from Chris Shiflett. D.R.

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67. "What If I Do?" (In Your Honor, 2005)
One of the most stately Foo ballads, and the existent tone-setter for the acoustic half of In Your Accolade. Grohl says that information technology'southward about living in Northward Carolina for a decade, but you'd have absolutely no clue near that if information technology wasn't for the bridge where he really coos "Ca-ro-li-na, Ca-ro-lina" — probably the all-time part of the song, anyway. A.U.

66. "Alone + Easy Target" (Foo Fighters, 1995)
Written by Grohl back in Nirvana's Nevermind days, and it shows — the alternately chiming and crunching guitars are pure Cobain, and both the sentiment and the delivery of the chorus feel like they're filtered through Kurt'due south face up-roofing blond locks. But hey, even if information technology is a pastiche, who would be a better imitator than his old bandmate? "Solitary" wouldn't take been a highlight on In Utero, merely it would've fit in pretty seamlessly on the first side, and Kurt liked information technology well enough to limited relief that he didn't have to "exist the only songwriter in the band" anymore. A.U.

65. "Seda" ("Long Route to Ruin," 2007)
The Foos go land, and all is well. It's a proficient tune, simply it's hard to see it plumbing equipment on Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, or any of their other albums, hence its unfortunate relegation to B-side obscurity. D.R.

64. "The I" (Orange Canton Soundtrack, 2002)
The Foos go psychobilly — this is the kind of song that sounds like they simply needed to practise something with that riff. Maybe if they filled in the blanks (brand you feel similar what exactly, Dave?) this wouldn't have been set bated for a soundtrack, though it's hard to imagine an existing FF album that could firm it. D.W.

63. "Carol of the Beaconsfield Miners" (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, 2007)
Grohl wrote this acoustic instrumental as a tribute to 2 miners who, when trapped in an Australian mine, requested an iPod with a copy of In Your Honor on it to listen to while awaiting rescue. After hearing about this, Grohl sent them a note, promising them tickets to whatsoever Foos bear witness and two cold beers waiting for them, so wrote this song, the ring'southward first without vocals. To sweeten the pot, Grohl brought in virtuoso guitarist Kaki Male monarch to add flourishes reminiscent of Jimmy Page's peppery, folky best. D.R.

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62. "Enough Space" (The Colour and the Shape, 1997)
The thrashiest song on the grouping'southward well-nigh pop album, supposedly inspired past the 1993 surrealist dramedy Arizona Dream, whose Wikipedia plot summary makes about as much sense as the vocal'southward lyrics ("Put her on the ceiling / Try to make her my ain"). Probably best just to savour the shredding and shriek "SPAAAAAAAACE!!!" and not recollect near information technology too much. A.U.

61. "Take It All" (One Past One, 2002)
The get-go two Foo Fighters albums are large capacity in definitive '90s quiet/loud/quiet schizophrenia, but the later albums take still to brand much of their dynamic range. So this minor One By 1 single was ane of the last sweet'n'sour combos that Grohl put his band name on, with a serrated, off-kilter riff that splashes into a dream-popular chorus. D.W.

lx. "Headwires" (There Is Nix Left to Lose, 1999)
The mildest, most amusing vocal on a Foo Fighters album, a dreamy chip of 80s alt-pop that'southward as incommunicable to imagine hating as it is to imagine loving all that much. D.W.

59. "Long Road to Ruin" (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, 2007)
"Ane flag was taken down / To raise another in its place," Grohl sings at the outset of this 2007 single, one of the ring's more subtly political numbers. Despite the serious themes, information technology's probably remembered more for its video, which features the guys playing actors who star in a schlocky infirmary-set soap opera, with Rashida Jones playing Grohl'due south beloved interest. It's yet another reminder that even when they're talking about heavy subjects, they're probably having more fun than almost other bands. D.R.

58. "DOA" (In Your Laurels, 2005)
Perfect for shouting forth and doing some air-guitar strumming to its ballsy power chords, "DOA" is the paradigm of a Foo hitting. It's fifty-fifty got a shallow-deep message, reminding us that "no one's getting out of hither alive." Keep calm and rock on. D.R.

