Foo Fighters: (L to R) Nate Mendell (bass), Dave Grohl (vocals/guitars), Taylor Hawkins (drums)

There Is Nothing Left To Lose was recorded at Dave Grohl's house in Virginia after the Foo Fighters opted out of their contract with Capitol Records. Without corporate eyes peering over the band's shoulder Grohl and company were able to create something that was "complete and not open to outside tampering," said Dave in a recent Billboard magazine interview. Not that the grayest of flannel suits would have furrowed an overgrown eyebrow at the new Foo CD and its eleven cuts of K-Rock ready grooves. Indeed, the band found a new major-label home at RCA about 10 milliseconds after pushing the stop button on Nothing Left’s master tape. "Learn To Fly," the album's first single, is so radio friendly it should come with a bullet to symbolize its climb up the modern-rock charts. Other songs such as "MIA" (no, not the Johnny Thunders or Chrome Locust songs of the same name) are edged with just enough distorted guitars so that guys can display sensitivity to their girlfriends without worry of being seen doing it. "Gimme Stitches" has the best riff on the album, probably because it's lifted from "Slow Ride" by 1970s freedom rockers Foghat. Even Howard Stern and his morning crew picked up on the rip off when Foo Fighters played the song on the shock jock's radio show in October. But what the hell, the riff is so old, it must be in the public domain by now.

Marilyn Manson

While Marilyn Manson's ideas may not be new either, at least they're loud. The Last Tour on Earth was recorded live during the band's "Rock Is Dead" tour through America's heartland: Grand Rapids, Michigan; Cleveland, Ohio; et al. This is the most distorted live album I've ever heard as an official release and is an example of the extremism that is at once the record's greatest strength and biggest drawback. Last Tour is a Bauhaus special platter of thirteen (of course) sociopathic selections from the blasphemous band's three albums and one EP. It is a relentless assault of beastly beats, Nine-Inch-Nails-on-chalkboard bombast and techno-tortured vocals, all drowning in bloody oceans of reverb. God damn, is this fun or what? Other bands, Type O Negative in particular, have robbed similar graveyards, but without the adrenaline junkie energy that keeps Manson's material severed head and shoulders above the rest of his decomposing competition.

Included, of course, is Marilyn's cacophonous cover of the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams," which though far noisier than the original version or even than the cover from Manson's Smells Like Children album, "Sweet Dreams" is Last Tour’s dullest cut, probably because it wasn't penned by the madman himself. Luckily (or was it careful planning?) "Sweet Dreams" is followed by the speedball combo of "Rock Is Dead" and "The Dope Show" from Manson's 1998 release, the decidedly David Bowie-influenced Mechanical Animals. What's most encouraging is that Manson's latest studio work is also his most lethal combination of infernal and illegal influences, from Alice Cooper to Sisters of Mercy to name just two, with his own patented-leather brand of wickedness to create something as fiendishly familiar as it is pharmaceutically futuristic. And that ain't easy, no matter what kinda drugs you're on.

Meanwhile, back in Grohlsville, Dave is pleading in "Generator," "Can't you hear my motor?" Sure, it's humming right along, but that engine isn't turning half the rpms that Grohl's old band mate Kurt Cobain must be spinning in his grave after hearing the new Foo Fighters album. Ideally, if the Foo boys would just up their testosterone levels by the same amount that Marilyn needs to increase his Thorazine intake, both bands might actually attract a few new fans without frightening off too many of their faithful. Now that's what I call better listening through modern chemistry. By the way, exactly what the hell is a Foo Fighter anyway?

Shop safe and Happy Holidays.

December 1999