MY FAVORITE SONGS OF 2012 (OR, THIS IS WHERE I MENTION FRANK OCEAN)

Over the past few days, I've posted about some of my favorite albums of the year. But there were a lot of great songs that weren't on any of them, so I'm gonna do one more quick list. Ready?  Here we go:

Frank Ocean - "Thinkin' 'Bout You": I kind of feel like I have to justify why Ocean wasn't on my top albums of the year.  So here it is:  I really wanted to like his album. A vote for him seemed to equal a vote for a world where being gay is no big deal. I'm all about it. But I just don't love the album, it doesn't keep my interest at all.  And that said, "Thinkin' 'Bout You" might be the best song I heard all year. It's so moving, it gets me every time.  Just based on this song, I'll pick up his next album.  The guy is clearly talented as hell.

Solange - "Losing You": My boss turned me on to this song, and he's a tough crowd, so I checked it out. What an amazing song.  If it's possible for her to get out of her sister's shadow, this is the song that should be able to do it.  

M.I.A. - "Bad Girlz": Unfortunately, the headlines M.I.A. made in 2012 were all about her little moment of  giving the finger to the camera at the Super Bowl. It was dumb and goofy.  But at least she put out a great song, and the video for this was pretty cool too.

Santigold - "Disparate Youth": She's always interesting. This song is a bit more "new-wave-y" than her prior songs.  It actually reminds me of New Order for some reason.

The Chris Robinson Brotherhood - "Let's Go Let's Go Let's Go": I'm not very familiar with Chris Robinson's solo stuff, although I have certainly enjoyed his music with The Black Crowes. But wow, what a great song, it sounds like something that would have been on a Sam Cooke record or a very early Motown single.

Ryan Shaw - "Morning Noon And Night": Actually, I need to check out his album.  I heard his song in Starbucks, Shazam-ed it, and downloaded it.  It's one of the best things I've heard all year and also kind of Sam Cooke-ian.

Leonard Cohen - "Going Home": I can't really get into entire Leonard Cohen albums, but I do love some of his songs, and this one is a classic.

Willie Nelson - "Just Breathe": I liked Willie's album, Heroes, but not enough to include it in my top albums of 2012.  But this Pearl Jam cover was incredible.

The Beach Boys - "That's Why God Made The Radio" I'm fascinated that it even got made. And I love the fact that there's no acknowledgement of anything current.  This is a 100% authentic Brian Wilson creation.

Van Halen - "Stay Frosty": This was also an unlikely, and solid, reunion.  David Lee Roth had lots of great lines, Ed Van Halen sounds inspired and Alex and Wolfgang are solid. This song is the highlight, and actually can stand up next to some of their earlier stuff. 

The Rolling Stones - "Doom And Gloom"/"One More Shot": Basically, they kicked everyone's ass with these songs.  

Led Zeppelin - "Good Times Bad Times (live)": I could have picked any song from Celebration Day, really.  But this is the first song on the album and the excitement is tangible.  I have to do a separate post about this album, I can't believe how great it is. 

Aerosmith - "Oh Yeah": I wish I liked their album, Music From Another Dimension, more than I do.  We had to wait so long for it! But "Oh Yeah," which Joe Perry wrote, is 100% classic Aerosmith. 

Paul McCartney/Dave Grohl/Krist Novoselic/Pat Smear - "Cut Me Some Slack": Rocking.  

The Wallflowers featuring Mick Jones - "Reboot The Mission": Basically a Clash tribute.  In the best way. 

Joey Ramone - "New York City": It holds up to the greatest Ramones songs.  I love it. 

Gaslight Anthem - "45": I thought this should have been the song to bring them to the "next level." 

Iggy Pop and Bethany Cosentino - "Let's Boot And Rally": a great song from True Blood, written by the show's music director, Gary Calamar. Calamar wrote the song for them, and he told me about it. And this is where I get to include Best Coast (the band Ms. Costentino sings for; I like them, but not enough to include them on this list). 

THE FOO FIGHTERS HAVE A GREAT NIGHT FOR ROCK

I wanted the Foo Fighters' Wasting Light (my second favorite LP of 2011) to win Album of the Year at the Grammys. I'm not mad that Adele won for 21, but wow, Wasting Light was great.