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57. "Wind Up" (The Colour and the Shape, 1997)
That descending/ascending riff is the musical equivalent of squeezing a stress ball with every fiber of your existence. The arena-rock pound of the drums behind it only adds to the lit-fuse feeling. D.W.

56. "Breakout" (There Is Aught Left to Lose, 1999)
I of Grohl's best pharynx-lacerating scream sessions, this rail is made even sweeter past its accompanying video, a Me, Myself & Irene necktie-in that features Grohl'south mom flipping him off every bit he drives by. D.R.

55. "The Feast and the Famine" (Sonic Highways, 2014)
Despite its Butch Vig-full-blooded, 2014 single "The Feast and the Famine" belongs in the dad-alt-and-proud box of R.East.Chiliad.'s Accelerate and Weezer's Red anthology, with its unnerving stop/get verses that recall the Dismemberment Plan's "Gyroscope," and predictably fist-pumping chorus. Things could be worse. D.W.

54. "Floaty" (Foo Fighters, 1995)
Foo Fighters go shoegaze! Foo-gaze? Fugazi? Phase-shifted vocals, waltz time and lyrics virtually floating away are in turn met by twang-fried chorus a la "Corona" from the Minutemen — orJackass if you lot were born later on 1990 — and a chorus that hints at some kind of dirigible contest: "That'southward not as big as what's flown 'round here!" shouts Grohl, somewhat unintelligibly.  If it's actually about a slice of excrement, as my middle-school classmates probably lied, it's the most anthemic shit-tribute ever. D.Westward.

53. "Iron Rooster" (Saint Cecilia, 2015)
What begins as a languid Neil Immature saunter (with a touch of mid-'70s Zeppelin audio-visual minorness thrown in) takes an unexpectedly hitting turn on its bridge, double-tracked guitars bleeding gorgeously every bit Grohl turns reflective: "Tin can y'all believe we're older? / I won't believe information technology's over now" Non oft you lot seem to take hold of the most self-assured man in rock — historically assured, also — in such a moment.A.U.

52. "Hey, Johnny Park!" (The Colour and the Shape, 1997)
Except for perhaps "Plenty Space," "Hey, Johnny Park!" is the apotheosis of Dave Grohl'due south soft/loud experiments that keep some from fully embracing The Colour and the Shape as the band's magnum opus. It'due south true, the delicate verses into that chorus that sucks up the entire room (and that riff!) are bound to give your passengers whiplash. Just didn't you want a thrill ride in the get-go place? D.West.

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51. "Abode" (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, 2007)
The piano-carol album closer for Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace is about as vulnerable and tender as Grohl has ever sounded. Unless yous've never left your house, you'll find a way to chronicle to the "all I want is to be home" refrain. D.R.

50. "Statues" (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, 2008)
The Foos may have covered "Band on the Run," but their best McCartney tribute was probably the exceedingly Macca-esque "Statues," an obvious grasp at songwriting maturity that manages not to audio too self-conscious or stilted. And the chorus is one of Grohl's simplest and most affecting: "We're simply ordinary people, you and me / Time will plough us into statues eventually." Not that Dave should ever trade in his guitar total-time, but some other song or two at the pianoforte someday wouldn't be the worst thing. A.U.

49. "Wheels" (Greatest Hits, 2009)
One of two new tracks to grace the 2009'southward Greatest Hits, "Wheels" finds the band going in a Wallflowers-similar direction (in a the best style possible). It's feel-good, straight-forward rock done right. D.R.

48. "Still" (In Your Laurels, 2005)
The echoing edginess of "Still" turns out to be kind of a carmine herring for the rest of the In Your Honor acoustic side to follow, which is kind of a shame. The Foos take rarely sounded every bit atmospheric or unsettling as they do here, creating an impressive amount of tension with a couple pounding piano thuds, some h2o-drip pulsate tapping and Grohl'southward chorus couplet, "Hope I will be forever yours / Promise not to say another word." Effectively understated, especially for a song nigh a suicide pact. A.U.

