Tonight’s post is going to be a little reactive, I’ll admit. It comes in the wake of recent news that Foo Fighters look to carry on without Taylor Hawkins. And I’m having a hard time with that. I know that my thoughts are far from unbiased, but even as just a fan, I still feel conflicted.
They are consistent, however. In my mind, there’s something a little sacred about a band’s lineup. I know that may be a strange thing to say, but there’s something unique about that special alchemy that comes from the same group of people creating something for years on end. And when that chemistry gets shaken up, the resulting concoction can be a bit diluted.
One of my favorite bands as a kid was Kiss. And they’ve had plenty of line-up changes. But those original four are the starting and ending of Kiss for me. Gene, Paul, Peter, and, obviously, Ace. I know they put out more albums without Ace and Peter than with them, but to me, that’s Kiss. Everyone else is just acting. Playing a part. Literally. Especially if they get hired to put on someone else’s makeup.
Now, I’m not saying that good can't come out of the new combinations. But they should be their own, entirely new entity. Don’t try to recreate the original thing. Just let something new grow out of whatever disfunction called for the change in the first place. And call it something else. Look at Metallica. Or Slayer. Van Halen. These bands continued making some arguably great music after major line-up changes, but I think a rebranding was in order. If only to weed the Van Hagar out of a Van Halen streaming station.
Making music in a band is a fragile, and often time-bound, thing. As fans, we want to keep the bands we love in suspended animation, continuing to make the music we love over and over. But we’ll never grow that way. And neither will they. We should allow them to grow. To make new concoctions. We should encourage it, even. But when it happens, I want it rebranded. Because it’s not the same.
There’s obviously a huge flaw in my logic, I know. Foo Fighters of 1999 were not the same as Foo Fighters of 1995. Those first recordings, as I’m sure you know, were essentially a Dave Grohl solo project. He had to build a band around those ideas just to be able to play them live. And that process takes time and fits and starts. After 20 years recombining the same elements in different ratios, though, you tend to understand what that Foo label is going to give you. A new drummer is definitely going to change that, whether it’s Josh Freese or Jon Theodore or even Hawkins doppelgänger Rufus Taylor. And it may be great. But it should be called something different. Either way, I’ll be at the front of the line to buy it.
Bleed Together
03 January 2023
Instrumental members.
Tonight’s post is going to be a little reactive, I’ll admit. It comes in the wake of recent news that Foo Fighters look to carry on without Taylor Hawkins. And I’m having a hard time with that. I know that my thoughts are far from unbiased, but even as just a fan, I still feel conflicted.
They are consistent, however. In my mind, there’s something a little sacred about a band’s lineup. I know that may be a strange thing to say, but there’s something unique about that special alchemy that comes from the same group of people creating something for years on end. And when that chemistry gets shaken up, the resulting concoction can be a bit diluted.
One of my favorite bands as a kid was Kiss. And they’ve had plenty of line-up changes. But those original four are the starting and ending of Kiss for me. Gene, Paul, Peter, and, obviously, Ace. I know they put out more albums without Ace and Peter than with them, but to me, that’s Kiss. Everyone else is just acting. Playing a part. Literally. Especially if they get hired to put on someone else’s makeup.
Now, I’m not saying that good can't come out of the new combinations. But they should be their own, entirely new entity. Don’t try to recreate the original thing. Just let something new grow out of whatever disfunction called for the change in the first place. And call it something else. Look at Metallica. Or Slayer. Van Halen. These bands continued making some arguably great music after major line-up changes, but I think a rebranding was in order. If only to weed the Van Hagar out of a Van Halen streaming station.
Making music in a band is a fragile, and often time-bound, thing. As fans, we want to keep the bands we love in suspended animation, continuing to make the music we love over and over. But we’ll never grow that way. And neither will they. We should allow them to grow. To make new concoctions. We should encourage it, even. But when it happens, I want it rebranded. Because it’s not the same.
There’s obviously a huge flaw in my logic, I know. Foo Fighters of 1999 were not the same as Foo Fighters of 1995. Those first recordings, as I’m sure you know, were essentially a Dave Grohl solo project. He had to build a band around those ideas just to be able to play them live. And that process takes time and fits and starts. After 20 years recombining the same elements in different ratios, though, you tend to understand what that Foo label is going to give you. A new drummer is definitely going to change that, whether it’s Josh Freese or Jon Theodore or even Hawkins doppelgänger Rufus Taylor. And it may be great. But it should be called something different. Either way, I’ll be at the front of the line to buy it.
See you tomorrow?