I don't think the Foo Fighters are replacement level, they are consistent and boring and probably somewhat above average. Paul Konerko.

Again in my book, "not being boring" is a pretty important aspect of a band, more like what "being able to strike people out" is to a pitcher. Which would make Foo Fighters approximately Aaron Cook.

(EDIT: As in, the 2012 version of Aaron Cook)

Again in my book, "not being boring" is a pretty important aspect of a band, more like what "being able to strike people out" is to a pitcher. Which would make Foo Fighters approximately Aaron Cook.

The reason I think Konerko is that he's a guy that all baseball fans are familiar with, he does his job dependably, but he never had the personality or the signature moments that made anyone but White Sox fans care. He kind of has a Hall of Fame case, but only as a compiler, and it falls apart if you really consider it carefully. All of these things scream Foo Fighters to me.

The Foos should be someone who the hipper-than-thou folks underrate because they feel like he's overrated and just don't like his style. Ichiro maybe.

Although I don't think Repoz was actually referring to me in this title, I do like Pearl Jam and the Red Sox...

Also speaking of bands from the 90's, I always thought Dream Theater was a grunge band because of "Pull me Under" but turns out they are progressive metal whatever the hell that is.

Waaaaaaaaaaaait a minute...how could you possibly consider "Pull Me Under" a grunge song? It's 8 minutes long and the singer has a very high-pitched voice, among other things!

Oh, and progressive metal is awesome, is what that is.

I swear you are wrong about Pearl Jam. No one yet has mentioned their later work. Riot Act is their best album, nowhere near grunge anymore.

I was very meh about enything up until No Code, which I liked a bit. Riot act up until now is fantastic. Now PJ is my favorite group.

Grohl is a top-notch musician and despite a decline phase, was a very very good songwriter. Not sure what people have against him, really.

Grohl sings the chorus 12 times a song. very boring.

Sorry, but Pearl Jam and Nirvana are probably a couple of the worst of the "well-known grunge bands". Just blech. PJ didn;t do much past Ten, and I think we all can admit Cobain's death was VERY timely for their music. Soundgarden, just as a single and somewhat popular example, was better. As was Alice in Chains. As were quite a few other bands of the time that didn't get thier due.

I hate FM radio.

Waaaaaaaaaaaait a minute...how could you possibly consider "Pull Me Under" a grunge song? It's 8 minutes long and the singer has a very high-pitched voice, among other things!

Oh, and progressive metal is awesome, is what that is.

Wha? Operation:Mindcrime isn't grunge either!?!

(I kid)

I would like to take this opportunity to say: Pavement.

I swear you are wrong about Pearl Jam. No one yet has mentioned their later work. Riot Act is their best album, nowhere near grunge anymore.

They're my favorite band too, but I'm not a big Riot Act fan--of their later stuff I like Avocado better. Yield is actually my favorite.

Operation:Mindcrime

That's a ####### great album.

There's nothing wrong with the Foo Fighters but I think Grohl lacks the spark of inspiration Cobain had and Grohl's music doesn't feel as personal as Cobain's, if that makes sense. It would have been interesting to see Nirvana progress if they'd only been as popular as The Pixies or Pavement--popular enough to matter but not popular enough for the mainstream to care and become an overwhelming pressure on the band. Of course, that assumes Cobain had lived, too.

The Foos are boring. Every song sounds pretty much the same, with only a handful of exceptions.

Grohl is an exceptional drummer though. I'll pretty much listen to anything he drums in.

The one drummer who came out of nowhere to make a cool album remains, for me, Chris Mars. I was not expecting that when The Replacements broke up and I still listen to Horseshoes and Hand Grenades on occasion. I need to give a listen to his other albums which, for whatever reason, I never picked up.

Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

I truly never expected to see or hear anything about this album until I was near death and scrolling through my library. Good show, Shooty.


The Foos are boring. Every song sounds pretty much the same, with only a handful of exceptions.

You misspelled "Stones".

One grunge song I loved - that Temple of the Dog tune "Hungry".

"Hunger Strike". Yeah, Chris Cornell kills the backup vocals on that song.

That's a ####### great album.

Sadly, their only great album. I saw them perform the whole thing live at a bar in Saratoga Springs, NY 6-7 years ago. It was awesome.

The Foos are boring. Every song sounds pretty much the same, with only a handful of exceptions.

You misspelled "Stones".

OK, now wait a minute...