It reunited Dave Grohl with Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, Nevermind producer Butch Vig recorded it with them in Dave's garage, and it saw Pat Smear rejoin the band (and there's a great guest appearance by another punk legend, Bob Mould).

I saw some noise on Twitter that the Foo Fighters are the band that always get attention from TV shows.  It's like they are the token rock band for award shows.  And I've read interviews with Dave Grohl where he kind of says that.  I'd agree that some of their albums may get a bit of a "pass," because people buy into Dave so much. They love his story, and by all accounts, he's a really cool guy despite all the band's success.  They have cred, but they're not snobs. Dave can show up at a punk club one night, and then jam with Paul McCartney at the White House.  People love that.

But in 2011, no other band had a rock record with mainstream appeal that worked from start to finish. Great singles, cool videos, but start to finish the LP works.  It's not just my opinion: I think they played every song on the album at their concerts.  How many bands with that many hits, with that many albums, can play all their new songs in concert and have it go over.  And by the way, their concerts are all in arenas.

I remember seeing one of the Foo Fighters' first shows - opening for Mike Watt before the first LP was out. I don't think it was even common knowledge that it was Dave Grohl's band. They were great, but they were a club band. Years later, I saw them at Giants Stadium opening for The Rolling Stones. They seemed  a bit "fish out of water," but they played with a lot of heart and soul. A few years later, I saw them open/co-headline with The Red Hot Chili Peppers and it clicked. Grohl had opened for them years earlier with Nirvana. I think seeing the Chilis handle playing large venues helped it kick in for him. Today they are one of the mightiest arena bands in the land, and I mean that as a 100% compliment.

I was so glad to see them win a ton of Grammys last night, and of course their main performance rocked (the dance music thing felt a bit forced: I'd like to see them do something with Deadmau5 without the other artists that were included in that).  And seeing Dave jamming with Paul McCartney, Joe Walsh and Bruce Springsteen at the end of the night was amazing. But tonight, he could be at a Bad Brains show. That's what's so great about him.

ADELE, 6 FOR 6 AT THE GRAMMYS

I've listened to Adele's 21 twice in the last two days, before and after The Grammys.  What a triumphant night for her. She deserved every bit of it.

I voted for her a number of times. I wanted Foo Fighters to win Album of The Year for Wasting Light, but I can't be made that Adele won.  Even Dave Grohl has talked about what a great album 21 is.

Of course, with the amount of attention she's gotten and the success she's enjoyed, there are people "hating on her" (in the parlance of the times). I've written about this before. But I'll say it again. Whenever I hear her sing, I believe every word. She doesn't pretend to be anything she isn't.  I don't care if she writes songs or not - but it turns out she co-wrote all of the songs on 21, except for the cover of The Cure's "Lovesong" (which was a very cool arrangement).

I was wondering how good she would sound, and if she was ready to perform after her surgery.  I mean, even if she wasn't ready, there would have been a huge amount of temptation to get her singing a bit early to capitalize on the opportunity to perform at The Grammys, given her six nominations and the fact that her record was the best selling of the year. Well, she was ready, and she proved it.  Now I'm looking forward to whatever she does next.  Obviously I'm not alone there!

BEST OF 2011 - #2 - FOO FIGHTERS "WASTING LIGHT"

I loved Foo Fighters' Wasting Light the minute I heard it and I said so. Dave Grohl and the boys have never made a bad album, but this is certainly one of their best, if not their absolute best. Considering that the guy has nothing to prove, and has probably lived out all of his rock and roll dreams, it would almost be understandable if he just coasted. But I'm glad he hasn't done that: and as a lifelong rock fan, I think he knows that sinking feeling you get when an artist that you love lets you down.  I doubt he gets too caught up in what people think of him, but I know he doesn't want to put out a lame album. The fact that this comes twenty years after Nirvana's Nevermind (and features Nirvana's Krist Novoselic on two songs, and it is produced by Nevermind's Butch Vig) just shows that Dave has been really vital for a really long time.

I do think that sometimes the Foo Fighters albums get a "pass" because people like the band so much.  Which is nice.  But in this case, it isn't necessary, and that's even nicer.

