14 illinoisentertainer. com july 2026
FOO FIGHTERS Your Favorite Toy
( RCA Records) Born out of tragedy, the three decades of Foo Fighters seemed to float by without much turbulence. What started as a way for Dave Grohl to keep creating after the death of Kurt Cobain( and, to some extent, the grunge movement in general) became as reliable as a Swiss Watch. Churning out alternative pop-rock hits back when rock bands still had sway on radio and TV, the amiable everyman took the role of superstar and ran with it, starring in buzz-worthy music videos and regularly blessing the late-night talk show circuit with his wit and charm. For a long time, everything was coming up Foo. In 2007, Prince covered the band’ s“ Best Of You” during what many call the greatest Super Bowl Halftime Show of all time. Punk rock legends like Ian MacKaye and Steve Albini took part in the band’ s tour documentary Sonic Highways, giving the band their flowers. Grohl even collaborated with Paul McCartney and Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic for a single and a Saturday Night Live appearance. Their momentum was unstoppable. Then the pandemic hit. What was supposed to last two weeks lasted nearly two years, leaving the band in a weird space. When drummer Taylor Hawkins was found dead during a tour stop in South America, it was the first time since 1994 that true tragedy had struck the band. Mere months later, Grohl’ s mother, Virginia, forever his greatest cheerleader, passed away. Then there was news that Dave had fathered a baby outside his family, making him catch the ire of everyone with a social media account. Taylor Hawkins’ replacement, Josh Freese, was then unceremoniously ousted after mere months, replaced by Nine Inch Nails drummer Ilan Rubin. Where 2023’ s Foo Fighters album, But Here We Are, was a triumphant celebration of both Taylor and Virginia, Your Favorite Toy finds the band in a more angry headspace. Using their early rockers like“ Weenie Beenie” and“ Enough Space” as a guidepost, Your Favorite Toy is the loudest album the Foo Fighters have released since the Clinton Administration. Shirking the radio-friendly ballads of“ Times Like These,”“ These Days,” or“ Walk,” Your Favorite Toy prefers to keep the energy up
with riffy speed rockers. While Grohl’ s lyrics have never been nakedly confessional, they seem even more vague here, addressing nothing personal or political. Unfortunately, only a handful of the new tracks approach the quality of the band’ s heyday.“ Caught In the Echo” immediately makes a quick impression, especially with its stadium-ready ending, but then the next few tracks unfortunately stay in the same lane. Your Favorite Toy is missing a midalbum surprise like“ Big Me” from the band’ s sublime 1995 self-titled debut.“ Asking For a Friend” finally finds the band opening up and trying a more complicated suite-like epic, but it’ s not until the final song on the record. Where Greg Kurstin gave the past few Foo records a detailed brilliance, Your Favorite Toy finds the band’ s in-house producer Oliver Roman laying out a thick, muddy mix, dampening the proceedings and neutering even the heaviest rockers. Hopefully, time will help heal what is broken inside this band and lead them to a better place for the next album.
-Andy Derer
6
PAUL McCARTNEY The Boys of Dungeon Lane
( Capitol / MPL)
If you ' re a Beatles or Wings fan, consider how lucky you are to have an album of fresh material from Paul McCartney in 2026. The " cute one " turned 84 in June, and his 18th solo work combines age-defying vitality with mature reflection and surprising openness. The guy whose catalog