Foo Fighters

When Dave Grohl sparked the first Foo Fighters album with the head-rush hooks of “This Is a Call” and “I’ll Stick Around,” he wasn’t just hoping for a couple hits. The former Nirvana drummer was delivering a mission statement for the second phase of his career, a chart-topping arena run that’s cemented his position as a reigning alt-rock icon. Which shouldn’t be a surprise given the Foo Fighters’ never-ending string of smash singles, including the manic melodies of “Monkey Wrench,” the sky-scraping choruses of “My Hero,” and the power-ballad brilliance that is “Best of You.”

As for our Next Steps, they give a filler-free glimpse into the Foo Fighters’ fan-favorite side.

Dave Grohl must spend hours paring the Foo Fighters’ bottomless back catalog to a crowd-pleasing set list every night. After all, they’ve got enough certified jams to fill a couple afternoons. The best of which are skimmed in the accompanying Essentials playlist, as Grohl balances his pop, rock, and punk sides atop car-crash chords (“Stacked Actors,” “Alone + Easy Target”), boomerang riffs (“All My Life,” “Hey, Johnny Park!”), acoustic asides (“Stranger Things Have Happened”), and absolute anthems (“Times Like These,” “Learn To Fly”). Not to mention enough howling (“Breakout,” “Good Grief”) to keep a pack of hellcats up all night.

Drummers with serious self-esteem issues should take a long, hard listen to Dave Grohl’s second life as the Foo Fighters’ stage-stealing frontman. Aside from being the kit-bashing backbeat of grunge's prickly poster boys, Grohl’s made the Foo Fighters one of modern rock’s most consistent critical and commercial success stories. That goes for everything from the ravenous solo recordings of the group’s self-titled debut to the double-disc experiments of In Your Honor, which delivered some serious career peaks amid the galloping guitars and tense Top 40 tendencies of “No Way Back,” “DOA,” and “Best of You.” The best-of-ready songs just keep on coming, too, as albums like Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace prove that Grohl isn't done living out his rock 'n' roll fantasies just yet.