47. "Saint Cecilia" (Saint Cecilia, 2015)

The title track to the Foos' Austin-recorded 2015 EP sounds similar an attempt to plow T. King's "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" into a power-pop song, and to the band's credit, it mostly works — specially on those honey-dripping chorus harmonies. Loses a couple of points for having one of the most nondescript guitar solos to e'er appear on a Dave Grohl album, though. A.U.

46. "Baker Street" ("My Hero" B-Side, 1997)
It's unexpected, but the Foos' guitar wails adequately supervene upon that sexy sax riff on the Gerry Rafferty classic rock radio staple. R.I.P., Raphael Ravenscroft. D.R.

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45. "Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make Upward Is Running)" (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, 2007)
A blast of fun in the middle of the often labored Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, "Cheer Upwards, Boys" is a fine dB's-style pop song, albeit one with a sour processed outside. There's the propulsive punk intro, and more than pressingly, the subtitle that can't be ignored, a stab at My Chemic Romance and their ilk that'south sorta pathetic for guys as former every bit Grohl, a revealing potshot from a dude who gets along with manufacture people a little too well to write such angstful music all the fourth dimension. D.West.

44. "I Should Have Known" (Wasting Calorie-free, 2011)
One of the band's most cinematic songs, with crashing drums, sweeping strings, tortured lyrics and vocal distortion that gives Grohl's vocalism a distance from the vocal that he rarely allows. It nearly sounds similar an erstwhile spaghetti-Western theme — or at least a Black Keys cover of an old spaghetti-Western theme — and that's a pretty proficient expect for the Foos, it turns out. A.U.

43. "Disenchanted Lullaby" (One By 1, 2002)
One By One was the first Foo Fighters album to split fan opinion downwards the heart, but one of the reasons it may be meliorate than y'all remembered is "Disenchanted Lullaby," which interrupts hypnotic, R.E.M.-esque verses with the most underrated, boisterous chorus in the band's entire repertoire. "No 1 has a fit like I practice!" shouts Grohl, who returns to the jangly verses with a sigh that makes dynamic-shift sense without existence abrupt for in one case: "I'm the only one that fits y'all." D.W.

42. "Own't It the Life" (There Is Nothing Left to Lose, 1999)
Sounding like a complaining from a junkie's shooting gallery, this '99 track seems like a cry for assistance couched in a laid-dorsum, languid groove. The beautiful slide guitar section is up there every bit one of the nigh interesting solos in the band'due south catalog. D.R.

41. "Erase/Replace" (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, 2007)
Ane of the weirdest Foo Fighters riffs, "Erase/Supplant" begins with a abstract, Sonny Sharrock-style guitar figure before crunching its style down the calibration — both musical and richter — on the earthquake of a chorus. D.West.

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40. "Skin and Bones" ("DOA" B-Side, 2005)
With its sparse minor-key guitar strumming and cached shuffling drums, this bit of Gothic Americana is the kind of rarity that shows how much more there is to the Foo Fighters than power chords and stadium anthems. More of that, delight. D.R.

39. "Darling Nikki" ("Take It All" B-Side, 2003)
Why this was seen as a novelty at the fourth dimension, who knows? Covering Prince is a mainstream rite of passage for everyone from Sinead O'Connor to Warren Zevon, and then information technology simply makes sense that Dave Grohl — a pretty mainstream guy himself — would cover Prince'due south heaviest song. The "masturbating with a magazine" line still had a style of turning heads to the nearest radio, even in a post-"Longview" world. And Prince would return the favor past honoring Grohl's "Best of You" at the goddamn Super Bowl. "Who's the novelty at present?," his genderfuck/insignia-shaped guitar squealed back.D.Westward.

38. "Alive-In Skin" (There Is Nothing Left to Lose, 1999)
Grohl thinks this is a riff song, which the melodic In that location Is Goose egg Left to Lose is short on, just subconscious in that garage bluster is a dream-pop emo anthem worthy of Hum, until the thunderous final infinitesimal ("Merchandise your outside in for the inside!"), where it turns into — yeah — a riff vocal. D.West.

