The Foo Fighters dominated ’90s rock with “The Color and the Shape”

On a monthly basis, the Houston Press will dig deeper into an album released that month in the ’90s. Some were well received. Others don’t. Some held on. Others, far from it. Some mark the critical or commercial peak of an artist. Others simply set the table for more greatness to come. Regardless, they all helped make up one of the most influential decades in music history.

This is “the way it was.”

The artist: Foo Fighters

The album: Color and shape

Release date: May 20, 1997

The backstory: So, you are Dave Grohl. You are the drummer for arguably the biggest and most influential bands of the 90s (Nirvana). You’re truly in awe that you’ve helped create some of the most impactful and enduring music in rock history. You can roll around, lend your name to cameos/supporting material, be the always charming Dave Grohl, and essentially ride your early work into a career of credibility and wealth.

Or, you can do better with your previous group.

Shortly after Kurt Cobain’s suicide in April 1994 officially ended Nirvana, Grohl (a la Trent Reznor in Nine Inch Nails) essentially released a self-titled solo album under the band’s pseudonym. Grohl played every instrument, wrote every song and recorded every vocal on the Foo Fighters’ 1995 self-titled debut album, which, thanks to hit singles like “I’ll Stick Around” and “This is a Call,” is became Platinum.

The secret was out. The Foo Fighters (Grohl later assembled an official band to help tour and record new material) were legit and Dave Grohl was a master of his craft, much more than a supporting act to Cobain, much more than “that other guy of Nirvana.

Foo Fighters It was a great start. His follow-up upped the ante – and then some.

The impact: Expectations apparently never really bothered Dave Grohl. A year after Cobain’s tragic suicide officially ended Nirvana, Grohl released a glorified solo album with hits for days and musical nuances of his previous group. It was a well-received and certifiable success.

And came Color and shape.

Mainstream, arena-style rock music (pour one out) was pretty huge in the ’90s, and Grohl realized this when he recorded the Foo Fighters’ second album (by which time he had recruited a few fellow musicians to join the studio). Newly divorced and struggling with his post-Nirvana fame, Color and shape is an introspective listen, which runs the gamut between angst (“Monkey Wrench”, “My Poor Brain”) and melancholy (“February Stars”, “Walking After You”).

Quite simply, Color and shape is damn close to a perfect rock album. It’s simple (13 tracks in less than 50 minutes of execution). It’s well produced (Gil Norton, who had previously worked with Pixies and Counting Crows, was a maestro at blending rock and pop sensibilities). Oh yes, the album also produced, not one, but two songs that will live on forever.

“My Hero” and “Everlong” aren’t just the best tracks on the Color and shape; these are the most memorable. Nearly 30 years after the album’s release, both tracks are still widely played on terrestrial rock radio stations. They’re karaoke staples, fan favorites, about as perfect as pop-rock gets. Plus, if you want to know what Grohl is whispering on “Everlong,” look no further.

The legacy: Color and shape isn’t even the best Foo Fighters album; this would probably be reserved for the 2005 rock/acoustic double album,
In your honor.

But “best” and “most significant” are not mutually exclusive, and Color and shape – some 27 years after its release – is undoubtedly Foo Fighters’ most memorable album, one of the best rock albums of the 90s and a revealer of what the genre can be.

Will rock ever reach creative and commercial heights such as Color and shape? Hard to say, and I’m not sure it matters in this case. Being present and facing the future are noble traits, but sometimes it’s best to just look back and remember how great something was.

The biggest track: “My Hero”, because of its message that ordinary people are heroes, its place in films and varied pop culture and, most notably, the fact that it is an album of absolute arena rock, is probably the most memorable track of Color and shape. But it’s not the best…

Best song: Sometimes the most obvious choice is the right one. “Everlong” is one of the greatest rock songs ever released, and I will die on this hill. Could everything ever be this real forever? We can only hope.