Since every single piece on Foo Fighters must legally include at least one Nirvana mention, why not start this album ranking piece by doing such with a downer (get it?). Despite their legacy as one of the most important and groundbreaking bands of all time, Nirvana only had the chance to release three studio albums. Three! Foo Fighters are obviously better because they have eleven (we don’t count singles, live releases, cover releases, and EPs), and whoever releases the most records wins. Eleven! We don’t make the rules, and, good grief (get it?) you’re wrong if you think any differently. So read on and feast your eyes on the definitive Foo Fighters album rankings.
11. Concrete and Gold (2017)
We can find something that we like about all eleven Foo Fighters albums, but this is the only one in the band’s discography that didn’t inspire a second listen. It’s quite forgettable when compared to the rest of the band’s lush body of work, but the band make(s) it right by featuring Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men on the title/closing track. “La dee da.” Thankfully, the band’s next two releases were both more gold than concrete.
Play it again: “The Line”
Skip it: “Run”
10. Sonic Highways (2014)
If you get the chance, watch the eight-part HBO documentary on the creation and recording of “Sonic Highways” before you listen to this record for a proper frame of reference. Or don’t; fuck you. This album has the smallest collection (eight) of songs of any Foos release but still feels a little long, as more than half of the LP contains compositions that clock over five minutes each. This congregation is all for epic feasts, but not at the expense of extraneous and unnecessary segments that should’ve caused multiple famines. Still, “Something from Nothing” is an epic banger.
Play it again: “Something from Nothing”
Skip it: “Subterranean”
9. Medicine at Midnight (2021)
Who would’ve thought that the band that wrote the blistering and screamy mosher “Monkey Wrench” would release a nine-track soulful and danceable record with a song called “Chasing Birds”? Not you! Easily the band’s most polarizing listen, this sleeper record successfully challenges its listeners to not tap their respective feet. Unlike “Sonic Highways,” there is little fat on this concise release that clocks at less than thirty-seven minutes. Ambition is a good thing and we implore you to check this one out if you haven’t done so already.
Play it again: “Making A Fire”
Skip it: “Cloudspotter”
8. In Your Honor (2005)
Fun fact: This album’s title track and several other of its songs were inspired by 2004 Presidential loser candidate (and plus one to the Heinz heiress), John Kerry. It’s true. Fun opinion: If the band made this a single LP instead of a double album, it would’ve ranked higher on this here list. Also, true. Still, another confession to make, the anthemic “Best of You” remains one of the band’s biggest (and most meme-able) songs. P.S. We’re still waiting for the Bernie LP.
Play it again: “No Way Back”
Skip it: “On the Mend”
7. One by One (2002)
All of the punk rock hearts love that this record is Chris Shiflett from No Use For A Name’s (reexamine their entire insanely catchy lengthy catalog) first release with the band, but overall, despite its 2004 Grammy Award win for “Best Rock Album,” it’s an uneven front-to-back listen. Still, “All My Life” may be the band’s best single not called “Everlong,” and the best opening track to ANY rock record. Seriously. Just watch a live video for “All My Life” right now. Another reason to bleed.
Play it again: “All My Life”
Skip it: “Halo”
6. Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace (2007)
Apparently, the hook for “The Pretender,” “Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace’s” opening track, and one of the Foos’ most successful singles, which says a lot as they have quite a few (or foo), was unintentionally (doubtful) and subliminally (possibly) inspired by “Sesame Street.” Don’t quote us, but this may the first time that a Big Bird co-write won a Grammy for “Best Hard Rock Performance.” Happily, Germs’ Pat Smear (also formerly Dave Grohl’s bandmate in an early incarnation of the band and for the tail end of Nirvana) guested on this record for one song, being his first since “The Colour and the Shape,” before he joined the band full time again for all others moving forward. Stranger things have happened.
Play it again: “Cheer Up, Boys (Your Makeup is Running)”
Skip it: “Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners”
5. But Here We Are (2023)
For those who lament that these lists typically only highlight each bands’ early releases, suck it. This LP is the band’s saddest release and serves as a memorial to Taylor Hawkins, who left us all way too soon in 2022. On a related note: find the video of Taylor’s teenage son Shane absolutely obliterating the drums for “My Hero” at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert at London’s Wembley Stadium. What a tribute.
Play it again: “Rest”
Skip it: We feel guilty about this portion of the article for obvious reasons, but since we were forced to put a song here, it has to be “Beyond Me”
4. Self-Titled (1995)
The readers on this site are likely going to bitch that this album isn’t ranked high enough in this article, so we’re beyond sorry about this “low” nearly bronze metal slot. Good grief, you’re all right and we’re all wrong. Still, we can all agree that this is quite a debut album. Three mega hit singles (“This Is a Call,” “I’ll Stick Around,” and ”Big Me”) that kick off the debut, self-titled record in a perfect one-two-three punch later, who would’ve thought that the band would be around to create ten more albums (and counting) and countless other mainstream singles. In closing, this is without question the first of all albums on this list to contain absolutely no fucking filler.
Play it again: “Exhausted”
Skip it: “Weenie Beenie”
3. There Is Nothing Left to Lose (1999)
“Me, Myself & Irene” might be Jim Carrey’s most underrated film, and “There Is Nothing Left to Lose,” despite its commercial and critical success, is certainly the Foo Fighters’ most underrated album. Like the fun and funny music video for “Breakout” (which features various hilarious scenes in the movie and some new ones in the actual video itself), one can hear it in the songs that the band truly enjoyed the creation of this third (and coincidentally listed as this ranking’s third best) record. Sometimes one needs to go M.I.A., leave Los Angeles, and come home. Let’s close this mention with one more fun fact about “Me, Myself & Irene”: The Offspring cover AFI’s “Total Immortal” during the film’s closing credits. Oh!
Play it again: “Aurora”
Skip it: “Live-In Skin”
2. Wasting Light (2011)
“Back and Forth” is easily one of the best rock documentaries ever created and one of its most appealing components showcases the recording sessions for Foo Fighters’ seventh album, “Wasting Light.” Thank you, Butch Vig. You’re a good producer and shit. Like the aforementioned album “There Is Nothing Left to Lose,” one can hear elation coming through the speakers over the course of all of “Wasting Light’s” killer eleven tracks. These days that is hard to do.
Play it again: “Bridge Burning”
Skip it: “I Should Have Known”
1. The Colour and the Shape (1997)
We still feel bad for Sunny Day Real Estate’s William Goldsmith, but despite its pretentious-ass album title (from one of our favourite American bands), “The Colour and the Shape” is one of the best rock albums of all time. Period and no hyperbole here. The production on the LP is perfect, the songs are beautifully and flawlessly constructed, and the musicianship is so on point it’s scary. Not too bad for a sophomore slump! It would be beyond epic to see this album played front to back.
Play it again: “Doll” and don’t stop till the end. Rinse. Repeat.
Skip it: Again, no filler here but if you hate “The X-Files” movie and songs over 5 minutes, skip “Walking After You ” and listen to the following track that wasn’t in the movie. Fuck you, Gillian Anderson.