Medicine At Midnight, Foo Fighters Album Review

After much waiting and increasing anticipation, Foo Fighters have released their 10th studio album, Medicine At Midnight.

With nine tracks over 36 minutes, the Foos have added to the legacy and setlist, giving fans something new to listen to, learn, and get ready to sing along to when we get back to live shows on a grand scale. We already knew Shame Shame, Waiting On A War, and No Son Of Mine coming into release day, leaving six more songs, including the title track, to wash over us in headphones and home speakers rather than in stadiums as was originally planned for 2020.

Over the last 26 years, the band has consistently been the bar to which American (and perhaps all) rock and roll bands have been measured. And while measuring music from one artist against another, even in the same genre, can be akin to comparing an apple to a monkey wrench, there’s some merit in it. From giant sold-out shows and tours to guaranteed Platinum plaques and adoration from fans, they are tops. And while time will have to tell on the success of Medicine At Midnight in sales, singles success, and hard ticket sales (when we get back to that), it feels like a safe bet to make.

Related: Foo Fighters Hot 25 Anniversary Playlist

Before the album’s release, Dave Grohl cited David Bowie as an influence on the music. That’s not an outrageous claim to make, Bowie inspired, and continues to inspire, a lot of artists. But there are moments on the new album where you can definitely hear it. The title track (Medicine At Midnight) is one of those moments. Heck, I stopped what I was doing to make a note of it while I was listening. At track five, the song sits right in the middle of the album, and it’s a good fit. It’s not the sound you hear in your head when you think of Foo Fighters. But it’s still Foo Fighter-y enough to be theirs and not sound like a cover of an unreleased song from the Bowie library.

Foo Fighters – Medicine At Midnight

Chasing Birds is another song that has some Bowie filter on it. But I can also imagine Dave Grohl sitting down with this one and imagining Paul McCartney and John Lennon writing too. It’s soft and will likely never be a staple of the loud arena shows the band plays. But, it isn’t a wasted track, it’s one I’m going to end up singing along to when it comes on a playlist. I can already feel it.

Here’s the thing about listening to this album. I love the Foo Fighters. But, I can realize that this album isn’t packed with songs that are going to immediately slide into the live setlist to replace favourites (if the fans have their way). AND THAT’S OKAY. This is a band that travels and plays as much on reputation and the past as it does on the present. So, being able to add No Son Of Mine and Waiting On A War and Love Dies Young and Shame Shame and Making A Fire in a way that they fit into set with the old hits, is all they need to do and all we need from them. That’s going to be a helluva a show.

And, the songs that don’t go to radio, don’t make the live setlist on a regular basis, don’t get played on late-night TV, etc., are still going to have a chance to connect with fans and find their way onto playlists and in cars and wherever fans are listening.

Medicine At Midnight is a good listen. It’s Foo Fighters doing Foo Fighters’ things. It’s some new sounds with some familiar sounds. It’s fresh enough to sound like a new album and on-brand enough to welcome everyone who already loves the band without making them wonder who they’re listening to.

I like this album. I hope you listen, turn it up, tap your feet, bounce your leg, nod your head, and get into it. That’s what music’s supposed to make you do, and Grohl and company find that on these songs like we’ve come to expect them to do for more than a quarter of a century.

Check out the full tracklist for Medicine At Midnight here and hit play on the stream to give it a listen. Enjoy.

Foo Fighters, Medicine At Midnight Tracklist

1. Making a Fire
2. Shame Shame
3. Cloudspotter
4. Waiting on a War
5. Medicine at Midnight
6. No Son of Mine
7. Holding Poison
8. Chasing Birds
9. Love Dies Young

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Joshua Murray

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