#20YRSAGO: NIRVANA - NEVERMIND (+ boxset review!)

A lot of incredible albums came out in 1991 (hence my series of "#20yrsago" posts), but none had the game changing impact of Nirvana's Nevermind.

I remember hearing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for the first time.  I was driving my car on the Meadowbrook Parkway in Long Island while I was in college.  I ejected whatever cassette I was listening to, and my radio was set to 92.7 FM (it was either WLIR or WDRE).  I heard the guitar first. Why are they playing a band as heavy as Metallica?  Of course, when I heard the singer, he sounded nothing like Metallica or anyone else. Who was this?  I soon found out.

I got Nevermind when it first came out. Obviously it is a classic album.  I loved "Lounge Act," I thought it sounded like The Smithereens (I later read that they were, in fact, an influence). At some point, I found Kurt Cobain a bit too precious and annoying (wearing a "corporate magazines still suck" shirt while doing a corporate magazine cover was cute, but complaining about Pearl Jam bugged me), and I stopped listening to them for a bit. That was dumb of me.  They are one of the greatest bands ever, and Nevermind is an incredible album.  I'm sure Dylan said some things about other artists that I like, it would never make me stop listening to his music.

There's lots of stories about Nirvana's concrete impact (the oft-told stories of hair metal bands hearing Nirvana and realizing that their day was done) and how they didn't care about their new-found status (famously turning down opening slots on tours by U2 and Guns N Roses/Metallica). My story is this:  I was DJing at a great rock and roll bar called Fezziwigs, owned by two great guys, ex-hippies who performed at the bar as an acoustic duo.  Almost all of their repertoire was '60s and '70s songs, but they threw in Dire Straits and Traveling Wilburys songs as well. They didn't always "get" the music I played, but Nirvana was the only band they ever paid me to NOT play. $5 extra per night, just as long as they didn't have to hear "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Sometimes I would have to sacrifice the extra fiver, other nights I played "Lounge Act" instead.

Anyway. I've been listening to the super-deluxe box set lately, and I'm stunned by how great it is.  Why did I buy the super deluxe version, instead of the just the deluxe one?  Well, one reason is that it comes with a live concert recording from the era, and a DVD of the same concert.  You could buy that DVD/CD package separately.  There are tons of B-sides and bonus tracks, many of which come with the deluxe version.  I was kind of attracted to the super-delxue by the idea of the Butch Vig's original mixes.  Butch Vig, of course, produced Nevermind, and went on to be a famous producer, as well as the drummer of the band Garbage. But this was one of his first big major label projects, and I guess the label didn't like his mixes, so they hired Andy Wallace to mix it instead.  So, it's cool to hear Butch's original vision for the album. Also included are "boombox demos": literally, the band performing and recording themselves on a cassette deck on a boombox.  It's interesting to hear them in that raw of a format, but I don't think I'll listen to that too often.  Finally, there are some early demos of the songs that pre-date Dave Grohl joining the band: they feature Chad Channing on drums.

Nevermind is an album that I have a complicated relationship with, but it's certainly one of the greatest and most important albums released in my lifetime, and I'm grateful for it.  It helped to wipe out a lot of crap bands (of course, it inspired a movement of those crap bands pretending to be Nirvana, instead of pretending to be Van Halen). It also sort of brought a system of ethics to bands who come from the underground and end up in the mainstream.  Stone Gossard basically admitted as much in Pearl Jam 20.  The idea of Kurt Cobain giving a public beatdown over something that smells like a sell-out helped to keep the band on their best behavior.  For a time, it felt like most of pop music felt the same way. Maybe a lot of us (including some of Kurt's bandmates, friends and fans) have outgrown that rigid ethic, but you know that people are probably influenced by Kurt's personality as much as they are by his songs.

NEIL YOUNG AND DAVE GROHL "COLLABORATE"

Without much fanfare, a new version of Neil Young's "Sign Of Love" from last year's Le Noise has been released as a single on iTunes. It's a slightly different take of song, with Dave Grohl on drums.  If you have the album or are familiar with it, you'll recall that there's no drums on the album - it is a true solo album, it's all Neil on vocals, guitar and keyboards, with producer Daniel Lanois and his guys adding some effects.  I liked the concept of the album (although I wish some of the songs were stronger), but Dave Grohl's drums add some muscle to the song.

