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.

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.

TOMORROW ON THE MORNING JOLT: REISSUES! U2, NIRVANA, ROLLING STONES, BEACH BOYS, JETHRO TULL

Tomorrow morning I'll be on SiriusXM OutQ's The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick talking about one of my favorite subjects: box sets and reissues.  It's that time of year, they make great gifts!

I've written a lot about U2 lately, and I've also written about the Achtung Baby album and the reissue.  It blew me away when I first heard it in 1991, and I've never gotten tired of it.  The super deluxe version of the box set has lots of great extras (although I balked at the $400+ uber box set, which has the same music, but does have magnets, stickers, Bono shades, etc.  Cute, but for me, not worth the money.  Really, all you need is the album itself, but I really wanted some of the extras.


I've written about the Nirvana Nevermind reissue. Well, a lot has been said about the album lately.  It really was a game changer for music. Yeah, it led to a lot of bands deciding that they had to pretend to be angst ridden, but what are you gonna do?  You can't blame all the hair metal bands on Van Halen, and you can't blame the grunge fakers on Nirvana. I bought the super deluxe version of this also.  Again, for the extras, including a live recording and also Butch Vig's original mixes of the album.  But you'd do fine with the deluxe version.  Or really, just the original, it's so powerful and still holds up today.

I've also written about The Rolling Stones Some Girls reissue. I've mentioned that it's probably my favorite Stones album, and that the outtakes are so good, I think they're better than the Stones' next album, Emotional Rescue. And they're better than most band's albums too.  When Ronnie Wood joined the band, it just worked. It was while the band were still powerful and had their swagger.  I like a lot of what they've done since Some Girls, but nothing came close to matching this LP.  I love Tattoo You and I really like Steel Wheels and A Bigger Bang, none of them come are in their neighborhood.

Jon Moskowitz (@JonMoskow) from the blog Vivoscene was nice enough to do a guest review of The Beach Boys' Smile. I don't really get the album, and I Tweeted a request for someone to guest review it for me, and Jon (who I met at a social media seminar hosted by Sree Sreenivasan aka @sree) said he'd do it.  It turns out, he doesn't really get the album either.  It's not any anti-Beach Boys bias though: we both enjoy Pet Sounds.

Finally, Jethro Tull's Aqualung. People kind of make fun of Jethro Tull, but if you think of them in the context of the time, wow, how different they must have sounded.  Fortunately for them, classic rock radio has played their records for decades.  But that can be a double edged sword.  Songs like "Aqualung" and "Locomotive Breath" and "Cross-Eyed Mary" can lose their edge after years of repetition and being played back to back with lots of the soft rockers that classic rock radio plays so much of. But this is a pretty awesome album.

#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.

NIRVANA, PEARL JAM AND R.E.M.

There's a lot of nostalgia around '90s music these days. Pearl Jam is celebrating their 20th anniversary via a documentary film directed by Cameron Crowe, the accompanying book and soundtrack and their recent two day festival.  Nirvana, meanwhile, are releasing various versions of the 20th anniversary edition of their breakthrough album, Nevermind.

I always thought that the sort of clash between the bands was silly, and never felt the need to choose between them.  That said, when Kurt Cobain complained about Pearl Jam being "corporate rock" in Rolling Stone (the issue where he wore the "corporate magazines still suck" t-shirt on the cover), I found that a bit annoying. Sure, Ten was slick sounding... but so was Nevermind. (And Geffen had Andy Wallace remix the album after they turned down producer Butch Vig's original mix... which will be available in the super-deluxe version of the reissue).

Nirvana was more abrasive, and Pearl Jam was more inclusive. Nevermind kicked down doors and changed music overnight, Pearl Jam took a bit longer to find their audience (despite the fact that their music is more accessible).  Nirvana was always more credible, Pearl Jam easier to make fun of.  I never cared about any of that.

Nirvana left behind a pretty untouchable -- but small -- body of work. Three albums, lots of singles and B-sides, and great live shows (I never saw them in concert). Kurt Cobain is in the "27" club with Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison and (I guess) Winehouse. We never saw him get old, Nirvana never fell off, it's all perfectly preserved in our memories, and I guess there's something about that that people romanticize.

As a 40-something, I have a much greater appreciation for what Pearl Jam has done. They've stuck it out. They're not pretending to be 20-somethings, they're not pretending to be anything they're not. They're grown men and they write songs from that perspective.  Has everything they've ever done lived up to the promise of Ten, Vs. and Vitalogy?  No. But that's how life is: everything doesn't always come out great, but you keep going. And you hit upon some brilliant moments during the ride.

