Stuck in a moment between Nirvana and Foo

It’s that time of year when greatest hits, best of, and retrospective anthologies are released like they are going out of style. Part of the harvest are U2’s 1990-2000 collection, the inevitable follow-up to their 1980-1990 or thereabouts phase, and Nirvana’s untitled black album which can only be described as a definitive anthology of the works of the late Kurt Cobain with the band.

Those familiar with both bands claim that U2 is the older group, and in fact is still very much around. Nirvana, on the other hand, seems to have burned out like a comet in the ’90s, culminating with Cobain’s suicide in the middle of that decade. Yet there is little doubt that both bands continue to exert considerable influence on the younger generation of rock musicians.

Though Nirvana is no more, its drummer Dave Grohl has opted to pick up the guitar and lead the Foo Fighters, who once played at the Araneta Coliseum some years back on the same bill as Sonic Youth and Beastie Boys. Foo Fighters have likewise come out with their latest album, a regular one, called One By One, and it’s interesting to try and see how Grohl’s new band departs from his old legendary power trio.

But first things first. We should take a longer look at the older band, U2, which with each passing day begins to sound like elder statesmen of rock. 1990-2000 is strictly post-Rattle and Hum, their double live album of the late ’80s that was the cut-off point of their earlier best of collection.

The new CD takes Achtung Baby as starting point, all the way through four or five albums on to All That You Can’t Leave Behind of a couple of years ago, with its two hit singles Stuck in a Moment and Beautiful Day, both of which are understandably included in the 2002 compilation.

Aside from the plethora of remixes of tested hits, there’s a brand new cut or two to make 1990-2000 worth its time on the CD player. There’s Electrical Storm, already garnering airplay on radio stations, and showcases the strengths of U2 as a band –they never tire of being inventive, and their hooks seem to leap at you from out of nowhere fast.

There are more delights here, some of them certified downers, like One or Stay, or even Miss Sarajevo with Pavarotti doing a vocal spot opposite Bono (not exactly a duet), the band reveling in those days they were produced off and on by the electronic whiz kid Eno.

U2 has held up well through the years, with nary a personnel change, such that they could be the spokesmen of their generation of musicians along with their contemporaries, R.E.M., whose drummer has retired.

And in what could be the a typical ’90s grunge angst soundtrack, Nirvana’s untitled, black jacketed best of greatest hits album recently released is a fitting tribute to Cobain, the tortured genius of a musician.

Cobain’s early suicide contributed significantly to the band’s already formidable stature. This CD confirms that they really were the kings of grunge, and most of the others (with the possible exception of Soundgarden) were merely pretenders.

Anyone who had the good fortune to have listened to the band’s Nevermind was instantly aware of Nirvana’s impact on the scene in the early ’90s –the cover of a baby in a swimming pool was even parodied by Weird Al Yankovic, including the breakthrough song, Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Smells Like Teen Spirit was admittedly the best of the angry young Cobain, with its clever play on dynamics and feedback, and pretty soon it was obvious there was more where that came from.

All Apologies, Lithium, Come as You Are, Pennyroyal Tea follow one after another in a lyric barrage that leaves little breathing space. Throw in too Been a Son, the David Bowie tune The Man Who Sold the World and the Leadbelly remake Where Did You Sleep Last Night, and we hardly get a respite from this reconstructed rhythm and blues.

Cobain was the hub of this band, and when he went so did Nirvana, in more ways than one a modern tragedy. Their music though has outlived them.

Not the least because of Grohl, whose drumming was as integral to Nirvana’s sound as his guitar-playing is to his present quartet. As long as the Foo Fighters are around, and Grohl with them, then there will always be a part of post-grunge in the increasingly disjointed music scene.

One By One, the Foo Fighters’ latest has been billed a new millennium sampler of rock. And while comparisons with Nirvana are unavoidable particularly in the area of fiddling with the volume controls, Foo is a band that has and grows its own.

They are a tight outfit, with the hooks flying hither and thither and threatening to explode any moment, they’re that combustible. There is also a certain delight if not outright relief in listening to a CD that is not a best of or greatest hits collection, as our expectations are not that high, so it doesn’t take much for us to get uplifted, although this special effort by Grohl and company, whether its millennium rock or whatever, does so handsomely.