[14] After settling on a track sequence, Grohl was struck by the impression that the album's flow from start to finish resembled a therapy session, moving from fear and anxiety at the start to self-assurance and resolve by the end. It marked the official debut of the Foo Fighters as a band, as their eponymous 1995 debut album was primarily recorded by frontman Dave Grohl and producer Barrett Jones as a demo. Everyone's gonna hate it'. After the debut became an international success, Grohl recruited guitarist Pat Smear, bassist Nate Mendel, and drummer William Goldsmith to form the band's full lineup. The first album sounds like Foo Fighters but more grunge than they usually play now. The band regrouped without Goldsmith in early 1997 to record at Hollywood's Grandmaster Recordings studio, with Grohl sitting in on drums instead. in June 2006. The first album, Foo Fighters, I was just so afraid of anyone understanding anything I had to say – but I had no choice for this record.”. [20] Grohl described the concept of "Wind Up" as about successful musicians who constantly complain about their lives to the press. [8], In February 1997, the band—minus drummer William Goldsmith—relocated to Hollywood's Grandmaster Recorders, which Mendel said was "a small studio that sometimes moonlighted as a porn set, and looked the part. 100% Upvoted. [54] The album has also been certified Platinum in the United States,[32] Australia,[55] Canada,[56] and the United Kingdom.[57]. We just wanted to go in and make kind of a slick rock record, and I think that we did.”, In order to achieve that goal, the band hired producer Gil Norton. Grohl likened the disparity in sounds to changes from Jackson Five to Black Sabbath. not soon enough), and, well, I don’t exactly know how to describe the cover art: FINE LINE . The first album they tried to find their sound, and on Color & The Shape they found it. "[22], Grohl described "Up in Arms" as "A typical love song. Become A Better Singer In Only 30 Days, With Easy Video Lessons! '”, “I wasn’t sure what was going to happen,” Nate Mendel recalled in the 2011 documentary Foo Fighters: Back and Forth. Gone are the glamorous, sexy shots adorning Good Girl Gone Bad and A Girl Like Me. It marked the official debut of the Foo Fighters as a band, as their eponymous 1995 debut album was primarily recorded by frontman Dave Grohl and producer Barrett Jones as a demo. [5] The lyrics of "February Stars" are said to be about "hanging on by the tips of your fingers and hoping you don't slip and fall. I wrote the song, I brought it to soundcheck; I said, ‘Hey, I have this new song. The promotional campaign emphasized the band's group identity as well as each band member's individual personality. Everybody bounces,” Grohl explained in Foo Fighters: Back and Forth. [Foo Fighters (Musical group)] -- This title speaks for itself. The Colour and the Shape is the second studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters, released on May 20, 1997, by Roswell and Capitol Records. save hide report. It is a bold, energetic and lively color that can symbolize strength, confidence and power. The first album sounds like Foo Fighters but more grunge than they usually play now. “When we finally did sequence the album,” he told Vox magazine in June 1997, “I had this realization that it runs like a therapy session. Skip to main content. ^shipments figures based on certification alone. The Black Crowes (Shake Your Money Maker) and the Red Hot Chili Peppers (One Hot Minute) had also made multiplatinum albums at Grandmaster (which, sadly, has recently been sold for redevelopment), and the place’s mojo seemed to rub off on The Colour and the Shape, as well – though Grohl, Pat Smear and Nate Mendel had to re-record most of the album’s tracks there before finally achieving the sound and feel that Grohl was looking for. Her album covers have evolved, too. 9. But for Dave Grohl, guitarist Pat Smear, bassist Nate Mendel, drummer Will Goldsmith and producer Gil Norton, the month they spent recording at Bear Creek in late 1996 was as tense and frustrating as the setting was bucolic. Critics deemed the album a significant American rock release of its era, and in retrospective assessments it continues to be viewed as a seminal modern rock album. “Every time I wrote a bad line I’d get 40 lashes.” As Grohl was going through a divorce at the time, many of the album’s songs wound up referencing that relationship and its aftermath. Dave Grohl wanted the band’s second album to be a “slick rock record” with a touch of Pixies. 00:00 00:52 audio_player.label.listen Selection Aaudio_player.label.download MP3 / 2 MB 00:00 00:51 audio_player.label.listen Selection Baudio_player.label.download MP3 / 2 MB 00:00 00:15 audio_player.l… “We took a break for Christmas, so I went back to Virginia by myself,” he told Kerrang! [31] The promotional tour started in May 1997. [12] The group found the phrase arbitrary and hilarious and decided to use it as the title, rather than trying to choose a title based on the music's themes or moods. Posted by 4 years ago. Why would you buy a bowling pin?’ – ‘Because I like the color and I like the shape. [11][20] Regarding "Monkey Wrench", Grohl stated that it was "a song about realizing that you are the source of all of the problems in a relationship and you love the other person so much, you want to free them of the problem, which is actually yourself. share. Hello Kids! [7] However, the pressure never adversely affected the band members, whose main priorities were to make "music for its own sake […] and let the commercial concerns take care of themselves. Scoring the release a 5.8 out of 10, Stuart Berman stated, "The Colour and the Shape presented a true picture of the kind of group Grohl wanted to be in, had he not been sidetracked by the job of drumming for the biggest American rock band of the early 1990s [...] that band would turn out to be much more formulaically mall-punk than the Foos' torn 'n' frayed debut suggested. How is this writing process going to work? “While recording this record,” Foo Fighters bassist Nate Mendel recalled in the liner notes for the album’s 10th anniversary reissue, “two marriages fell apart, we lost a drummer, someone nearly went to jail, and we discovered late in the day that record making is hellishly expensive and best done with a budget prepared beforehand.”. “How ya doing?” he asked the crowd, as the group took the stage at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom. 9. "[20] Also in the song, Dave changed the last line which is meant to sing "always coming back I cannot forget you girl" to "always coming back I cannot forget you Gil" in reference to their producer Gil Norton. “But the biggest reason we hired him was because of the arrangements on the last Pixies album, Trompe Le Monde. Even though the Foo Fighters are an American band, the word 'Colour' in the album title is always spelled with the British spelling. Does this band have a future or not? But I was really excited the first time I heard it on the radio—it was in the middle of a load of mid-'90s grunge shit and I thought it was so killer. The Colour and the Shape remains the Foo Fighters' biggest seller in the U.S., having sold more than two million copies according to Nielsen SoundScan. [37], Christina Kelly of Rolling Stone was largely positive, although she singled out Norton's production as distracting: "Colour has a big, radio-ready, modern-rock sound. [1] The deal the band struck with Capitol Records afforded them a large degree of creative control over the band's true "debut. Through this journey, "I realise that it’s OK, I can make my way through all of this, and I’m not that freaked out at the end. “My Hero,” the first of the album’s songs to be played live, debuted in concert nearly two years before album was released.For the first five months of their existence as a live act, Foo Fighters’ live sets revolved primarily around songs from the first album with an occasional cover thrown in. ShadowAsylum 9 years ago #1. [35], Critical response to the record was generally positive. O álbum acadou o número tres no Reino Unido e o dez nos Estados Unidos, sendo o disco da banda máis vendido nese país, cuns dous millóns de copias. I can’t even write fucking postcards. [47], The Colour and the Shape peaked at number 10 on the Billboard 200, up from a peak of 23 for the 1995 self-titled debut. Gil Norton pushed Grohl to write more meaningful songs than those he’d written for the first album.“Last time the lyrics were obscure for a good reason,” Grohl confessed to Melody Maker in April 1997. The band would then jam and each member would contribute to some aspect of the song. Most of the finished tracks were re-recorded at a Grandmaster Recorders, a Hollywood studio that previously birthed massive albums by the Black Crowes, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Stevie Wonder.Unhappy with the results of the Bear Creek sessions, Grohl worked up a couple of tracks (“Walking After You” and an acoustic version of “Everlong”) by himself at a small studio in Washington, D.C., over Christmas. 6 comments. [31] "My Hero" was released as the third and final single from the album in 1998. [13] A title track was written and recorded for The Colour and the Shape during the Bear Creek sessions, but like most of the other songs attempted there, it did not reach the album's final track list. "[2] The songs on the record were composed during soundchecks during their extensive touring over the previous eighteen months. The album had something missing. “I had this idea that I was going to play drums because we were running out of time and William was having difficulty recording,” Grohl recalled in Paul Brannigan’s This is a Call: The Life and Times of Dave Grohl. Get this from a library! [18] Writing in Melody Maker, Victoria Segal said the album was more cohesive than the debut and was unified by a theme of "battered romanticism". [19] More specifically, many of the lyrics address the dissolution of Grohl's marriage to Jennifer Youngblood during the winter of 1996, which Grohl said had been "the winter of my discontent. 