Foo Fighters: 12 Great Non-album Tracks

 

There are many strong Foo Fighters songs that are not on the main tracklists of the band's full-length releases. Those songs are at times better than some of the material from the albums.

Many fans of Grohl, Hawkins and company  may not have heard most of this music, which encompasses many different attributes, styles and moods.  This list ranges from aggressive to angelic, and from punk to Pink Floyd.

 

THE NEVERENDING SIGH

 

Described by Spin as "prickly" and "towering", 'The Neverending Sigh' showcases what could be one of the Foo Fighters' best riffs. That's not an  easy achievement given their huge collection of excellent guitar lines.

Competing with 'St. Cecilia' for the title of best track on their 2015 free EP, it might just win.

 

HAVE A CIGAR

 

Just one of several excellent covers by Foo Fighters, this is a rocking take on a classic.

In a reversal of their usual roles in this band, Dave Grohl is on drums with Taylor Hawkins on vocals. There's also an appearance from Queen's guitarist, Brian May.

Far Out Magazine says that Grohl describes the song as "the most punk rock thing Pink Floyd ever did".

 

DEAR LOVER

 

This gorgeous B-side deserves a place on their wonderful 1997  full-length release, The Colour and the Shape.

'Dear Lover' features some of bassist Nate Mendel's more melodic approach that characterises songs such as 'Next Year'.

Also, there's gentle vulnerability here to the music and lyrics of Dave Grohl that permeates much of the band's other relaxed material.

 

WORLD – DEMO

 

On this demo, a dreamlike riff gives way to crunching chords while Grohl sings of life, death, "the universe" and "heaven". It's one of the deepest Foo Fighters songs yet.

It may not really fit on the In Your Honor double abum, but it's a great song nonetheless.

 

NORMAL

 

Although much of the Foo Fighters' music from 2002 is uneasy, angular or very hard-edged, songs like this offers moments of respite.

Grohl's image as an ordinary outsider with a knack for poetry shines through here, and another set of anthemic choruses is cooked up. 'Normal' is strong enough to be a single.

 

IF EVER

 

'If Ever' comes from a time when Foo Fighters sought to combine heavy and mellow sounds, often doing so within the same song.

Despite that mixture of dynamics, this track showcases in general a simplicity like few other works by the band. That doesn't stop Taylor Hawkins from adding flair on the drums, though.

 

REQUIEM – LIVE

 

This cover of a Killing Joke song retains much of the appeal of the original version's guitar line while having quieter vocals.

In this way, the performance combines the hard, riff-driven sound of 'My Hero' and the peaceful pleasure of 'Walking After You'.

 

WALKING A LINE

 

Dave Grohl sometimes plays drums for Queens of the Stone Age. Arguably, that desert rock group never influenced Grohl's guitar-playing as clearly as they do on  'Walking a Line'. The guitars here are shot through with a dark energy.

The intense song also has shifting dynamics. That's  something seen in the work of Nirvana - another band featuring Grohl - and other alternative acts such as Pixies.

 

I'M IN LOVE WITH A GERMAN FILM STAR

 

'I'm in Love…', which may one day soundtrack a romantic scene, is a cover of The Passions' track.

On this rather trippy offering, Foo Fighters are so laid-back, they're horizontal (to borrow a popular phrase).

There's enough going on - the strange drum sound, and a simple yet effective riff - to make things interesting despite the sleepy vibe.

 

THE SIGN

 

Bristling with an energy that helped make earlier hits like  'Monkey Wrench'  so successful,  'The Sign' appears on some forms of In Your Honor as a bonus track.

Delving into love, "religion" and "superstition", and served on a bed of infectious hard rock, it revels in power and passion.

 

SISTER EUROPE

 

A bonus track from One by One (Expanded Edition),  'Sister Europe' is probably the band's weirdest cover.

The hypnotic, psychedelic music during the verses uses notes that are dissonant; they don't usually go together well.

It may be one of the Foo Fighters' first to feature what sounds like a piano or keyboard. (On the version by the Psychedelic Furs, that part is apparently played on saxophone.)

 

WINNEBAGO

 

According to an article by Dave Grohl's biographer Paul Brannigan, 'Winnebago' was "co-written with former Gray Matter frontman Geoff Turner" as well as Grohl, but was "revamped" in 1994.

The best part of the song is the riff that first starts around 1 minutes and 20 seconds in. It has similar vibes to part of a later track called 'Bridge Burning'.

 

Reflections From A Recovering Mental Patient

I proudly present to you this playlist: a musical collage, personal but relevant to many, accompanied by commentary and clickable links. I hope it will help you and maybe inspire you – as well as promoting great music, of course!

(Note: I'm not a fan of trigger warnings but feel free to skip parts of this if you find some of the music or commentary challenging.)

No title sums up many of the problems of the modern era quite like that of the playlist’s opener, ‘Virtual Insanity’, especially given the emergence of stranger-than-fiction videos like this. Meanwhile, despite being written in the Eighties and enjoying a single release in 2003, ‘Bad Day’ by R.E.M. remains relevant. Lines like “Please don’t take a picture” and “Save my own ass, screw these guys” are reminiscent of unstable, illiberal and self-centred politics in post-Brexit Britain and contemporary America, both of which hark back to another era despite an uncertain future. Sadly, I was certainly not the only one suffering from a low mood and anxiety this year.