37. "All My Life" (One By 1, 2002)
From his hardcore roots to his Probot vanity project and his occasional side-gig in Queens of the Stone Age, Dave Grohl longs to be a metal god merely as surely equally Jack Black or Brian Posehn. He never will be. Just "All My Life," the showtime single from the Foos' heaviest album, comes closest to what his vision of screaming dissonance might be, with that white-noise riff that Josh Homme would kill for, and the whispered lockstep of the verses threatening to release something much more venomous than that actual somewhat-letdown of a chorus. Simply somehow the never-quite-resolved riffage perfectly encapsulates the song's frustrated tenor. "When it comes effectually / When it'southward taken away" indeed. D.W.

36. "Let It Die" (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, 2007)
The rare build from soft to loud in the Foo Fighters itemize where the soft part of the sentiment equally pertains to the lyric as the inevitable rock-out. The semi-sugariness acoustic licks that buttress the "Why'd you lot have to get and permit it die?" refrain lend it some poignancy earlier the battlefield of riffs to follow, which of form lend it the acrimony. D.W.

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35. "Sean" (Saint Cecilia, 2015)

A rare tardily-period Foos jam that'southward every bit streamlined-sounding every bit their first few albums, with guitar shimmer than almost sounds like Grohl & Co. taking a chartered trip to mid-'80s Minneapolis. Even better, the band switches up to a mid-'70s MOR double-fourth dimension boogie on the chorus, spare shouts of the titular proper name all that'south needed for further punctuation. A.U.

34. "I'm in Honey With a German language Film Star" ("Best of You lot" B-Side, 2005)
Mayhap the Foos' all-fourth dimension most idiosyncratic cover choice, the ring took on the i hitting of British new-wavers the Passions for the B-side to "Best of Y'all," and they absolutely nailed it. Their version is even gauzier than the original, with a nervously knocking beat cast against a hypnotically relaxed audio-visual riff, and Grohl'south entranced vocals tying it all together. It couldn't exist a much less appropriate B-side to a stadium-filler like "All-time of You," simply it's a gem nonetheless. A.U.

33. "Upwardly In Artillery" (The Colour and the Shape, 1997)
1 of the almost songful things Grohl has e'er put to tape. As with "Big Me," Grohl loves to go on his all-time retro chord progressions nether 3 minutes. Only every bit with the balance of The Color and the Shape, this one doesn't sit nonetheless — roaring back from its prom theme kickoff half into a Carrie bucket-of-blood stop. The absurdity of the dynamics is very '90s, or at least very 21st Century Breakup. But tiresome, fast, you'll sing every word. Even during the solo. D.West.

32. "Cold Day in the Lord's day"  (In Your Honor, 2005)
Dave Grohl should know more than anyone the value of letting the residuum of your band have their vocalization be heard every so frequently, and drummer Taylor Hawkins proves himself worth a turn at the mic every now and so with this In Your Accolade acoustic highlight. "Common cold Day in the Dominicus" is the lightest, sweetest number across the anthology'south 20 tracks, a much-needed contrast to the stadium-rock bluster of a good deal of the album's more famous songs, and evidence that band democracy isn't ever a terrible idea. A.U.

31. "My Poor Brain" (The Colour and the Shape, 1997)
This bit of mindfuckery has it all: the tried-and-true Pixies loud-quiet-loud dynamics, gentle falsetto singing giving fashion to thrash howling, big metal riffage, and some of Nate Mendel's heaviest bass work.D.R.

30. "Rope" (Wasting Light, 2011)
The Foos' proggiest single keeps you on edge with riffs and rhythms that seem on the verge of veering off the rails at any moment. Equally a bonus, y'all become Grohl doing his all-time James Brown "Yow!" yells throughout, though they're not nearly as impressive as the wah-ed-out guitar solo and Taylor Hawkins' aggressive drum fills. D.R.

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29. "In the Clear" (Sonic Highways, 2014)
Maybe the nearly immediately satisfying song on Sonic Highways, with a chugging guitar riff, gorgeous harmonies on the chorus, and some expertly deployed strings on the song'southward span. Hard to hear the Preservation Hall Jazz Band's influence in there, exactly, only super-hooky power-popular was never actually the Big Easy's specialty, so fair plenty. A.U.