This is the second re-imagining of a Le Noise track: right after the album came out, Pearl Jam covered "Walk With Me" at the Bridge School Benefit, with Neil joining them on guitar and vocals.  It sounded cool as a band song.   There are lots of bootleg videos you can see one here. It reminds me of how cool it is when Neil and Pearl Jam play together. I hope that one of these days, they do a U.S. tour together.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: GARAGE ROCK!

First off, to longtime readers and frequent visitors, sorry that I haven't been too prolific this month. Aside from the day job at SiriusXM, I've been taking classes at NYU. I have a lot of records and DVDs to review for you guys.  And by the way - as is usually the case - I buy them myself.  I don't write positive reviews because I got something for free - even when I do get it for free.  But these days, I get most of my music from iTunes or Amazon, just like you do.

OK, so tomorrow on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick on SiriusXM OutQ, I return to a topic that I always love: garage rock!

First off is the new Foo Fighters album, Wasting Light, which was actually recorded in a garage, namely Dave Grohl's garage (which is probably nicer than most people's houses, but still).  I wrote about this last month, and having revisited the album today, I maintain that it is one of their best, and one of the best of the year so far.  I was discussing with someone how Dave Grohl is a guy who everyone loves, but you don't hear about Foo Fighters albums being listed as classics.  This one might be a classic (but I'd argue that the first one - really a Grohl solo project - and the second one, The Colour And The Shape, are excellent).

Another great garage rock band is The New York Dolls.  I wrote about their new album Dancing Backward In High Heels in my last post.  I came late to this band's party, but I would recommend their 1973 self titled debut to anyone. The three albums they've released since reuniting in 2004 are all really good. They couldn't have the impact of that first album, but they are good records. I maintain that the Dolls belong in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Frontman David Johansen was one of my favorite artists of the '00s, both because of the Dolls but also because of his great SiriusXM Radio show (yes I work there).

Also, the new album by The Strokes, which Larry gave me.  For some reason, they are just a band that I absolutely cannot get into. I remember reading all about them in the British magazine Q (I read about them there first, even though they are from New York), lots of hype.  When I heard them, I found them pretty boring. In 2004, I saw them "perform" at Little Steven's Underground Garage Rock Festival.  Maybe part of the problem was that they went on after The New York Dolls (playing NY for the first time in three decades) and before The Stooges.  They were so out of their league. I know people think their first record is a classic, but I just can't get into them. I don't "go negative" on No Expiration, but that is a band I just can't get with. But Larry and I will discuss some songs from their new album, Angles.

Other than that, this week I did the modern day equivalent of going to buy 45"s: picking garage rock songs out on iTunes. I have songs by: Spanking Charlene, a band that got signed to Little Steven's Wicked Cool Records after winning a contest. The Woggles (also on Wicked Cool) are a cool band - their singer, The Mighty Manfred, is a DJ on The Underground Garage. The Breakers from Denmark, have also recorded for Wicked Cool, I dig their new song, "The Jerry Lee Symptoms." Larry lent me some music by The Vaccines, they remind me a bit of The Smiths. And Dum Dum Girls are kind of big on the indie rock scene, and they actually cover The Smiths' "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out," but I also have one of their own songs, "He Gets Me High." People sometimes ask what the appeal of garage rock is: I don't know, I like the idea of a few people getting together with instruments and making short, great songs. I don't care if it isn't sonically innovative: sometimes it can make you feel good to be alive, and sometimes that's more important than anything else.

FOO FIGHTERS - WASTING LIGHT

I love this album. The Foo Fighters' Wasting Light is one of their best LPs, certainly their best album since 1997's The Colour and The Shape.

Recorded on all analog tape (a piece of the actual master is included in the album if you pre-ordered, I have one) in Dave Grohl's garage (a "ballad-free" zone) it is loud and rocking. When the band recorded two new songs for their Greatest Hits album in 2009, Dave reunited with Nevermind producer Butch Vig.  I guess they enjoyed working together ("Wheels" is a great song, albeit 100% different from what they've done here), so they decided to do a full album.

