These came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got ’em. Here’s what I said about them back then (with some minor editing):
Is there life after post-grunge?
Two of the once-mighty genre’s leading proponents — Foo Fighters, led by ex-Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, and U.K. Nirvana-be’s Bush, fronted by pretty-boy Gavin Rossdale — are about to find out. This week, both bands release new albums (the third for each, coincidentally) into a musical landscape vastly different than the one they left behind — a world where guitars have given way to bubblepop and DJs are more valued than drummers. To stay alive, both bands have retooled their music for the millennium and tried to take their sound in new directions. Because let’s face it: No matter what the Foos might claim, for these bands, there is plenty for to lose.
Especially Grohl. Whether he likes it or not — and you sense he might not — his tenure backing Kurt Cobain has permanently rendered him grunge’s eternal torchbearer. From the Foos’ inception as his solo studio project, it seems Grohl has been striving to shuck that mantle by slowly nudging his style toward indie-rock and power-pop, merging its jangly guitars, winsome melodies and lush harmonies with the grating rockers fans expect.
On There Is Nothing Left To Lose, he takes a few more steps back to the future, moving deeper into the velvet goldmine of ’70s rock, in all its effects-drenched glory. Swirling, flanged guitars lurk among the thunder of Stacked Actors; bell-bottom boogie riffs jockey for position with power chords on Gimme Stitches; a Framptonesque voice box squawks out a melody on Generator.
But Grohl doesn’t need Peter or anyone else to show him the way. Over the years, he’s matured into a songwriter of surprising skill and originality, deftly able to craft songs that wield stiletto-sharp hooks while remaining engagingly unconventional. Sure, he still utilizes the tried-and-true template of quiet, slow verses and loud, fast choruses — but here the verse is likely to be a bossa nova, and the chorus a fuzzed-out noise-rock riff. On top of all that, he can still rock — and primal scream — with the best of ’em. And does here time and again. That ability to please your old fans while continuing to evolve artistically is the toughest trick in rock, but here Grohl pulls it off without a hitch, turning in the best work of his career. There Is Nothing Left To Lose proves he has nothing to worry about.
Which is more than you can say for Bush. Of course, it’s always been easy to hate rock pinup Rossdale and his mates. From the get-go, their sound and fury has been nothing but a carbon copy of Cobain. And now that the grunge bandwagon has run out of steam, the lads have obviously decided that they need a a new sound.
Trouble is, they don’t seem to have any new ideas. So here, they toss some futuristic effects on Gavin’s vocals, slap some electonica synthesizers on to tracks willy-nilly, sprinkle in a few Ziggy Stardust glam-rock riffs, add some moody, cyber-friendly song titles like Warm Machine, Jesus Online and Altered States and try to pass off all the high-tech sizzle as cutting-edge steak. But it all sounds as contrived and half-baked as the title The Science Of Things — which was presumably chosen over The Science Of Like, You Know, Stuff.
It’s too bad, really. Rossdale still has the ability to write a catchy riff (even if it usually reminds you of someone else’s). And you’ve got to give Bush credit for trying to get ahead of the curve. But in their case, there really is nothing left to lose — ’cause they never had it to begin with.
