You gotta promise not to stop when I say when...
I never wanted any more
Than I could fit into my head
I still remember every single word you said
And all the shit that somehow came along with it
Still there's one thing that comforts me
Since I was always caged and now I'm free
The Colour and the Shape is the second studio album recorded by Alternative Rock band Foo Fighters. It was released through Roswell Records and Capitol Records on May 20, 1997.
Foo Fighters was the one-man project of Dave Grohl during the creation of the self-titled debut album, so he recorded all instruments on the album himselfnote in addition to singing. In the wake of that record's runaway popularity, Grohl decided to turn the personal project he created to deal with his grief over the death of former bandmate Kurt Cobain into an actual band.
You know, with other people playing the other instruments.
Fortunately, Grohl didn't need to look far for bandmates. He retained the services of the musicians who assisted when he performed songs from his first album live: guitarist Pat Smear, who had been a backup guitarist since the days of Nirvana; and Nate Mandel and William Goldsmith, the bassist and drummer for Sunny Day Real Estatenote .
The lyrics of this album deal with breakups and divorces, homesickness, and mental health; the tracklisting was designed to resemble a "therapy session," in Grohl's words. What resulted is an album considered by many as the Foos' best. It certainly backed that up commercially, going Platinum in both the United States and the United Kingdom.note
The album was supported by four singles: "Monkey Wrench," "Everlong," "My Hero," and "Walking After You". While they got screwed by the Billboard Hot 100's rules once more,note the first three were Top Ten on the Billboard Alternative and Mainstream Rock charts, and all four were hits on the UK Pop chart.
"Walking After You" was quickly re-recorded for the soundtrack to the 1998 film The X-Files: Fight the Future. By the time they re-recorded it, they had several more new additions to the band—including drummer Taylor Hawkins and guitarist Franz Stahl.
Tracklist:
Side One
- "Doll" (1:23)
- "Monkey Wrench" (3:51)
- "Hey, Johnny Park!" (4:08)
- "My Poor Brain" (3:33)
- "Wind Up" (2:32)
- "Up in Arms" (2:15)
- "My Hero" (4:20)
Side Two
- "See You" (2:26)
- "Enough Space" (2:37)
- "February Stars" (4:49)
- "Everlong" (4:10)
- "Walking After You" (5:03)
- "New Way Home" (5:40)
Later pressings have "The Colour and the Shape" (3:21) as the final track.
Personnel:
- Dave Grohl: Lead vocals, guitar, drums
- Pat Smear: Guitar
- Nate Mendel: Bass
- William Goldsmith: Drums ("Doll," intro to "Up in Arms")
- Louise Post: Backing vocals ("Everlong")
There goes my hero! Watch him as he tropes:
- Album Intro Track: "Doll," which is about going into things unprepared—fitting, considering the Mood Whiplash transition into "Monkey Wrench."
- Boléro Effect: The latter half of "New Way Home" is essentially building upon the same riff and getting louder and quicker before exploding into the coda.
- Careful with That Axe: "Enough Space"'s chorus consists of Grohl screaming "SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE, SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE" at the top of his lungs.
- "The Colour and the Shape" takes this up to eleven. God wonders how Dave Grohl's lungs survived this song.
- Changed for the Video: The video for "Everlong" features a repetition of the final chorus which isn't present in the studio version.
- Concept Album: Dave Grohl has compared the album to a therapy session.
- Dream Sequence: The video for "Everlong" is made up of these.
- Emo Music: The whole album is frequently the 90s variety, carrying over some of the melodic style of new recruits Nate Mendel and William Goldsmith 's previous group Sunny Day Real Estate. The album, particularly "Everlong," was influential on the 2000s emo scene, although the group has become both simultaneously heavier and more acoustic-oriented over time, thus only bears traces of the style.
- Fading into the Next Song: The whole album subtly fades into each other, but "Hey, Johnny Park!" —> "My Poor Brain" is the most obvious. This was done to make the album seem like a therapy session.
- Frying Pan of Doom: Used in the video for "Everlong".
- Genre Roulette: The album switches between amazing hard rockers and more tender songs pretty much all the time.
- Longest Song Goes Last: The album ends with "New Way Home" (5:40).
- Loudness War: The album regularly flitters between maxed out and dynamic.
- Lyrical Cold Open: "Doll" is one for the entire album.
- Metal Scream: The entire bridge of "Monkey Wrench" is yelled out in seemingly a single breath.
- The title track, which appears on some pressings of the album, consists entirely of screamed vocals.
- Miniscule Rocking: "Doll" (1:23).
- Non-Appearing Title: "Hey, Johnny Park!"
- The Oner: "My Hero"'s video appears to be this. It's however subverted in that the actual cuts are disguised by smoke.
- Precision F-Strike:
- "Monkey Wrench":"Every single word you said and all the shit that somehow came along with this"
- "My Poor Brain":"Sometimes I feel I'm getting stuck
Between the handshake and the fuck"
- "Monkey Wrench":
- Stop and Go: Occurs in "Monkey Wrench" regularly, but the longest is between the intro and first verse.
- Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Walking After You", which comes directly after the rocking "Everlong". The intro to "Up in Arms" also brings down the energy after the hard-hitting "Wind Up."
- Surreal Music Video: "Everlong". Takes place partially in dreams, but not All Just a Dream as such. It involves giant phones, band members discarding false skins to reveal their true identities, and Dave Grohl (in-character) gaining a massive right hand with which to administer bitch slaps of death. It's directed by Michel Gondry, one of the kings of surrealist videos.
- "Monkey Wrench" is also pretty weird, with the multiple versions of the band.
- Title Track: While they did have a song called "The Colour and the Shape", it was cut from the album because Dave felt its "Weenie Beenie 2.0" vibe didn't fit with the record (it was released as a bonus track on the 10th-anniversary edition).
- Uncommon Time: "Enough Space" is in 6/4. Dave states in the "Back and Forth" documentary that he wrote the main riff backstage on tour, around a beat he pictured the audience in London bouncing to, and the band had a mostly complete song by the time they came out onto the stage.
- Window Love: The video for "Walking After You".
- I felt like this on my way home
I'm not scared
I passed boats and the King Dome
I'm not scared
I'm not scared
I'm not scared
I'm not scared
I'm not scared