Pat Smear, who was a member of the original Foo Fighters band, rejoined as a touring member after the release of 2007's Echoes, Silence Patience and Grace, and now he's back in the band full time... but Chris Shiflett is still in the band also, so they now have a muscular three guitar attack.

Grohl comes from a hardcore punk background, but his great sense of melody comes through on every song he writes.  So even when the guitars and drums are crashing down, there's still great melodies, his songs are memorable.  Some of the recent Foo Fighters albums have had a bit of filler - this album has none. If I write about highlights, I'll end up mentioning every song on the album. Seriously.  But I will mention "Dear Rosemary," which features Bob Mould on guitar and vocals. Grohl is always really cool about citing his influences, and lately he's been saying that without Bob's old band, Husker Du, he wouldn't be doing what he's doing. I think the band's lineup is maxed out at five members, but I'd love to see Bob join the band! Also, Krist Novoselic plays bass and accordion on "I Should Have Known."  It's a great song that will kick ass when they do it live.

It's been a long time since I've said that a Foo Fighters release would be one of my favorite albums of the year, but this will be in the running for my top 10.

WATCH: LEMMY + SLASH + GROHL "ACE OF SPADES"

This is from the Revolver Golden Gods awards ceremony that I wrote about a while back: Lemmy with Slash and Dave Grohl doing the Motorhead classic "Ace of Spades." Some things will never go out of style. By the way, the show will air on May 22 on VH1 Classic.

LEMMY + SLASH + GROHL = AWESOME

I just heard that at Revolver's Golden God Awards, Lemmy, along with Slash and Dave Grohl, will perform the Motorhead classic "Ace Of Spades." I imagine that this will, in some way, serve to promote the documentary Lemmy, which comes out soon. Both Grohl and Slash are interviewed in the doc. Lemmy and Grohl have worked together before: along with ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons they did a great cover of Chuck Berry's "Run, Run Rudolph" for the We Wish You A Metal X-Mas compilation. And Lemmy sang "Shake Your Blood" on Grohl's awesome Probot project. I think Lemmy is on Slash's upcoming solo album, and I think Grohl is also. That's pretty cool: I remember back in the day Kurt Cobain had a huge beef with Axl Rose when Nirvana refused to open on the Guns N Roses/Metallica tour. Anyway, the Golden God Awards takes place at L.A.'s Nokia Theater on April 8 and will be broadcast on VH1 Classic on May 22.

FOO FIGHTERS: HIATUS? WHAT HIATUS?

Dave Grohl tells Rolling Stone that the Foo Fighters will do their next album with Butch Vig, who he of course worked with nearly twenty years ago on Nirvana's Nevermind. (Dave also filled in for Vig on drums on "Bad Boyfriend," from Garbage's most recent album). He says that he and Taylor Hawkins are already working on new songs. I kind of thought that Them Crooked Vultures would be a year long project, but maybe that won't be the case. I do hope they work together in the future though. On the other hand, I've read that bassist Nate Mendel is reuniting with Sunny Day Real Estate for a tour, so who knows if there's an actual schedule for the Foos to return to active duty.

THEM CROOKED VULTURES AT ROSELAND

OK, the above performance isn't from Them Crooked Vultures' Roseland show, it was two nights before on Saturday Night Live. But like on SNL, they were big, bad, riffy and had mad swagger (in the parlance of the times). They were a heaving juggernaut of awesome heavy blues-based (but not blues reverent) rock. TCV is on the cover of the new Guitar World, and in the feature, frontman Josh Homme says that he would have had a real problem if he felt like he was filling in for Robert Plant, Jimmy Page or Kurt Cobain. It's actually the perfect attitude to have. It allows the group to be their own group and not a "supergroup." Also in the article, it looked like Dave Grohl kept Josh from making the band too riff-y and not song-y enough... there are some killer riffs and great songs on the album, but I wish they worked on the songs a bit more. That said, they were righteous live, especially on "Scumbag Blues." It was great to see Dave Grohl playing drums (I never saw Nirvana; I've seen Dave play drums a bit with the Foo Fighters and I saw a Mike Watt gig when he played drums for most of the show). This was the first time I ever saw John Paul Jones perform: I have seen both of his surviving Led Zeppelin ex-bandmates, but never John. He was just as cool as you would expect. He's 64 and playing super heavy rock with guys decades younger than him. He looks great, sounds great and his fingers move super fast. I've heard that Them Crooked Vultures are thinking about the next album already. Here's hoping they knock it out quickly, I can't wait to hear where they go from here (with apologies to Dave's bandmates in the Foo Fighters).