10. Console covers. Add The Colour and the Shape (Album) to your Rock Band™ song library. A The Colour and the Shape a Foo Fighters 1997-ben megjelent második stúdióalbuma. Archived. The album’s success came with a heavy price, however. “He told us early on this year that he didn’t want to tour anymore and he doesn’t like doing press and he hates flying, tons of stuff. The singles "Monkey Wrench", "Everlong", and "My Hero" peaked within the top ten of US rock radio charts, and the album charted at number ten on the Billboard 200. The album cover for Hüsker Dü’s final studio album is one of those cases where a cover is exactly like the album: vivid, colorful and jarring in a welcoming way. They can sit on their couch and smoke pot, and complain to their friends that they hate it when someone comes up and says that he likes their band... there are two sides: there's the reluctant rock-star, and then there is the prying journalist that almost lives for the reluctant rock-star, it's just talking "about the hand you've been dealt." Given … How am I going to write songs that really grab someone? The Colour and the Shape was the Foo Fighters' second album, but it's the first to receive the commemorative 10th anniversary treatment. The Colour And The Shape is the bands second studio album released on May 20th 1997, following on from there eponymous debut album Foo Fighters. But when he first came up with the chord sequence, Grohl thought it sounded more like Sonic Youth’s “Schizophrenia” than anything else. [11] Grohl admitted the lyrics of the previous album had been "obscure" and "nonsense," but Norton challenged Grohl to write lyrics that were more meaningful and comprehensible. He elaborated, "It drives me insane when I hear musicians that don't understand how fortunate they are that they don't have to go and pump gas for twelve hours a day. [20] He also said the song emerged from his desire to create a song that would be a good opener on their set lists, with a tempo that mimicked the jumping and bouncing of European crowds in the beginning of sets. While Goldsmith cooled his heels at home in Seattle, under the impression that Grohl was just adding some final touches to the album in Hollywood, Grohl was busy recording over most of his drum parts from the Bear Creek sessions; when Goldsmith discovered the truth, he was understandably less than pleased. Grohl said that he still wanted Goldsmith as a member of the band, despite replacing his tracks, but the disgruntled drummer decided to leave the Foo Fighters instead. User Info: ShadowAsylum. The album’s title was inspired by a bowling pin that the band’s tour manager purchased at a thrift shop.“The title is kind of like an inside joke that we have with the band,” Grohl explained to LiveWire magazine in October 1997. Grohl would later describe it as “a bad experience,” while Mendel and Goldsmith – dubbed “the rhythmless section” by Gil Norton – found the sessions exceptionally difficult. 7. "[20] This song dates back to at least January 1994, when an early take of the song with alternate lyrics, titled "Dave/Acoustic + Voc" was recorded by Grohl and Krist Novoselic on Harmonium during Nirvana's last recording session. "[2] For a period of four weeks, the band re-recorded most of the album with Grohl playing the drum tracks. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Add The Colour and the Shape (Album) to your Rock Band™ song library. It includes Everlong, Monkey Wrench, and My Hero. “It has absolutely nothing to do with anything,” Grohl continued. The Colour and the Shape was Foo Fighters' last album to be released and marketed by Capitol Records. [46], In 2020, Metal Hammer included it in their list of the top 10 albums of 1997. [4], Grohl recruited producer Gil Norton to provide additional pop polish to the material. The initial sessions for the album were “a bad experience” – especially for drummer William Goldsmith – and produced little in the way of usable material.Bear Creek Studio, a residential recording studio located in a barn on a 10-acre farm in Woodinville, Washington, seemed like an ideal spot for Foo Fighters to make their first album as a real band. The Colour and the Shape is the second studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters, released on May 20, 1997, by Roswell and Capitol Records. Find Foo Fighters The Colour and the Shape full album lyrics from lyrics007.com. "[6], The Colour and the Shape was recorded over the period of two months, primarily at Grandmaster Recorders in Hollywood from January to February 1997. '”, The album was christened thusly, though (or perhaps because) the vaguely evocative title stood in stark contrast to the soul-baring songs contained inside. In no way do I consider myself a clever lyricist, or even a lyricist. “So I wanted to write a song that everyone would start bouncing to when we first came out and played. [11], Professional reviewers have characterized the musical genre of The Colour and the Shape as alternative rock,[15] grunge,[16] post-grunge,[17] and hard rock. The first Foos LP to feature an actual band – as opposed to the glorified Dave Grohl solo project that was 1995’s Foo Fighters – The Colour and the Shape featured such classic tracks as “Everlong,” “My Hero” and “Monkey Wrench,” and went on to sell more than 2 million copies in the U.S. alone, more than any other album in the band’s extensive catalog. 6. Johnny Park is the name of one of Grohl's childhood friends; he noted, "we were like brothers from the age of 5 to 12" and that he named the song after Park in hopes that he might restore contact with him. 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