The Colour and the Shape, Foo Fighter's second album, was released 24 years ago today.   It marked the official debut of the Foo Fighters - as a band ( Pat Smear, bassist Nate Mendel, and drummer William Goldsmith), since the debut album (self titled) was basically a solo project as it was written and recorded entirely by front-man Dave Grohl. 

The album contained three hit singles, "Monkey Wrench", "Everlong" and "My Hero" and peaked at #10 on the Billboard.  It was nominated, but did not win a Grammy for 'Best Rock Album' in 1998.  That honor went to....John Fogerty for 'Blue Moon Swamp', which never climbed higher than #37 and finished #169th on Billboards charts that year.  I mean, who votes for this shit?

The Colour and the Shape is an exhilarating post-grunge record packed with a lot of heart. It was partly inspired by Dave Grohl's divorce from photographer Jennifer Youngbloodand, he lets the emotions run high on every single track. The album alternates between hard rockers and soft ballads, designed to resemble a therapy session.  

The album didn't go off without a hitch.  Originally recorded over a two month period (Jan-Feb '97), Grohl wasn't happy with the tracks and arrangements and decided to scrap most of the recordings. After a short break, the band, minus drummer Goldsmith, relocated from Washington to LA.  Recording resumed with Grohl, who is arguably one of the best drummers alive, back on the drums.  He ended up replacing Goldsmith's drums on all but two tracks (Doll and Up in Arms). After hearing this, Goldsmith left the band.  

 "There were a lot of reasons it didn't work out but there was also a part of me that was like, you know, I don't know if I'm finished playing the drums yet.  I wish that I would have handled things differently."

 Just after recording was finished, the band hired drummer Taylor Hawkins, who was the drummer for Alanis Morissette's 'Jagged Little Pill' album.  

 

The name of the album was credited to the band's tour manager who was buying up thrift store items because he'd like the 'color or shape' of them.  The spelling was changed to 'colour' as a tribute to the Gil Norton, the producer, since he was British. 

According to Grohl, 'Monkey Wrench' was "a song about realizing that you are the source of all of the problems in a relationship and you love the other person so much, you want to free them of the problem, which is actually yourself. It was a riff that turned into another riff that turned into another riff and ended up being a nice little power punk song."  It's one of the heavier tracks on the album and was served up as the first single. The label pushed for 'Everlong' to be the lead single, but Dave wanted something more 'rocking' out of the gate.  'Let's give them something upbeat first so that they know our feet are still planted in the same place.'  Grohl went on to say 'The first time I heard it on the radio, it was in the middle of a load of mid-90's grunge shit and I thought it was so killer!'. The track reached #9 and laid the groundwork for the rest of the album. The video also introduced Hawkins for the first time to fans, even though Grohl actually played the drums on the song. 
 

 'My Hero' is a song about ordinary people, not so-called idols that are the true everyday heroes.  It's a tip of the hat to former bandmate Kurt Cobain who was the inspiration.  In Grohl's own words, the song is, "(his) way of saying that when I was young, I didn't have big rock heroes, I didn't want to grow up and be some big sporting hero. My heroes were ordinary people and the people that I have a lot of respect for are just solid everyday people—people you can rely on".  Ironically, it ended up being used in the movie Varsity Blues, about an ordinary kid becoming a sports 'hero'.

Even though the record label gave in to 'Monkey Wrench' being the lead single, they eventually got their way when 'Everlong' was released in August and went on to become one of the biggest songs of the bands career- #4 on the charts.  Dave later said "I knew it was a cool song, but I didn't think it would be the one song by which most people recognize the band." "It was basically about being connected to someone so much that not only do you love them physically and spiritually, but when you sing along with them, you harmonize perfectly,"
It's also a favorite of David Letterman: “my favorite song by my favorite band.” He loved it so much, and it had such meaning in his life, that he invited Foo Fighters to perform it on the show five different times, between 1997 and 2015, including two of the most momentous and poignant shows: In 2000, for Dave’s first show back after his heart surgery and recovery, and in 2015 for Letterman’s final show.  Here is a nice collection of all 5 shows.

The final track/single was 'Walking After You'.  The original was recorded in late 1996, but there was an opportunity to put it on the soundtrack for the movie The X-Files. Grohl decided to re-record the song with Hawkins now taking part ion 1998.  Dave was challenged to make this a more emotional song and actually broke down during the recording of the vocals, which remained in the final mix.  The 1998 version had more intricate drumming and guitar work than the original and ran about a minute longer.

Final track listings of the EXP version that was later relased.