The Foo Fighters’ PR machine has been in overdrive for several weeks now, building up hype for the release of their album, “Hail Satin”, today, Record Store Day. In a 70’s fake me out move, the album is by the Dee Gees, who are really the Foo Fighters, possibly dressed in really tacky threads.
The Foo Fighters evolved from Nirvana after the untimely suicide of grunge god Kurt Cobain in 1994. Like the Bee Gees and disco, Nirvana was a culturally-defining band of its time.
Coming out of COVID (hopefully), we are all wanting to break free, to unlock our imaginations, to be wilfully absurd and to take it to the max. It is no coincidence that the Bee Gees’ disco era did all of this and more, without any pandemic fuelling the fire. Rather, the 70’s were made up of a multitude of elements that came together to create a generation-changing accelerant: the highly unpopular Vietnam War, the Energy Crisis, the emergence of women’s rights, gay rights, environmental activism and the Watergate scandal that saw Richard Nixon forced to step down as President.
For those of you who did not live through the 70’s, I have two period films on my fav list, “Save the Tiger” (1973) and “All the President’s Men” (1976), both of which precede “Saturday Night Fever” (1977), which single-handedly catapulted the Bee Gees back into cult status. All 3 of these movies are worthy of a couch-fest:
Vinyl still reigned in the 70’s, with 8-track tapes eventually being replaced by compact cassettes. The iconic Sony Walkman was introduced at the end of the era, in 1979.
It’s hard to believe that the Foo Fighters were only formed 6 years after the Bee Gees called it quits. We gave you a cheat sheet about the Bee Gees in our FACT-ory blog on Tuesday, here’s one about the Foo Fighters:
- Founded by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a solo experiment 6 months after the death of Kurt Cobain
- A high school dropout, Grohl never expected his Nirvana gig to last, as when he successfully auditioned for the band he was drummer #6
- There is, in fact, such a thing as a “foo fighter” – a term used by allied aircraft pilots to describe unexplained aerial phenomena
- Like many other bands, the Foo Fighters have had their conflicts, excesses and independent initiatives. Music, after all, doesn’t come from nice, neat packages; it comes from living life, despite all its curveballs. As Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel and Dave Grohl say in their 1999 hit “Learning To Fly”:
“Now I’m lookin’ to the sky to save me, Lookin’ for a sign of life, Lookin’ for somethin’ to help me burn out bright, I’m lookin’ for a complication”
- Grohl is the only original Nirvana band member in the group. He is 52 years old, married with 3 daughters
- In addition to music, Grohl produced what he calls “a love letter to the history of American music” to salute the band’s 20th anniversary. “Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways” consists of 8 hour long episodes featuring iconic recording studios across the Country:
Undoubtedly Grohl’s directorial debut with “Sound City”, a documentary about the recording studio of the same name in the San Fernando Valley, gave him the courage to take this concept even further:
I like this recently released free documentary film about the Foo Fighters, and here’s another paid one you can hunt down:
Since Grohl and his bandmates are having fun with the Dee Gees right now, I thought it appropriate to end this blog on a feel-good note. Here’s the band hooking up with James Corden in “Carpool Karaoke”, followed by the incredibly delightful, instantly viral challenge he received last August from 10 year old drummer Nandi Bushell:
“Hail Satin” is being released today in support of Record Store Day. The Dee Gees will reschedule their planned debut at The Forum tonight after a positive COVID test result within their organization. The big question is: what will they be wearing when they get the green light? If you’re a fan, what will you be wearing? Will you be downloading Quizefy and playing our on-topic Quiz of the Day? We hope so!
Now challenge yourself and your friends to our Record Store Day - Dee Gees Quiz of the Day, by downloading Quizefy from the app store if you haven’t already done so, then see how much you know and Strut Your Smart. Our new Record Store Day - Dee Gees Quiz is only available today, then it disappears. We’ll be back again every Tuesday with a special blog posted at www.quizefy.com, along with a new trivia quiz on the same topic as the blog. Don’t forget to follow Quizefy in social media, so we can remind you of upcoming blog and quiz content.