Foo Fighters – Of All People Review

Foo Fighters should know better than most what does and does not work for rock and roll. Of All People is the third single ahead of Your Favourite Toy, and like the preceding two songs, it’s far from good. There’s a general acceptance of this new work from the Dave Grohl-fronted band, as it means those attending the Anfield shows later this year will hear My Hero from a man whose recent actions turned him into a bit of a chaotic character. Still, Of All People is here. The process of getting through these Foo Fighter songs has been a bit like waiting for a root canal procedure, each more painful than the last. Of All People is on the sloppier side of this rock and roll sound. Sloppy may be too nice a word for it, actually. Foo Fighters has presented a complete mess of a song, from the mix to the lyrics to the intent of the instrumentals. It’s one of the more peculiar offerings from the band.  

What seems to have happened over the last three years is that Grohl has realised he can no longer be a personable rock frontman. So Here We Are offered a staggering, open approach to the history of the band and, by default, Grohl himself. But given revelations of the past and some rightful pressure from Courtney Love in a recent interview, the image of Grohl as a hearty rock and roll do-gooder has been challenged. It means his music, too, has been thrown into the spotlight. Foo Fighters could get away with being ready-made radio music for long drives on the motorway when it had little more meaning to it than getting you moving to a decent groove. But now it serves as a reactionary tool, a piece to explore how the Foo Fighters were, at one point, an influential powerhouse. No longer is that the case, and by the sounds of it, they’re hardly musicians anymore. Competency has abandoned the band on Of All People, a headache-inducing single ahead of what could be the band’s lowest point.  

Low moments affect every band. Eventually, a group or artist will release what is, objectively, their worst work. Foo Fighters’ Of All People is a loathsome song that looks to paint the Grohl-fronted group as hard workers who are pained by the expressions of their music; the hardships they endure are the pinnacle of stress. This, from a group whose latest single merely repeats “oh no,” before a typical contrast between life and death. They pinpoint what could be desperate moments at the crossroads of life and, instead of lingering on that topic for a little longer, use it as a two-and-a-half-minute punk fluff piece. Foo Fighters have never been a particularly innovative band, but they now sound as though they actively fear a fresh perspective. Had it not been for the staggering mismatch of instrumental blowouts, then the cliché-riddled lyrics would shine through.  

Perhaps it’s better, then, that Of All People is a noise box track from a band pretending they’re punks. Grohl could not be further from the spirit of modern punk or post-punk energies, which means he’s playing dress-up as his influences. They themselves are either dead or in the same category as Grohl now. Neither is a positive outcome. Of all people, Grohl should know the source of great music comes from the heart. It’s just a shame the long-serving frontman has not included his own on these recent Foo Fighters songs. Anyone could’ve put together Of All People, and most, especially those strumming away the day in their garage, could’ve heard the problems with probing punk influences. Grohl and the band play dress-up in a genre that passed them by because their focus, rock and roll, has left them behind.