Honorable mention to guitarist/keyboardist Alain Johannes, who plays with the band at their live shows. A former member of Eleven (I saw them open for both Pearl Jam and Soundgarden), he also plays with Homme in Queens of the Stone Age and on Josh's Desert Sessions albums, he really added to the band's live sound.  They should have him join as a full member, even though he isn't famous.

SOMETIMES IT'S WORTH STAYING UP FOR THE ENTIRE "SNL"

Them Crooked Vultures was the musical guest last night on Saturday Night Live, and they rocked pretty hard. I usually don't stay up until the end of the show, though, since their last half hour is usually 1 minute long throwaway skits followed by commercials. But this skit apparently was the last one of the night, and featured TCV drummer Dave Grohl. Good for SNL for using Dave's comedic skills!

BEST OF THE 00's: DAVE GROHL

I remember watching The Backbeat Band on the MTV Movie Awards in 1994 and wondering if Dave Grohl would ever play to such a large crowd again.

At this point, of course, Nirvana had ended with Kurt Cobain's death, and no one could have anticipated that Dave Grohl would have become what he became. Dave was playing drums for a "supergroup" that also featured Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli, Soul Asylum frontman Dave Pirner (a huge star at that time), Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, Don Flemming of Gumball and Mike Mills of R.E.M. They recorded an album of garage rock classics for the soundtrack of the film Backbeat, about the early days of The Beatles when they were playing clubs.

Of course we know how it all turned out: Grohl became the singer/songwriter/leader of Foo Fighters, one of the biggest rock bands of the second half of the '90s. 1995's Foo Fighters (essentially a solo album on which Dave played everything, except one guitar track by Dulli), 1997's The Colour and The Shape and 1999's There Is Nothing Left To Lose showed that Grohl was a great songwriter and leader in his own right, certainly influenced by Nirvana, but not afraid to go more metal, or more pop. Refreshingly, he didn't have a problem with being popular, playing arena stages, and rubbing shoulders with classic rockers.  That would continue in the '00.

2000's releases were a cover of Pink Floyd's "Have A Cigar" for the Mission Impossible II soundtrack (Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins sang lead, and Queen's Brian May played lead guitar), and a bunch of guest appearances.  Dave, along with Frank Black and David Bowie guested on a great song, "Jewel," from Bowie (then-) guitarist Reeves Gabrels' solo album, Ulysses.  In interviews, Grohl expressed hope that those musicians would work together again (which never happened). Also that year, Dave wrote, sang, and played drums on "Goodbye Lament" from Tony Iommi's debut album Iommi. Grohl has always had a great sense of humor (remember the Nirvana In Utero commercial with Bobcat Goldtwhait, and the Foo Fighters "Big Me" video?). In 2001, he played drums on Tenacious D's debut album, a rocking album.

Speaking of rocking, in 2002, he briefly joined Queens Of The Stone Age for the Songs For The Deaf album, probably the best album Dave played on in the '00s. The lineup at that point was singer/guitarist/songwriter/founder Josh Homme, along with bassist/vocalist Nick Oliveri and singer Mark Lanegan (formerly of Screaming Trees). I don't always buy into the Queens, but I have a lot of respect for Josh, and this is his finest moment. The album really overshadowed the next Foo Fighters album, One By One, which came out later that year, and that point, I kind of wondered if Dave was still into the Foo Fighters.

There were more sessions: he played guitar on Bowie's cover of Neil Young's "I've Been Watiting For You," played drums and some bass on Cat Power's You Are Free album and played drums on the entire Killing Joke self-titled album (reportedly free of charge).