28. "In Your Honor" (In Your Honor, 2005)
"Tin you hear me? Hear me screaming?" What a perfect album opener. The audio is so big, it's as if information technology was designed to be performed in a canyon. And just when you remember it's over, it comes dorsum even harder with a kick-ass double-timed outro. Why wasn't this a unmarried? D.R.

27. "White Limo" (Wasting Calorie-free, 2011)
One of Grohl'due south nastiest riffs, with a go-bots Queens of the Rock Age movement to it that'due south appropriately matched past a decease-metallic vocal reminiscent of the chaos that ex-Queen Nick Oliveri brought to songs like "Yous Remember I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Similar a Millionaire." All the more than impressive that it appeared as late as Wasting Light. D.Due west.

26. "Virginia Moon" (In Your Honor, 2005)
When a band gets successful to the indicate of beingness able to say, "Let'southward include a bossa nova runway on this album and get Norah Jones to sing on it," they're nearly always a few miles up their self-indulgent asses. Yet, the Foos pull this out-of-left-field flim-flam off with aplomb, resulting in one of the well-nigh delightful tracks on the audio-visual one-half of In Your Accolade, and even an unlikely Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. D.R.

25. "Walking Later on You" (The Colour and the Shape, 1997)
An extremely pretty song about stalking your ex, or at least refusing to let your ex become your ex in the kickoff place. It was dressed up with pianoforte, fuller production and a snazzier pulsate part for a single version that concluded up on the soundtrack to the X-Files movie, only it's much more effective in sparser album-rails form, only brushed drums, gentle acoustic and Dave sighing, "I cannot be without you, matter of fact / I'm on your dorsum." A.U.

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24. "Generator" (There Is Nothing Left to Lose, 1999)
Faux '70s AM rock typified by the about apprehensive utilize of a talk box on record. Will more fulfill the expectations of anyone who's always for a second imagined Peter Frampton making adept on his Simpsons appearance and staging an alt-improvement.D.West.

23. "Times Like These" (1 By 1, 2002)
Written during a period when the ring was on the verge of falling apart, this vocal perfectly captures the realization that sometimes things have to get terrible earlier you truly appreciate the good effectually you. You feel like an asshole for a piffling fleck, but at least you figured information technology out before called-for bridges. D.R.

22. "Exhausted" (Foo Fighters, 1995)
Written during his time in Nirvana, this became Grohl's get-go-ever release as the Foo Fighters. It'southward pretty ballsy for a promo single, running almost six minutes long with stretches of feedback and murky vocals. Looking dorsum at this splendid opening salvo, it shows that the band was never going to be predictable, even if those who only know their Modern Rock chart-toppers might remember otherwise. D.R.

21. "New Way Dwelling" (The Color and the Shape, 1997)
The epic, near-six-minute closer to Colour and the Shape, complete with false ending and a iv-infinitesimal crescendoing outro. The offset ii minutes of actual vocal is underappreciated in its own right, peculiarly the ringing bridge that leads to the song'southward original break, but the countless coda is certainly what you remember the vocal for, though, and it'southward every bit triumphant-sounding equally Grohl intended. "At the end of the day, y'all realize that you're non scared any more and you're gonna make information technology," he explained of the song'due south bulletin, and "Abode" certainly feels like that. A.U.

20. "Stacked Actors" (In that location Is Naught Left to Lose, 1999)
There Is Zilch Left to Lose is Foo Fighters' classic-rock anthology, so even the grungiest runway comes with guiro-groove verses a la Steely Dan's "Do It Over again." The only thing more fun than that fuzz bass is pretending the lyrics are near perennial Grohl adversary Courtney Beloved — as many fans (and Courtney herself) already practise. D.W.

