Monday, August 16, 2010

Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters (1995)


SOLD! $46.23

Auction Link (ends August 22nd)

Roswell Records: 34027-1 Original First Pressing

Format: 12" LP

Includes: Original Liner Notes/Photo Insert

Cover Condition: Near Mint - Pulled from the shelf only a few times and always stored vertically in a protective poly sleeve.

Vinyl Condition: Near Mint - Only played a few times, still like new!

Release Info: Foo Fighters is the debut album by Foo Fighters, at the time of conception, a pseudonym for Dave Grohl who wrote and recorded the entire album himself at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, Washington, prior to organizing a band. It was released July 4, 1995 on Capitol Records through Grohl's imprint label, Roswell Records.

Following the organization of a band, the album was promoted through constant touring throughout 1995 and much of 1996. Foo Fighters would go on to spawn six singles in all, the most to be released from any Foo Fighters album, until 2005's In Your Honor, which also issued six.


Following the demise of Nirvana, and after a brief stint with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, musician Dave Grohl entered Robert Lang Studios with producer Barrett Jones in October 1994 to record some songs he had written. Grohl had been recording his own music for years prior, releasing the album Pocketwatch in 1992, under the name Late!. Like Pocketwatch, Grohl would record all vocal, guitar, bass and drum tracks himself, with the exception of a guitar part on "X-Static" provided by Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs. Grohl had previously worked with Jones, who helped produce Pocketwatch, and the studio setting of Robert Lang was familiar, due to Nirvana having recorded what would be their final session there, just nine months earlier.

Grohl completed an album's worth of material in about a week, and soon after was handing out cassette copies of the session to friends for feedback. Eddie Vedder premiered two songs from the recording on January 8, 1995 during his Self-Pollution radio broadcast. The recordings quickly circulated amongst the music industry, which in turn created record label interest. In an attempt to keep his anonymity, Grohl planned to release the songs under the name Foo Fighters, and soon recruited former Sunny Day Real Estate members; bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith, as well as Nirvana touring guitarist, and former Germs member, Pat Smear, to create a band that could perform the songs live.

That spring, Foo Fighters embarked on their first ever US tour with Hovercraft, supporting Mike Watt, who had just released his debut solo album that featured appearances by both Grohl and Smear. The tour would also be the first for Hovercraft, whose line-up included Vedder at the time. As well as performing with their own bands, Grohl and Vedder each picked up a role as a member of Watt's backing band throughout the tour, supplying drums and guitar respectively. Foo Fighters released "Exhausted" as their first single, issued on promotional 12" vinyl, followed shortly after by the bands first commercial single, "This Is a Call", released on June 19, 1995, prior to the albums' release.

Foo Fighters was released July 4, 1995 on Roswell Records, distributed by Capitol Records. To further establish the fact that Foo Fighters were now a full fledged band, photos of the entire lineup appeared in the liner notes, despite Grohl being the album's only contributer.

In all, half of the songs from Foo Fighters would be released as singles, including four commercial and two promotional releases. The album peaked at #3 in the UK and #23 in the US on the Billboard 200, being certified Platinum on January 26, 1996. It was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 1996 Grammy Awards ceremony, but lost to MTV Unplugged in New York, an album by Grohl's former band Nirvana. Foo Fighters also won the band their first and only Video Music Award for "Big Me" at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards.

 
The name "Foo Fighters" was taken from the description World War II aircraft pilots would use to describe various UFOs. This theme is further continued with the album, released on Grohl's Capitol Records imprint, Roswell Records, a reference to Roswell, New Mexico known for the Roswell UFO incident of 1947. The gun featured on the album cover is the XZ-38 Disintegrator Pistol, which was originally released in 1935 as a tie-in toy for the Buck Rogers comic strip and radio show. The cover was shot by Grohl's then-wife, photographer Jennifer Youngblood. The album does not include lyrics to the songs in the booklet.


All songs written and composed by Dave Grohl except where noted.

1. "This Is a Call" 3:53
2. "I'll Stick Around" 3:52
3. "Big Me" 2:12
4. "Alone+Easy Target" 4:05
5. "Good Grief" 4:01
6. "Floaty" 4:30
7. "Weenie Beenie" 2:45
8. "Oh, George" 3:00
9. "For All the Cows" 3:30
10. "X-Static" 4:13
11. "Wattershed" 2:15
12. "Exhausted" 5:45

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