That's kind of what Rob Sheffield wrote about today on Rolling Stone, when discussing R.E.M.'s breakup.  He said "People love to complain that R.E.M. should have broken up when Bill Berry quit in 1997, to preserve their legacy in a pristine state. Except this misses the fundamental point of R.E.M., which is that rock and roll is something you do, something that's part of your real sloppy life, rather than a fleeting phase. They decided not to be a 'go out in a blaze of glory' band like The Smiths or Husker Du, and they also decided not to be a 'blaze gloriously and then kinda fade out so everybody assumes you broke up even though maybe you officially didn't' kind of band, like Echo and the Bunnymen or The Jesus and Mary Chain. They decided to be a 'run it into the ground' band, plowing ahead whether they had the wind at their backs or not."  I disagree with Mr. Sheffield a bit, as I loved R.E.M.'s 2008 album Accelerate, but generally speaking, the wind has not been at their backs since Bill left.

The wind hasn't always been at Pearl Jam's backs either, and at points, it seemed to be blowing directly at them. I'm glad they stuck it out, and keep sticking it out. It would have been easy to call it a day: none of these guys need the money at this point. And I would admit that not all of their albums seem as inspired as their early ones.  But parts of Backspacer mean as much to me as anything they've ever done. "The Fixer" is like my mantra.  "Unthought Known," "Just Breathe" and "Amongst The Waves" move me as much as anything they've done before.  I'm glad they stuck around long enough to make that album, and I can't wait to hear what the next one is like.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: ALBUM ANNIVERSARIES: ALICIA KEYS, RYAN ADAMS, NIRVANA, MEGADETH, R.E.M.

Tomorrow morning on SiriusXM OutQ's Morning Jolt with Larry Flick, I'm talking about some albums that are being reissued in special anniversary editions.

First off, Alicia Keys' Songs In A Minor, which celebrates its tenth birthday this year. I wrote about this one the other night, I think it's a great LP.  To me, it heralded the arrival of a major artist who is going to be making important music for decades.  People rip on her for lots of things.  I guess the fact that she was a star pretty much the minute the album hit stores (thanks to both Oprah's endorsement and also an undeniable first single, "Fallin'") made her seem like an overnight star. (In fact, when she signed to J Records, it was her third record deal, she'd been signed and dropped twice previously). And, more recently, people have criticized her for more personal things which I won't get into.  I'll say that she seems to try and have a positive effect on the world with her money and fame, and I think she makes great music. I'm glad she's a star, and I always look forward to hearing what she's going to do next.

Also turning ten this year is Ryan Adams' Gold. I wrote about this one recently also. When Elton John released his 2001 album Songs From The West Coast (one of my favorite Elton albums, and one that is totally underrated), he said it was influenced by Ryan (although I think he was specifically referring to 2000's Heartbreaker). He wanted to take his band into the studio and do an album in two weeks. Around this time, Elton and Ryan were supposed to film an episode of CMT's Crossroads in New York City.  I was fortunate enough to get tickets.  Ryan, for some reason, didn't show up, but his band did, as did Elton. Elton started off with a solo piano set, and then Ryan's band joined him for a set of Ryan's songs. It was amazing. I'll always remember Elton's version of "La Cienega Just Smiled" from Gold. Ryan has put out lots of albums since then, but I think this is his finest moment.

Nirvana's Nevermind turns twenty this year. Wow. 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 was listening to WDRE and wondering why they were playing a band that was heavy like Metallica, but of course the singer sounded nothing like Metallica or anyone else. 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. There's a deluxe version coming out later this year, but for now, Spin magazine has curated a tribute album called Newermind with The Meat Puppets, The Vaselines, Charles Bradley and Butch Walker, among others.  You can get it for free by liking their Facebook page.

R.E.M. has released a 25th anniversary edition of Life's Rich Pageant.  Having listened to it a bit lately, I've concluded that it is probably their best album (although I also love Automatic For The People). I'm going to do a separate post about this album.  The reissue comes with a second disc of demos and some songs that didn't come out on the album (some were re-recorded years later, others are being released for the first time here). Honestly, the bonuses are cool but kind of academic. But you need to have at least the album proper, if you don't already.

Finally, Megadeth's Peace Sells, which also turns 25.  Unlike the R.E.M. album, I remember this one coming out (I wasn't really aware of R.E.M. yet in 1986).  I knew they were led by a guy who used to be in Metallica, and lots of people were talking about it (I think I also knew that frontman Dave Mustaine was actually credited as a co-writer on a number of early Metallica classics). I listened to this album over and over, just as I did with Metallica. I felt Mustaine had the ability to take metal even further than Metallica did. They seemed to be a bit more political, which I was interested in at the time.  To me, this is one of the best speed metal albums ever. The bonus disc is a poorly recorded live concert from the era.

