Foo Fighters

Named after a secret Second World War unit assigned to research UFOs, Foo Fighters — the brainchild of former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl — has been rocking righteously hard and melodious since 1995. On the group's self-titled debut album, Grohl played all the instruments and established his signature cascade of sound with "This Is a Call". Since then, well, you know the story . . . the band has become — on the back of monsters like "Times Like These" and "Best of You" — that rare beast: one of alt rock's true globe-conquering leviathans, capable of shaking any stadium to its very foundations.

More tracks old and new — including a selection from 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace — coexist in Next Steps.

For the second Foo Fighters release (1997's The Colour and the Shape) founder and boss man Dave Grohl recruited a fully fledged band from the embers of Sunny Day Real Estate, so in a way it marks their debut proper. The album was produced by Gil Norton (lauded for his work with the Pixies), who reunited with the Foos for 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, featuring a cheeky nudge in the ribs of emo — "Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make Up Is Running)".

Hear the Foo Fighters live in '05, and bringing it down a notch acoustic-style, in Deep Cuts.

You can often judge a band by its covers, and the Foo Fighters fare especially well with material that's not their own, never taking the road well travelled. Their version of Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" (released as a bonus on the 10th anniversary reissue of The Colour and the Shape) does away with the original's signature sax and replaces it with a sinewy guitar, while Grohl's vocal is a master class in sympathy and restraint.

Foo Fighters is a sweet, hot-rocking contradiction. Punked-up without excessive abrasion, and grungy minus the sonic sediment, the outfit began where Nirvana ended, the perfect blend of weight and lightness. Held together by main man Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters consistently blend euphoric melody with driving percussion and hard, beautifully distorted guitars. From the bazooka chords of "All My Life" to the soaring brilliance of "Learn to Fly", the band has kept the cutting edge of rock razor-sharp.