Which is wilder to consider: that it’s been 18 years since Nirvana released Nevermind or that Dave Grohl’s Foo Fighters have released six albums since? While Nirvana was dragged kicking and screaming into playing arenas, Grohl built the Foos and their sound to fill them. Among the 16 tracks assembled on their first greatest hits collection are obvious tracks such as “Monkeywrench,” “Best of You,” and “My Hero,” all well-worn staples of any rock bar. Later, and slightly less obviously, tracks such as “Long Road to Ruin” and “Times Like These” also show up. Of course, no hits collection is complete without a few unreleased tracks designed to draw you in, so Grohl includes the light Tom Petty twang of “Wheels” and the raging, if slightly flat, “Word Forward.”
Spend more time with your cars than with your girlfriend? Look into counseling and clear your schedule. With 400 road burners from 50 manufacturers, Forza 3’s garage makes Jay Leno’s car collection look like a used car lot. The second Forza title in three years delivers even more grease monkey realism with a new physics system that includes tire deformation, car flips, and a cockpit view, while the career mode boasts over 200 different events. Drivers who can’t tell a stick shift from an automatic can still get into the race with new features aimed at making the experience more accessible, like an auto-braking system to help on those nasty hairpin turns and new race-rewind controls that let you erase the fatal mistake that sent you spinning into the stands.
In an increasingly homogenized musical landscape, acts like Foxy Shazam are a rarity, which is what makes the band’s major-label debut, Foxy Shazam, all that more impressive. Combining elements of glam rock, classic rock, and soul, this 15-song collection effortlessly switches from huge pop anthems like “Count Me Out” to orchestrally driven show-tune-esque numbers like “Evil Thoughts” without a hint of irony. Climactic tracks like “Second Floor” may seem a little over the top at first (frontman Eric Nally is reportedly working with kindred spirit Meatloaf on his upcoming album), but Foxy Shazam is dripping with so much sincerity that it’s difficult not to get swept away.
For the head of The Vatican, religious iconography and black-and-gray tattooing as a whole is a spiritual experience.
Heidi Minx interviews musician/ promoter/ manager/ Renaissance man, Freddy Cricien.
While it might not have been the California penal system’s goal, the jails in that state also fostered the prison tattoo art of Freddy Negrete...
Scotland is known for a lot of things, like its whiskey and … some other stuff we can’t recall. We do know that the country’s second most satisfying export is the indie rock act Frightened Rabbit, whose third album, The Winter of Mixed Drinks, proves they can transcend their own hype. From expertly crafted ballad “Swim Until You Can’t See Land” to the spacey “Foot Shooter,” the band incorporates more expansive arrangements into their already seasoned songwriting, and the ambient instrumentation on songs like “Skip the Youth” take the band’s sound to the next level. Although we’re guessing that, like a good whiskey, The Winter of Mixed Drinks is going to age well, we suggest filling up now.