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19. "Best Of You" (In Your Award, 2005)
It'due south difficult to imagine anyone serenading someone with "Best of You" without hoisting them in midair past the shirt neckband and getting spittle on their face. The broken commitment — "Information technology'South REAL/ THE Hurting Y'all Feel/ YOU TRUST/ YOU MUST/ CONFESS" — is Grohl at his most James Hetfield, nearly self-parodic if the anthemic melody wasn't so strong. More or less, the almost indelible hit of the Foos' 2d decade is a jangle-pop ballad screamed at do-you lot-odour-what-the-Rock-is-cooking pitch. And somehow Prince's out-of-nowhere Super Bowl version out-screamed the original. D.W.

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18. "Walk" (Wasting Light, 2011)
The hard-earned, personal-victory closing to Wasting Calorie-free, and one of the biggest modernistic-rock radio hits of all-time. It'due south anthemic even by Foo Fighters standards, ranking amongst their greatest builds, sing-along choruses and chest-pounding climaxes ("I'M NEVER GONNA Die! I'M NEVER GONNA Dice!"). Don't even endeavour to act like that riff isn't cribbed from Tal Bachman, though. A.U.

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17. "A320" (Godzilla Soundtrack, 1998)
The Godzilla soundtrack will be forever remembered for Puff Daddy bribing Jimmy Page into doing a revamped "Kashmir," just it also featured the string-laden epic "A320," which Grohl one time chosen his favorite Foos song. It played at the end of the final credits of the monster flick, the worst movie Grohl said he's e'er seen. That this song isn't more popular is a travesty, second only to the fact that Diddy was actually allowed to mangle that Zeppelin archetype. D.R.

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16. "This Is a Call" (Foo Fighters, 1995)
I of those bands whose first single really is their quintessential song, the self-titled's kickoff track contains everything that makes this band a band. There'due south the instantly memorable melody, sparkling guitars at war with filthy ones, dynamo drumming that you didn't fifty-fifty know power-popular needed, and a blunt-force riff that works as a span in this case, before giving fashion to the oddball opening statement: "Fingernails are pretty / Fingernails are expert!" Grohl fabricated a vow to work on his lyrics adjacent time. The rest was already there. D.W.

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15. "Congregation" (Sonic Highways, 2014)
Even if it's not every bit state as "Seda" or even "Wheels," the Nashville influence looms large on this jangly Sonic Highways tune. Grohl evokes the spiritual side of the Music Urban center, paying tribute to the famed Bluebird Cafe, where he did an acoustic set, while the band takes some countrified spins on the guitar licks. It's easily the well-nigh inspired of the band'due south newest material. D.R.

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14. "Bulldoze Me Wild" ("My Hero" B-Side, 1998)
Improbably enough, the most-enjoyable-ever Foo Fighters B-side was this cover of a 1982 pop-funk hit by Prince proteges Vanity vi. Dave sounds uncharacteristically sinewy equally he sing-speaks, "Ooh, await at me, I'm a radio / Phone call me up and make a request" in a stereo-separated moan, with guitar scrapes and synth squelches zooming all around him and the song'due south bass-drum-heavy crush giving the chaos much-needed gravity. It'south the best kind of addictive, oddball '80s fun, like the Flight Lizards' encompass of "Money (That'south What I Want)," and it makes yous wonder why the band didn't let loose and get weird on their albums more often. A.U.

13. "Razor" (In Your Honor, 2005)
Written the day of a seismic sea wave do good concert, this acoustic track defies easy interpretation, with suicide beingness the easiest explanation of lyrics similar, "I hope I become the chance to say goodbye" and "Sweet and divine razor of mine." Regardless, the complex guitar work by Grohl and pal Josh Homme nether the gently paced vocals pb to uneasy beauty, and makes for possibly their most memorable album closer. D.R.

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12. "The Pretender" (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, 2007)
Grohl's radio-gear up songmaking style of choice has left plenty of room for dynamic shifts and shimmies, but offered little space in the way of truthful epics. "The Pretender" comes close, with an intro bitten off of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," before quickly hitting the crunch-crunch highway that fans and detractors alike are all too familiar with. Every bit rock's most outspoken careerist, it'due south no surprise that Dave'll "never surrender." Only more indicative of his legacy might be the chant of "Who are you? Who are you?" at the stop. The other band that sang that has yet to surrender either. D.West.