I know U2 will be releasing a Achtung Baby/Zooropa box set later this year, I can't wait to hear what they put on it (I have most of the b-side and remixes from the era though). I look forward to bringing that one onto a later episode of Larry's show.

MOJO TURNS 200, TOM WAITS EDITS

I'm a bit behind on this, but you should look for the latest issue of Mojo, it's the 200th issue, and to celebrate, they let Tom Waits edit. And why not? Tom interviews Hank Williams III in the issue, and Joe Henry interviews Harry Belafonte. There's also lots of historical features from the magazine's history, including stories on the making of Nirvana's In Utero (the magazine's first "album of the month") and Radiohead 's OK Computer. My favorite was the story behind Bob Dylan's Time Out Of Mind, where many of the players on the album (but not Dylan, nor producer Daniel Lanois) give the behind-the-scenes story of the album. It seemed like Dylan didn't like Lanois' ideas, and neither did most of the musicians, but the tension between Bob and Lanois led to a classic album (as it did years earlier when they did Oh Mercy together).

Anyway, as always, a great read.

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.

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.

BON JOVI ON GUITAR HERO COBAIN: "I WOULDN'T LIKE IT EITHER"

There's been some controversy over the Kurt Cobain avatar in Guitar Hero 5 - it doesn't just sing Nirvana songs, you can have it sing songs by other artists - as has often been mentioned in the press (and on this very blog) - Bush (Nirvana lite) and Bon Jovi (the anti-Nirvana). Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl have asked Activision to "lock" the character so that it only sings Nirvana songs, and somehow Courtney Love has blamed this on Activision, Grohl, everyone but herself. But in an interview with the NME, Guitar Hero's CEO said that Kurt Cobain's estate "cashed the check." Does anyone else from the estate cash the checks other than Courtney?

As for Jon Bon Jovi, who I remember making fun of Nirvana and grunge music in general in a music video years ago, even he doesn't like it, as he recently told BBC News. He said he wouldn't want to hear someone else's song coming out of a cartoon version of himself.

KRIST NOVOSELIC AND DAVE GROHL WEIGH IN ON GUITAR HERO

Courtney Love has been... well, "ranting" is a good way to put it ... on Twitter about the Kurt Cobain avatar on Guitar Hero, which, when "unlocked," can be used to front other bands including Nirvana ripoffs Bush and even Bon Jovi. She somehow made it seem like Dave Grohl may be to blame. Dave and Krist Novoselic released this statement today:

This is a statement regarding Nirvana, Guitar Hero and the likeness of the late Kurt Cobain.

We want people to know that we are dismayed and very disappointed in the way a facsimile of Kurt is used in the Guitar Hero game. The name and likeness of Kurt Cobain are the sole property of his estate - we have no control whatsoever in that area.

While we were aware of Kurt’s image being used with two Nirvana songs, we didn’t know players have the ability to unlock the character. This feature allows the character to be used with any kind of song the player wants. We urge Activision to do the right thing in “re-locking” Kurt’s character so that this won’t continue in the future.

It’s hard to watch an image of Kurt pantomiming other artists’ music alongside cartoon characters. Kurt Cobain wrote songs that hold a lot of meaning to people all over the world. We feel he deserves better.

Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl

KURT COBAIN ON GUITAR HERO

Kurt Cobain is going to be on Guitar Hero 5, and here's what he's going to look like. Eerie. This edition will also have Carlos Santana, Shirley Manson of Garbage, Johnny Cash and Matt Bellamy of Muse.

In other Nirvana news, a live CD/DVD of thier Redding Festival performance from August 30, 1992 is coming out November 17 - the same day that SubPop releases the Bleach reissue.

SUB POP TO REISSUE NIRVANA'S BLEACH IN NOVEMBER

Nirvana's Bleach turns 20 this year. Wow. Sub Pop is putting out a deluxe reissue with bonus tracks and a live concert recording. What else do you need to know?

KURT COBAIN'S CATALOG

Interesting story at Portfolio about Courtney Love selling a 50% of Kurt Cobain's publishing catalog a few years back.  Basically she went from being almost broke to being a millionaire, but the company who bought the rights haven't really made much money from it because Nirvana's music was so uncommercial (despite it's commercial success). 

NIRVANA READING '92 COMING TO DVD

The Nirvana fan club reports that the band's legendary set from Reading '92 will be coming out on DVD later this year. I want to see that. I never actually went to see them in concert, which I regret of course. When I listen to Nirvana, it still blows me away, every time.

