The odds are very much against Foo Fighters as they mount this comeback. Are the band asking for a friend as they return to the stage, or is it just Dave Grohl testing the waters? A bit of both, but such is the nuance of songs with more than one meaning, a rarity for Foo Fighters’ work. Asking for a Friend doesn’t push all that far, but at least it tries to continue on from the band’s strongest album to date. A miserable anniversary track undid almost as much of the goodwill as the actions of the band’s frontman, but it never felt like a proper release anyway. Just a moment, a passing of the time to reflect on nothing in particular. Asking for a Friend at least has more than just gum in its bite. The band aren’t quite gnashing away at anything brilliant, but their return is more about offering a solid series of dad rock-adjacent notes and a narrative which will appease returning fans.
Asking for a Friend works on that metric, then. Foo Fighters offer what fans had wanted from them before But Here We Are. Those daring highs and tight lyrics are lost. In its place is the meandering, non-specifics of fading away and making promises. Sluggish, standard rock and roll instrumental fodder backs it. It’s a song which fails to act on the goodwill of being away from someone. But then there is some charm in that, especially when the instrumentals finally break from this muddy, slow start and burst into a nice guitar solo. This shift in tempo, the volatility of the guitar work and Grohl’s vocal work, is nice enough. It makes all the difference in a song which sounded as though it was going to fall apart because of how straight and narrow it is. Now is not the time for Foo Fighters to take risks, and yet they have no business in retreading a sound they already know.
You can slot this latest Foo Fighters track into an alternative rock playlist and few would care for it. There would be few, if any, objections to it either, which is the hope of any song made by a band whose decades in the industry would suggest they have more to offer than this. Foo Fighters are a benchmark for popular rock and roll, and it is rather absurd to hear how short they are falling of But Here We Are. There is no denying the emotional context which guides Grohl and the band now but it does feel as though external changes are affecting the band first, the meaning second. What it means for Foo Fighters is this desire to hold firm with a familiar sound but also innovate and explore further musical avenues with their new members. It’s not a limitation of talent but of playing up to audience expectations at a time when the band must win them back over.
Their second single since But Here We Are is decent enough. A throwback to the days of Evermore and the like. Rock songs which history is built from through cultural assimilation. Foo Fighters is a name which still carries weight, even when their music doesn’t. Asking for a Friend is a song dependent on how you view Grohl and the band as artists. They are steady and reliable decades on from their debut, and once you grant someone that status, they can do no wrong. Decent enough instrumental thrills and a strong voice persevere, the freedom of burden an interesting choice of message. It works, and it comes at a time when the band are given a second wind. As a song that tries to make sense of the internal conflict and the ongoing survival of the band, it serves a solid purpose for those dedicated listeners.