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11. "Feb Stars" (The Color and the Shape, 1997)
The stealth centerpiece of The Color and the Shape, a vocal that takes the same kind of wide-eyed wonder from the nighttime sky as a not-dissimilarly titled alt-rock i-off of a few years earlier and translates it perfectly into both harmony-heavy balladry and lighter-waving guitar crisis. The song evolves then naturally and sweetly that you don't even notice the transition until you're belting "FEEEEE-BRUUUU-AAAA-RYYYY STARRRRRS!!! FLOOOOA-TIIIIING IN THE DARRRK!!" at the top of your lungs. Sort of a weird subject field to get all epic about, simply that'south the '90s for you. A.U.

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10. "Learn to Fly" (In that location Is Nil Left to Lose, 1999)
Arctic. Catchy. Fun. Not too hard, not too soft. Agreeable music video. All in all, it's peak '90s Foo Fighters. Whenever yous hear it, you lot probably know manner more words than yous idea yous did. D.R.

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9. "Next Yr" (There Is Nil Left to Lose, 1999)
You wouldn't accuse the Foo Fighters of Anglophilia terribly frequently, but turns out, they're at their loveliest when aping superlative-popularity Britpop. "Next Year" is a ability ballad in the "Wonderwall" sense, down to the drum make full that reintroduces the poetry subsequently detouring at the bridge, allowing gentle strings, a lilting melody, and a relatively straightfoward lyric almost hiding in the clouds for a minute to do the heavy lifting that they normally relieve for their titanic riffs and shouted choruses. Grohl has called the song a "piece of shit," which explains why they oasis't returned to this territory much in the last 15 years, but it remains i of their most satisfying ballads. A.U.

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8. "Low"(I Past One, 2002)
Perhaps the heaviest song the Foos ever fastened their name to, and i that doesn't really sound like annihilation else they've ever washed, seismic guitars chugging away in one sound channel while the drums boom separately, and Grohl moans over both with Chino Moreno-like vocal filtering, "You be my passerby / I'll be your one to pass through." A lot of One By Ane finds itself stuck in a kind of AOR murk, simply "Low" drills through that like a sledgehammer, and remains a rare moment of true grime for the band, and one of their most stunning and underappreciated singles. A.U.

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7. "Monkey Wrench" (The Color and the Shape, 1997)
The second singled pulled from The Colour and the Shape is the one people remember, but don't disbelieve "Monkey Wrench," which was the first single for a reason. Sure, at that place's the stuff that Doesn't Age Well — video with Grohl spitting into the photographic camera, breathlessly shrieked span set to the melody of "Miss Mary Mack," ("AND ALL THE SHIT THAT SOMEHOW CAME ALONG WITH It!!"). But it too wastes no time detonating the coolest riff of the post-grunge era this side of "Interstate Honey Song," and far toothier — kind of like the Breeders' "Divine Hammer," on steroids and going surfing. Then you lot take the chorus, where each of Grohl's weird still pro forma rhymes ("wrench"/"acci-dent") lands on the most barbed-wire chord he could've picked. Everything that was wonderful and hostile about the '90s in under four minutes. D.Westward.

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half dozen. "These Days" (Wasting Light, 2011)
Tender and thunder blend on the Foos' all-time latter-24-hour interval song, and Grohl'south personal choice for "maybe the best vocal [he's] ever written." It's subtly i of Dave'southward greatest song performances, with the "EASY FOR You lot TO SAY!" line piercing through at the beginning of every chorus, never failing to stir fans. D.R.

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five. "I'll Stick Effectually" (Foo Fighters, 1995)
One of the most bitter songs Grohl ever wrote would've fit perfectly in the Nirvana discography, except for the fact that it'southward almost definitely directed at Courtney Love. The director of the music video, Devo's Jerry Casale, pitched the idea to have a "swollen, charred, inflated girl representing Courtney" attacking the band instead of what concluded up existence that CGI virus ball. Either manner, the "I don't owe you lot you annihilation" chorus is utter brilliance in its defiance and simplicity, whether yous're pissed off at your boss or your friend's abrasive spouse.D.R.