While the songs referred to above may be, despite their social and political commentary, personal works of art that are personally affecting to audiences, it could be argued that the following two pieces of music go even deeper. Michael Kiwanuka’s ‘Worry Walks Beside Me’ speaks on not just anxiety but hopelessness to amazing effect. The title of ‘Voices’ by Alice In Chains could simply be about negative self-talk, something common if not universal. However, the track might speak about stranger phenomena, such as  some of my symptoms which are apparently psychotic and, in the past, meant I stayed in hospital several times. Regardless of the words exact meaning(s), they, alongside those of Linkin Park’s ‘By Myself’, reflect well some of my own thoughts as well as those of many other people, surely.

The beautiful Lou Reed composition ‘Candy Says’, performed by his band The Velvet Underground, speaks on “endless revisions” and dislike, or even hatred, for one’s “body and all that it requires”, speaking in these ways to a shallow and perfectionist age full of both narcissism and self-hatred, achieving such relevance despite being written in the Sixties. Next on the playlist  are ‘Given Up’ and ‘Breaking the Habit’ by Linkin Park, as well as ‘Slip Out the Back’ from the album The Rising Tied by Fort Minor (a side-project of Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda). Those songs are – like, one might argue, ‘Candy Says’ – the epitome of despairing lyricism. My own suicidal feelings of the past, which were unjustifiable but somehow convincing at the time, are seemingly reflected in the songs mentioned in this paragraph, although thankfully I feel much better now.

The 2017 song ‘One More Light’ by Linkin Park was performed, hauntingly, shortly after Chris Cornell’s death and not long before that of Linkin Park’s own Chester Bennington, to whom tributes were paid at a music-packed ceremony in September. The title track from the band’s most recent album speaks on the devastating effect of a death on those who knew the deceased and is, despite its sadness, life-affirming as well as being death-conscious.

‘Helplessness Blues’ by Fleet Foxes seems to be about existential crises or the like and the struggle to define one’s identity in the world. The song’s questions and uncertainty, with those of John Lennon’s ‘How?’ speak to the trouble many mentally ill people, including myself, have after a period of illness or a breakdown, and the consequent scepticism and anxiety. That latter track by Lennon also helps, alongside Red Hot Chili Peppers’ ‘Soul to Squeeze’, to demonstrate how difficult recovery can be for the mentally ill.

One of the more optimistic songs on this list, R.E.M.’s ‘Uberlin’ splits the day into different steps to complete. This is similar to the way in which one might split a journey on the Berlin U-Bahn transport system, which is referenced in the song, into stops at different stations. Breaking days or challenges down in order to tackle them piece by piece is a good method for the mentally ill (or anyone) to use, and so could be telling oneself, “I will make it through the night” as Michael Stipe sings here.

‘Time Won’t Wait’ by Jamiroquai is also encouraging, although it is worth noting that, despite the helpfulness of being reminded that “you just can’t stop the clock”, Jamiroquai’s call to action should probably be tempered with sometimes following the example set by the singer of ‘Soul To Squeeze’: sometimes you “gotta take it slow” in order to find “peace of mind”. Likewise, I would not always apply R.E.M.’s lyric “Enjoy yourself with no regrets” to every situation, but the general message in ‘Supernatural Superserious’ (a title which could have sometimes been my nickname in the past) is welcome. It reminds the listener that “Everybody here comes from somewhere that they would just as soon forget or disguise”, but that we should enjoy ourselves anyway, especially since it is often true that “fantasies are wrapped up in travesties”.

Moving on, John Coltrane’s ‘Giant Steps’, the only instrumental in this playlist, arguably represents my recovery process, since it takes a great deal of skill to accomplish amid high tempos that resemble the chaos of life, as well as requiring assistance from others: even Coltrane could not play every instrument simultaneously. Audioslave’s ‘Nothing Left to Say But Goodbye’ and Linkin Park’s ‘What I’ve Done’ are also about giant steps, ones striding away from old habits, with a highlight being Bennington’s line, “As I clean this slate with the hands of uncertainty”, indicating that recovery or redemption is often a rocky road. That said, the sound of Chris Cornell of Audioslave shouting repeatedly on ‘What You Are’ the words, “Now I’m free…”, though probably in the context of ending a relationship with a person, can still be seen as very encouraging for those struggling to leave certain harmful symptoms or habits behind, even when one considers the “uncertainty” mentioned earlier.

Another great source of inspiration for me is ‘Walk’ by Foo Fighters, which is metaphorically about “learning to walk again” and “talk again”, things I have had to do in a way because of struggles with something that might be selective mutism or perhaps a condition similar to it. R.E.M’s ‘Every Day Is Yours to Win’ is another excellent, optimistic song which comes with the realistic qualifier, “It’s not all cherry pie”. ‘Iridescent’ by Linkin Park concludes the playlist, offering even more advice for those for whom “failure’s all… [they’ve] known”. The band’s wisdom is, “Remember all the sadness and frustration and let it go”. I guess that a benefit to making playlists or commentary like I have here is that completing such a project allows you to do just that.

If you have been affected by any of the themes spoken about in this article, it might help to speak to the charity Samaritans, either by a UK- or Ireland-based phone or by contacting them from anywhere via email. They have often helped me by listening.