There comes a time when you might want to play it safe when you finally find the sound you want in a rock band. Many of the biggest bands find that they can rarely go wrong in the studio. So, they settle into a pattern rather than taking the chance of upsetting their label or fans by taking a completely different direction. Some contend that Foo Fighters fit into this category. However, Dave Grohl is capable of stepping outside of his comfort zone whenever he feels like it, even if it means creating something unique like “Statues.”
By the middle of the 2000s, Dave Grohl appeared to be fearless. In his case, performing in public was half the challenge of being in a band. So, the fact that he had a group where everyone agreed was sufficient. However, In Your Honor remained a significant leap for them to make.
Dave Grohl decided to release both of them simultaneously. He had been writing peaceful acoustic tracks in his home for the majority of the writing sessions. The band recorded some of their most energetic rock songs for the first disc of the double album. However, the second side features more somber tracks like “On the Mend” and “Friend of a Friend.”
Why not fit everything onto a single record if it was effective enough to span two albums? Despite Echoing Silence Grace and Patience were still dependent on the band’s stadium-rock sound. “Statues” was almost too cutesy to be useful.
For someone who had been a fan of the band for some time, this was a welcome change of pace. The entire song steers clear of the loud guitars in favor of the piano. This is what a song like “Everlong” might have sounded like if it had been played on the keys. They had spent the better part of their career blasting their fans’ eardrums every time they performed live. Grohl is still very much in his element, even though his brilliance isn’t quite on par with that of Elton John.
Grohl was hesitant to record the song even though he still had an excellent track record, stating, “It was just a simple melody with a piano track.” I had never played a piano until I received one for my birthday a year and a half ago. I was given the hint to look at middle C by someone, and I went from there. Since it’s a significant departure, I was a little anxious about recording it. But then I thought, “What the fuck?” That’s precisely the reason it ought to be documented.
This is the kind of action that everyone wants to see from their favorite artists. Regardless of the punk rock street cred that Grohl might have lost from some so-called “fans.” Grohl was always pushing himself a little bit when he entered the studio. He was never afraid to just play around with a song and see what happens instead of just sticking in a lane.
This mindset was also a major factor in the Foo Fighters’ ability to weather some of the later setbacks, including Taylor Hawkins’s passing. Most bands couldn’t survive that kind of darkness. But Grohl knew he could rely on his muse to get him through almost anything because he tested his emotions every time he entered the studio.