In 2004, he put out the long-talked about Probot project. A full-on underground metal project, Grohl was recording (on his own) metal jams in the style of some of his favorite old bands.  Eventually he started calling the frontmen of those bands to contribute lyrics and vocals, and the album includes Lemmy, Max Cavalera, King Diamond and Mike Dean of Corrosion Of Conformity among others. The album got respect among real metal fans who didn't give a shit about Nirvana or the Foo Fighters.

In 2005, he played drums on one of Garbage's best songs, "Bad Boyfriend" (filling in for the band's usual drummer, Nevermind producer Butch Vig), and also on most of Nine Inch Nails' With Teeth. It turns out that these outside projects help keep him inspiried for the Foo Fighters, because on the next album, the double CD In Your Honor, he seemed rejuvinated.

Named in tribute to John Kerry (who Grohl "opened" for on his campaign trail in 2004), the album was half rock and half more acoustic stuff.  The acoustic side had some notable guests, including Norah Jones, Josh Homme and John Paul Jones. This was the best of the decade's three Foo Fighters albums, and led to two tours: a rocking arena tour and an acoustic theater tour, which yielded the band's first live album, Skin and Bones. The album featured a song that Dave wrote while in Nirvana, "Friend of a Friend," and during the tour Dave started playing "Marigold," the Cobain-less Nirvana tune that he wrote and sang.

In 2006, Dave returned to rocking and comedy by reprising his role as Satan (first played in Tenacious D's "Tribute" video).  This time he played the role in the D's film, The Pick Of Destiny, also adding satanic vocals to "Beezleboss (The Final Showdown)."  The next year saw another great Foo Fighters album, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace. Since then, they've released a very Petty-esque song "Wheels," for their Greatest Hits album, and of course now Dave is spending time with his new band, Them Crooked Vultures, featuring Josh Homme and John Paul Jones. I haven't even gotten into the Foo Fighters jams with John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page,  or the fact that Dave has also jammed with Paul McCartney.

The guy really has the best of all worlds: he can play loud rock and also acoustic, he's got a great band but can play in other bands and guest on other people's albums.  He can jam with McCartney and King Diamond. He's got the rock star lifestyle and remains a cool guy (and a family man at that). I imagine he'll be on the road for much of 2010 with Them Crooked Vultures, and after that, who knows.

KRIST NOVOSELIC: "HOW I MET DAVE GROHL"

Krist Novoselic wrote a piece called "How I met Dave Grohl," for The Seattle Weekly. I know they have performed together a few times since Nirvana. I wonder if they could ever do it again in a band, or would the ghosts just be too strong? Drummers have been on Krist's mind lately: he interviewed other former Nirvana drummers Chad Channing and Dale Crover also for The Seattle Weekly.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: NIRVANA, FOO FIGHTERS, THEM CROOKED VULUTRES

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, if you enjoy reading my musings on music and you have a satellite radio, you can hear me Wednesday mornings on SIRIUSXM's OutQ Channel. I am a guest of The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick at about 9 am ET every Wednesday. (You can actually get a free online trial and listen on your computer at www.sirius.com/freetrial). This week, I am talking about albums by Nirvana, Foo Fighters and Them Crooked Vultures. Someone commented to me that the common denomonator is Dave Grohl, which is both true and false.

There are two new Nirvana releases out now: the first is the 20th anniversary edition of Nirvana's debut album, 1989's Bleach. Dave Grohl hadn't yet joined the band. Chad Channing was the drummer on that album. Supposedly, it cost $600 to make the album, and there are no outtakes, because they couldn't afford extra tape, so if they didn't like a take, they taped over it. So why get this reissue? Because it includes a live set from the era on the CD and on a bonus DVD. Channing plays drums on that gig -it is early Nirvana, really, really raw.


Then, there's Live At Reading, recorded on August 30, 1992. They were one of the biggest bands in the world at that moment, and Kurt Cobain was getting really sick of it. One complaint I've read about the CD is that it cuts the in-between song banter, which gives it a bit of context, there's a lot of Kurt's whining. On the CD, they cut that, so you hear a powerful set of awesome songs performed with fury (and some boredom). But some people think it's misleading I guess.