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4. "Aurora" (At that place Is Nothing Left to Lose, 1999)
Very possibly the ring'southward all-time greatest non-unmarried, a strikingly cute song and an indelible alive staple for the band. The awe at the cosmos and the sense of being office of something bigger than yourself is the aforementioned equally in "February Stars," but dissimilar that vocal (and most other Foo songs), the ring never really goes for the large finish here, mostly allowing the gorgeous echoing riff, Dave's unassuming vocals, and the song's sparkling production acquit the twenty-four hour period. The vocal is then sublime that y'all barely even notice its six-minute run time, and y'all'd be happy to listen to the band elation out to the peachy unknown for twice as long. A.U.

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3. "Big Me" (Foo Fighters, 1995)
A great vocal speaks for itself — if "Aries or treasons all renew" was what Dave scribbled down, he idea he'd better non jinx information technology and change the words to something that makes sense, lest it harm the melody. Whether you think "Big Me" is an elegy for Kurt Cobain or a tribute to Grohl's then-wife, "Big Me" is just over ii perfect minutes of well-chorded sweetness as universal as "That Affair You Do!" Which is to say that Grohl plant information technology so jingle-like that he'd amend make fun of information technology before someone else did, and voila, the archetype Mentos-spoofing video. Simply sometimes even an loonshit-rocker knows when less is more. D.W.

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2. "My Hero" (The Colour and the Shape, 1997)
The list of songs in rock history that take a better first half-minute than "My Hero" is a remarkably short one: Dave'south thundering drums making the introductions, Nate Mendel's eventually counter-melodic bass providing the ballast, and and then the torrential downpour of guitars merely showering the vocal in righteousness. The song is already a archetype by the time the intro breaks and the vocals begin, but and so you too get one of the grouping'southward all-time great choruses, an impossibly exhilarating slow-build-to-climax, and the lyric that would basically find the group their band-of-the-people identity.

"My heroes were ordinary people, and the people that I have a lot of respect for are just solid everyday people," Grohl has said about the song's bulletin. "People yous can rely on." And that'south the Foo Fighters — for nearly two decades of mainstream-rock domination, they've been the solid, everyday band that you lot can rely on. They just have improve guitar riffs and pulsate parts than nearly. A.U.

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ane. "Everlong" (The Colour and the Shape, 1997)
"Everlong" is the all-time greatest Foo Fighters song the way that Michael Jordan is the best greatest Chicago Bull — maybe it'due south non impossible that you could endeavour to argue otherwise, but dude, c'mon. Of all the grunge-derived bands to low-cal the mode for the alt-rock '90s, Dave's other band is maybe the only one who wouldn't swap their best song for "Everlong" in a heartbeat — four minutes of untold amounts of mystery, romance, fright and amazement in one tightly coiled popular song.

The wonder of "Everlong" is that it simultaneously functions as both a vocal about exciting new honey and persisting romantic disillusionment. Written for a new girlfriend afterwards Grohl's starting time union concluded in divorce, the vocal has the rapid heartbeat and tangible emotional rush of a just-burgeoning romance, just is even so cloaked in dread and doubt cheers to the previous relationship's fallout. The beat of "Everlong" is in the battle betwixt the 2 sensations, the new love ultimately (mayhap? hopefully?) triumphing at song'south terminate with the piercing drum-and-guitar breakout of the final "ANNNND IIIII WOOONDERRR….." It's moving, it'due south adrenaline-raising, it's huge-sounding, it's incredibly intimate, and it's all-around monumental. It's the band's best riff — all-time couple of riffs — their best crashing drum function, their all-time verse, their all-time chorus, their best pre-chorus, their best climactic build, their all-time production, their best best Best music video, their best intro, their all-time final sustain, their best incomprehensible span murmuring. It's David Letterman's favorite song. Bob Dylan can sing the chorus. Are we still talking about this? A.U.

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Source: https://www.spin.com/2014/11/best-foo-fighters-songs-ranked/