THE RUSH/FOO FIGHTERS JAM

OK, this will be my last Rush post for a while, at least until I go to their concert. I don't know how I missed this, but back in March, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson joined The Foo Fighters on stage at their show in Toronto. Actually, they just joined Foo drummer Taylor Hawkins during his drum solo, and they rocked out on Rush's instrumental classic "YYZ." I found out about it a great fansite, Rush Is A Band. 

One of the interesting parts of the recent Rolling Stone feature on Rush was one part where Neal Peart describes seeing Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video on MuchMusic, he got in touch with the band's management to offer them an opening slot on their tour. The band's management said no, because Nirvana were "alternative." Funny that all these years later, Geddy and Alex jammed on Dave Grohl's stage, albeit without Dave himself.  

It's been a pretty good year for the Foos. They recently jammed with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl recently sat in with Paul McCartney, and they are going to play at VH1's Who tribute concert. 

In other Foo Fighters news, they've just released an iTunes EP, including their cover of Arcade Fire's "Keep The Car Running." 

COPING VIA MIXTAPE: THE FOO FIGHTERS

Welcome to Coping Via Mixtape, my first genuine feature on No Expiration!

Here's the deal: I can't get to all the shows I want to see. I don't have the bucks. Or even the time. So sometimes I pretend that I'm going to a show, even when I know I'm probably not actually going. That was the case when the Foo Fighters played MSG recently. So, I acted as if I was going, and psyched myself up (or out) by making a mixtape for the show. In this case, a mixtape of my favorite performances by Dave Grohl. Here they are:

Scream: "Caffine Dream" (Scream was the Washington D.C. based hardcore band Dave was in before Nirvana; as with Nirvana, he wasn't the original drummer).

Nirvana: "In Bloom"

The Backbeat Band: "Good Golly Miss Molly" (The Backbeat Band did the soundtrack to the 1994 film about the early days of the Beatles, Backbeat. Dave played drums, Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs sang John Lennon's part, Dave Pierner of Soul Asylum did Paul McCartney's Mike Mills of R.E.M. played bass, and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Don Flemming of Gumball played guitars.)

The Foo Fighters: "This Is A Call"

Reeves Gabrels: "Jewel" (Reeves was the guitarist in David Bowie's band; this song features Grohl, Bowie and Frank Black)

Mike Watt: "Big Train" (this is from the ex-Minutemen and fIREHOSE bassist's solo debut; this song featured Dave on drums, Eddie Vedder on guitar and I think Krist Novoselic was on it too. The first time I saw The Foo Fighters was opening for Watt, before their first album came out. Eddie Vedder's then-wife's band, Hovercraft opened, Ed played drums. Then the Foo Fighters, then Watt, with Ed on guitar and Grohl on drums. At a small club. At the height of the "grunge" era. It was pretty incredble.)

Foo Fighters: "Monkey Wrench"

Queens Of The Stone Age: "No One Knows" (Dave was the drummer on their Songs For The Deaf album)

Probot: "Shake Your Blood" (Probot was Dave's totally awesome metal project, featuring a number of [mostly obscure] metal vocalists. Lemmy from Motorhead is on this one, he's easily the most famous guy on the album [other than Grohl])

Tenacious D: "Tribute" Dave not only played drums on thier debut album, but played Satan in the video.

Scream: "Gods Look Down" (Dave wrote and sang this one; I guess it's the first song he wrote and/or sang)

Nirvana: "Marigold" (the only Nirvana song that Dave wrote and sang; I think it was just Dave, with Krist on bass, I don't think Kurt Cobain was even on this song).

Nirvana: "Serve The Servants"

Iommi: "Goodbye Lament" (this is from Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi's solo debut. It featured lots of guest stars: Dave sang, wrote the lyrics and of course played drums on this. Brian May of Queen, a good friend of both Dave and Tony, also plays guitar)

Probot: "Red War" (featuring Max Cavalera from Sepultura and Soulfly; I think he wrote the lyrics shortly after 9/11)

Foo Fighters: "Stacked Actors"

Mike Watt: "Against The '70s" (also featuring Grohl and Eddie Vedder)

Queens Of The Stone Age: "First It Giveth"

Garbage: "Bad Boyfriend" (Garbage, of course, features Nevermind producer Butch Vig on drums, but Dave filled in for him on this one).

Foo Fighters: "Best Of You"

Foo Fighters: "The Pretender"

Tenacious D: "Beezleboss (The Final Showdown)" (Dave reprises the role of Satan on this one)

Pete Yorn: "For Us"

David Bowie: "I've Been Waiting For You" (Grohl plays guitar, not drums, on this Neil Young cover).