Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n
Foo Fighters<\/a> were not a band known for drama. In fact, when they first started rehearsing in the mid-Nineties, frontman Dave Grohl<\/a> apparently told bassist Nate Mendel he wanted the band to be \u201clow-drama, and for it to be fun\u201d. <\/p>\n The last few years, though, have been some of the most tumultuous of their career. Drummer Taylor Hawkins<\/a> died in March 2022, while Grohl\u2019s mother, Virginia, whom he described as his \u201centire world\u201d, died four months later. In September 2024, Grohl \u2013 married to wife Jordyn Blum for 20 years \u2013 then made a public statement that he had fathered a baby daughter with another woman<\/a>. He announced his intention to be a \u201cloving and supportive parent\u201d while doing everything to earn the \u201ctrust and forgiveness\u201d of his wife and their three daughters.<\/p>\n Plenty of material ripe for songwriting, then, but other critics reviewing their 12th album Your Favorite Toy have claimed to find little insight into Grohl\u2019s psyche. This is a surprise, as I found lyrics on the record to be among his most self-eviscerating in a long time, and certainly more revealing than he used to be \u2013 even the band\u2019s most personal tunes, among them \u201cEverlong\u201d and \u201cMy Hero\u201d, tended to be riddled with vagueness. After the numb grief of 2023\u2019s But Here We Are<\/a>, their first album in the wake of Hawkins\u2019 death, Your Favorite Toy feels like a back-to-basics blast of fresh air, with Grohl using these songs to face up to himself. \u201cHere comes the crash,\u201d he yelps on fiery opener \u201cCaught in the Echo\u201d, \u201cI move in two directions\/ I move in complication\/ Waiting for intersection.\u201d<\/p>\n Many of these songs seem to take aim at Grohl\u2019s ego \u2013 does he think he was caught in an echo chamber of praise, and it went to his head, perhaps? The title track is particularly brutal, from its mocking \u201cnyah nyah nyah nyah\u201d to the lines \u201cDead gardens from bad seeds\/ But nice guys grow on trees\u201d (Grohl is said to have disliked his \u201cnicest guy in rock\u201d moniker). \u201cGet back,\u201d he instructs over waspish guitar riffs, \u201cHear that, boy?\/ Someone threw away your favorite toy.\u201d It\u2019s a particularly candid, and critical, look at the destructive side of fame. <\/p>\n