With 15 years, 6 platinum-plus albums and as many Grammys under their collective belt (not to mention sold out shows at Wembley Stadium, Madison Square Garden and the L.A. Forum), Foo Fighters will soon mark off yet another milestone in their ascension to quintessential American rock godhood: The band will release its first ever greatest hits compilation, the brilliantly titled Foo Fighters Greatest Hits, out November 3 on Roswell/RCA.
As ever, core Foo Fighters Dave Grohl (vocals/guitar), Taylor Hawkins (drums/vocals), Nate Mendel (bass) and Chris Shiflett (guitar) were not satisfied simply to compile a mixtape of the international smashes that have littered their mantlepieces with platinum plaques and golden statuettes and filled arenas and stadiums the world over: Foo Fighters Greatest Hits will feature two brand new tracks–”Wheels,” which made its live debut at President Obama and the USO’s July 4 barbeque at the White House honoring military heroes, and “Word Forward”–both recorded especially for this collection at the band’s own fabled 606 studio complex with producer Butch Vig. The new tracks not only hold their own–and then some–alongside individual Grammy winners “The Pretender,” “All My Life” and “Learn To Fly” and perennial Foo favorites “Best Of You,” “Times Like These,” “My Hero, “Everlong” and more, they both round out an overview of Foo Fighters’ illustrious output to date and hint at future peaks yet to be charted.
For those unfamiliar with the musical genre known as rock n roll, Foo Fighters debuted with the 1995 album of the same name. The band’s second record, the double-platinum The Colour & The Shape, was originally issued in 1997 and since reissued in a deluxe 10th anniversary edition. The third and fourth Foo Fighters albums, There Is Nothing Left To Lose (1999) and One By One (2002) , won consecutive Best Rock Album Grammy awards. In 2005, Foo Fighters celebrated the band’s 10-year anniversary with the two-disc In Your Honor, which was followed by the intimate 2006 acoustically augmented theater tour documented on the Skin + Bones album and DVD. The most recent Foo Fighters studio album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace was released in 2007, setting the iTunes UK record for first week sales, earning the Foos their third Best Rock Album Grammy and sixth overall, and sweeping the Brit Awards’ top international categories. The tour supporting ESP&G climaxed with the band’s biggest ever headline engagement, a two-night stand at London’s Wembley Stadium attended by 165,000 fans–setting the venue’s two-night attendance record–and immortalized on the 18-song Foo Fighters: Live At Wembley Stadium DVD.
At the now historic Wembley shows, Grohl asked the crowd “How did this band get so f***ing big?” On November 3, Foo Fighters Greatest Hits will explain.