Quiet, the anniversary. For unavoidable reasons. Foo Fighters making a spectacle of their thirty years together would be in bad taste. A new song rollout to test the waters and that was it. The Dave Grohl-fronted band may be responsible for a handful of dad rock greats, but their wider effect on the rock genre has been poor. Not until their most recent album release, But Here We Are, did the band offer anything which dared to step beyond stagnant rock and roll. Today’s Song looks to further that, whenever they may return with further new music. It all feels a little up in the air. The elephant in the room, the Grohl-shaped problem, does not affect Today’s Song, but it becomes a reference point for anyone discussing the song with friends, even in passing. It is turmoil of more interest than their universally liked (but not loved) music. A low-key anniversary with a song matching the tone.
A piece prepared for radio, screaming with nostalgia. It is where we retreat when our minds remind us of present turmoil or embarrassments ahead. Today’s Song is a three-minute track. That is about as nice a comment as you can pass on it. A dedication to bandmates of the past, including Josh Freese, who claims to have been dismissed by the band without explanation. Foo Fighters’ song of unity is, ironically, built on crediting those who feel wronged by the group. A power ballad without the necessary strength. Grohl writes of overcoming adversity, yet maintains he was not the one to bring tough times on. These are outsider influences trying to crush the spirit of rock and roll, he argues. That is not the case. Today’s Song would be rough enough if it were just a dedication to Freese and the late Taylor Hawkins. It is not as though Freese left the band with everything put to bed. Writing a song paying tribute to an acrimonious moment is a strange move.
Regardless of the inspiration, it is not as though Grohl and the fighters of Foo can pick anything out instrumentally. Rocked out noise which has since become a pastiche of their sound. They are back to where they had moved on from. But Here We Are was a fascinating break from their usual sound. Two years later and they are back to rewriting their history with dangerously poor, egregious lyrics. Their instrumental power pop structure is weak, and the only salvation is a rather constant Grohl vocal delivery. No emotion, no rises and falls, just a straight shot through what was meant to be moving material paying tribute to Hawkins. But Here We Are did that far better than Today’s Song, an anniversary release which is redundant at best.
Grohl’s cardboard spine is laid bare on Today’s Song. He wishes to back himself and the decisions he has made over thirty years of the band but cannot write honestly. Reflection is not a rosy experience. There are tough choices to be made and that is what Today’s Song lacks. It may look to the future, bright and seasoned with grief, but the reality is very different to what this release offers. A borderline pathetic, withering attempt at massaging the controversies post But Here We Are, and a failure at that. Instrumentally hollow, lyrically false, it’s not a good time to be a Foo Fighters fan. Then again, when was it ever? Freese and William Goldsmith are hailed as important pieces in the Foo Fighters machine, and yet their indifference and fury towards the band does not seem to have registered with the very outfit pretending to pay tribute to them.