The Stones haven't done anything passable in 20 years, nothing good in 30 years, and nothing truly great in nearly 40 years -- but there's no way you can compare Some Girls to Let it Bleed to Exile and say those albums sound alike. If anything, the Stones claim to be the world's greatest rock n roll band is hurt by their over dalliance into new and different genres (come on down, Emotional Rescue!).

If anything, the Stones claim to be the world's greatest rock n roll band is hurt by their over dalliance into new and different genres (come on down, Emotional Rescue!).

Which of these is the greatest abomination:

"Mixed Emotions", Rolling Stones
"Touch of Grey", Grateful Dead
"Burning Love", Elvis Presley
"Freeway of Love", Aretha Franklin

Separate theme... Which is the best:

"Party All The Time", Eddie Murphy
"She's Like The Wind", Patrick Swayze
"Hearbeat", Don Johnson

Sadly, their only great album.

Agreed, but I enjoy Rage for Order too. Sortof the prog-metal OK Computer.

"Hunger Strike". Yeah, Chris Cornell kills the backup vocals on that song.

It's really pretty much a duet, they alternate singing the verses at the beginning.

"Hunger Strike". Yeah, Chris Cornell kills the backup vocals on that song.

It's really pretty much a duet, they alternate singing the verses at the beginning.

Which is what made it such a great frat floor party karaoke anthem... and, I highly suspect, not what the artists had in mind in penning it!

"Mixed Emotions", Rolling Stones
"Touch of Grey", Grateful Dead
"Burning Love", Elvis Presley
"Freeway of Love", Aretha Franklin

Mixed Emotions is perfectly cromulent, generic rock. Touch of Grey's only sin is that it was a Dead song... so I'll take Freeway of Love. Elvis has plenty of abominations, so I wouldn't want to name just one.

On that note - and given that I've already expressed my distaste for things like Emotional Rescue -- I'm not against artists staking out new turf and I'm also not against them getting radio friendly. I think the #### Liz Phair got for going commercial is complete BS -- sure, "Why Can't I" is a sappy pop song... but it's a finely crafted pop song and there's nothing wrong with that. There's a difference between recording a solid pop song that's gonna get airplay and Mick Jagger singing in a ridiculous falsetto, while Wyman/Watts are wasted carrying a beat any synthesizer could produce, and Wood/Richards are standing around with nothing to do but go "WTF!"

Separate theme... Which is the best:

"Party All The Time", Eddie Murphy
"She's Like The Wind", Patrick Swayze
"Hearbeat", Don Johnson

Eddie Murphy wins this race by, like, 6,000 miles. "Party All The Time" is a great dance party song. No one ever expects it, but it's really fun and stupid and you can do this watch hand dance to it where one arm is a ticking second hand and when you get to midnight -- BOOM!

Waaaaaaaaaaaait a minute...how could you possibly consider "Pull Me Under" a grunge song? It's 8 minutes long and the singer has a very high-pitched voice, among other things!

Oh, and progressive metal is awesome, is what that is.

I had never heard of progressive metal until recently and the only station that used to play "Pull me Under" was the same one that played all the grundge music in the 90's before they changed formats and became a spanish station. What other group would be considered progressive metal?

I think the #### Liz Phair got for going commercial is complete BS

You can take all your Kim and Kelly Deals and Sleater-Kinneys and what-have-you indie rock goddesses, Liz Phair has pretty much had the perfect career.


What other group would be considered progressive metal?

Coheed and Cambria, I believe?

What other group would be considered progressive metal?

Biff might disagree, but maybe Porcupine Tree's more recent output (though they might fall just on the rock side of the rock/metal interface even then).

I've also heard it applied to Baroness, Mastodon, and Opeth, among others.

Biff might disagree, but maybe Porcupine Tree's more recent output (though they might fall just on the rock side of the rock/metal interface even then).

No, I agree with that, they definitely turned towards prog metal with In Absentia and the albums since then.

What other group would be considered progressive metal?

BGG's list is good but (other than maybe Mastodon) you probably won't have heard of them unless you're already into the genre. The best mainstream example of a band that could be given that label is probably Tool.

Nobody seems to agree with me, but I think System of a Down is at least partly progressive metal.

Edit: Meshuggah too, though I like them much less that Baroness, Mastodon, Opeth or Tool.

What about "A perfect circle?"

Since they've been brought up, what do you think of Baroness' Yellow and Green?

I like Touch of Grey. I've never understood the hostility. It's not great or anything, just a nice pop song.

Since they've been brought up, what do you think of Baroness' Yellow and Green?

Haven't heard it yet.

I only own the Blue Record -- I like some of it but I'm not wild about it, though from the reviews I've read it sounds like Yellow and Green is more likely to be up my alley.