It's weird (or maybe not) that both Nirvana albums came out on the same day last week (they are on different labels, SubPop owns Bleach while Universal put out Reading), and on the same day, a Foo Fighters Greatest Hits album came out. When Nirvana first broke up, I remember Dave played drums for a "supergroup" on the Backbeat soundtrack (a film about the Beatles' early days as a club band). It was Grohl, Mike Mills of R.E.M., Don Flemming of Gumball, Dave Pierner of Soul Asylum and Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs. They covered all the same old songs that The Beatles covered. I remember seeing them perform on the MTV Movie Awards, and wondering when Grohl would get to play big crowds again! Around that time, drummer Stan Lynch quit The Heartbreakers, and Tom Petty invited Dave to join the band. He didn't, but he did play for them on one episode of Saturday Night Live. I remember hearing Kris Novoselic telling Eddie Vedder about Dave's new project on an episode of Pearl Jam's "Monkey Wrench Radio," and he played a few songs from the demo, which sounded really cool. A few months later, the Foo Fighters opened for Mike Watt (Dave also played drums for Watt) but no one really had heard of them! It was pretty great though. By all accounts, Dave is a cool guy, and I'm glad he's done so well. I saw the Foo Fighters headline an arena last summer, and it was a good show.

Finally, Them Crooked Vultures. I've written about them a bit already. It's Dave Grohl on drums (and I think some vocals), Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age and Eagles Of Death Metal on guitar and vocals and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin on bass and keyboards. Their album comes out next week, but they're letting you listen to it on their YouTube page. I've got to say, it sounds pretty awesome.

SLASH'S ALBUM SOUNDS PRETTY COOL

In September, I wrote about how Dave Grohl is playing on Slash's upcoming solo album. Also guesting on the album: Flea, Chris Cornell, most of Guns N' Roses (other than Axl, obviously), Iggy Pop, Cypress Hill, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Meat Loaf and Adam Levine of Maroon 5. And Fergie. And Nicole Scherzinger, the girl who (allegedly) actually sings for the Pussycat Dolls. This should be a cool album, Slash deserves it after having to deal with Axl and then the guy from Stone Temple Pilots.

ON iTUNES: FOO FIGHTERS GREATEST HITS EP

Tomorrow sees the release of the Foo Fighters' Greatest Hits album. A deluxe version will have a DVD of the band's videos. But iTunes will have a cheapter EP version, which will just have the two new songs, "Wheels" and "Word Forward," as well as the acoustic version of "Everlong" and a cover of Paul McCartney's "Band On The Run" which is exclusive to the EP. Dave Grohl and Sir Paul are total bros: Dave played drums for Paul at the Grammys last year (and I think he joined them for "Band On The Run" at one of Paul's shows in the summer of '08). I watched part of the Foo Fighters exclusive Facebook show on Friday night, and it was pretty cool.

Of course, that's probably the last we'll see of the band for a while, since Dave is about to spend the next few months with Them Crooked Vultures. I imagine the other Foos - drummer Taylor Hawkins and guitarist Chris Shiflett - will do solo stuff, and bassist Nate Mendel may work with Sunny Day Real Estate again.

THEM CROOKED VULTURES LAND NOVEMBER 17

Them Crooked Vultures - the band featuring John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin on bass and keyboards, Dave Grohl of The Foo Fighters on drums and Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stones Age and The Eagles Of Death Metal on guitar and vocals - will release their self-titled debut on November 17. I can't wait to hear it. A friend of mine recently went to see them at Roseland in NYC, where they played all new music that no one had heard yet, and supposedly it was awesome.

Speaking of The Foo Fighters, I heard their new single "Wheels," from their upcoming greatest hits album, and it is very Petty-like. I like it a lot.

SLASH JAMS WITH DAVE GROHL

Seventeen years ago, W. Axl Rose tried to get Nirvana to open on the Guns N Roses / Metallica tour. But Kurt Cobain wasn't having any of that, so he turned them down. It must have bummed out Dave Grohl, a longtime Metallica fan. He made amends years later, with his sort-of-fake open letter to Metallica, and he even interviewed Metallica for a syndicated radio show when Death Magnetic came out. Now, according to Slash's twitter, Grohl is playing on the guitar legend's upcoming solo album. I like it when everyone can get along. (I got the photo and story from Rolling Stone).