Foo Fighters |
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Fri. October 08.1999 9:00 AM EDT |
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Pop Go The Foo Fighters On RadioRockers' new single, 'Learn to Fly,' poised to bridge genres, according to experts. by Senior Writer Gil Kaufman |
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Dave Grohl (left) played all the guitars on There Is Nothing Left to Lose. ( ) |
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With the Foo Fighters' new single, "Learn to Fly," which leans heavily on
the rockers' melodic sensibility, the band may be on the cusp of a pop
crossover, radio experts say. "While I'm sure it's not a calculated move, this song happened
Daniels said "Learn to Fly" already has crept into the top 10 on three R&R charts since its debut a month ago. For the Oct. 8 issue, the song is #6 on the Alternative chart, #9 on the Active Rock chart and #10 on the Rock chart. "It's a great song, but I doubt the rest of the record is an exact clone," said Pat Ferrise, music director of WHFS-FM in Washington, D.C. — bandleader Dave Grohl's former hometown — which is spinning the song 40 times a week. "I'm sure there's some rock songs to satisfy the [core] fans." The song is the first single from the band's upcoming third album, There Is Nothing Left to Lose (Nov. 2). The group recently added former No Use for a Name and 22 Jacks guitarist Chris Shiflett, 28, to its touring lineup, replacing Franz Stahl. But Grohl, the ex-Nirvana drummer who formed the Foo Fighters after Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994, played all the guitars on the new 11-track album, as he did on the Foo Fighters' self-titled 1995 debut. Grohl and bandmates Nate Mendel (bass) and Taylor Hawkins (drums) recorded the album at Grohl's Virginia home earlier this year with producer Adam Kasper (Soundgarden). The Foo Fighters' second album, The Colour and the Shape (1996), was produced by Gil Norton (the Pixies) and featured the radio hits "Everlong" (RealAudio excerpt) and "My Hero" (RealAudio excerpt). The spoof-laden video for the new single debuted Thursday. In keeping with the band's previous slapstick clips for songs such as "Everlong" — in which they donned women's clothing and oversized '50s rocker outfits — the new clip features bandmembers portraying overweight travelers, star-struck teenage girls, flight attendants and themselves. When a pilot falls sick after drinking drug-spiked coffee, the Foo Fighters have to land the plane, in what appears to be an homage to the comedy classic "Airplane!" The clip also stars the members of musical comedy duo Tenacious D, who play drug-smuggling airline personnel. Even with their playlists full of hard-rock songs by bands like Creed, Limp Bizkit and Godsmack, several alternative-rock stations said "Learn to Fly" has gone quickly into heavy rotation. "The response has been great, and I think Dave's name and background carry a lot of weight and forgiveness with fans," said Mike Peer, music director for WXRK-FM in New York. "This may be a poppy song that crosses over, but [the fans] know he's a rock guy at heart." The station is playing the song four times a day, according to Peer. In the melodic pop tune, Grohl sings, "Hook me up a new revolution/ 'Cause this one is a lie/ Sat around laughing and watched the last one die." According to one fan who said he already has the album, the song is not representative of the work as a whole. Saying he was first hooked by the group's earlier, edgier songs, 19-year-old Brad Neville wrote in an e-mail that he thought the single was the weakest song on a very strong album. "['Learn to Fly'] is better than 99% of the mainstream music today," Neville wrote. "But ['Learn to Fly'] is easily the worst track on There Is Nothing Left to Lose. That should give you a fair idea of how phenomenal this album is." The album's track listing: "Stacked Actors," "Breakout," "Generator," "Learn to Fly," "Gimme Stitches," "Next Year," "Headwires," "Ain't It the Life," "M.I.A.," "Aurora" and "Live-In Skin." |
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