Foo Fighters- Your Favorite Toy
Label: RCA
Producers: Foo Fighters, Oliver Roman
This decade thus far has proven to be a turbulent one for Foo Fighters, marked by glorious highs like their first ballot induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and devastating tragedy like the sudden death of drummer Taylor Hawkins the following year. Their recorded output along the way has mirrored these events, with 2021’s Medicine at Midnight and a hilarious Bee Gees-tribute side project focusing on the energetic euphoria experienced by a generational band witnessing their legacy being immortalized. 2023’s But Here We Are was understandably far more reflective and emotional in the wake of Hawkins’ passing, with Dave Grohl’s reclamation of the drummer’s spot proving to be a beautiful full-circle moment honoring both Hawkins’ and the group’s preceding three decades of triumphant resilience. In many ways, it could have served as the perfect swan song in a storied discography, with an extramarital scandal for Grohl in 2024 leaving further questions as to where the Foos go from here.
Enter their twelfth studio album, Your Favorite Toy, a raucous and high-octane explosion of vintage alt-rock/garage-punk/post-grunge anthemia that feels precisely like the type of rejuvenative record and opening to a new chapter needed at this point in the band’s history. It serves as their first album in a dozen years without producer Greg Kurstin, and also debuts Hawkins’ formal replacement with Ilan Rubin taking over at the drum-kit. These changes coincide with a commanding sonic shift back toward the band’s more formative post-grunge origins. Spanning just north of a half-hour, it’s a brisk and high-speed affair, similar in pacing to Midnight, but with a far more aggressive, head-banging spirit that feels like an exercise in time-travel back to their early catalog.
Impressivley, it’s difficult to discern the accumulation of age and miles between now and then. The performances and production are as commanding and convincing in their ferocity and rock & roll swagger as anything they’ve ever released. It features some of their most memorably blistering guitar solos, particularly on the album’s heavy-metal climax during “Asking For A Friend”. And Grohl, despite finding himself firmly supplanted in his late fifties at this point, still possesses one of the most powerfully guttural roars in all of rock, and this is definitely one the most prominent showcases of this fact in many album cycles. Yes, his range still offers a beautifully soulful rock poignancy when he reigns things in, as on a rare come-down like “Unconditional” or during those signature mid-song segues like on opener “Caught In the Echo”, or on the clever, vouyeristic storytelling of “Window”, which immediately feels like a new favorite deep cut.
But for 90 percent of this record, Grohl and the boys keep the rock intensity turned up to 11. Thirty years has done little, if anything, to chip away at their youthful band spirit. The life experience gained during those years however is, in signature Foo fashion, deeply captured in the topical make-up of the record, exploring themes like survivor’s guilt (“Of All People”), the shallow nature of fame and celebrity (“Your Favorite Toy”, “Child Actor”), the acceptance of aging and life’s inevitable disappointments (“If You Only Knew”, “Spit Shine”), and the expected observations of the current sociopolitical state of the union (“Amen, Caveman”).
All in all, Your Favorite Toy proves to be a vital and rewarding launch to a new, vibrant chapter in the Foo Fighters story. More-so a glorious rejuvenation than the battered battle cry of their more recent, preceding work, it showcases the continued relevance of their core artistic sound and identity, as well as their constant willingness to evolve as well. It’s a combination that makes them the most likely act of their generation to achieve a Rolling Stones-level longevity, suggesting that we could still be reviewing new music from them in another thirty years. Time will of course be the true test of that prospect. For the moment however, Your Favorite Toy is surely worthy to be a prime rock soundtrack for the Summer for 2026, and for the various life cycles awaiting us in the immediate future.
Track Listing:
- “Caught In the Echo” (Foo Fighters)
- “Of All People” (Fighters)
- “Window” (Fighters)
- “Your Favorite Toy” (Fighters)
- “If You Only Knew” (Fighters)
- “Spit Shine” (Fighters)
- “Unconditional” (Fighters)
- “Child Actor” (Fighters)
- “Amen, Caveman” (Fighters)
- “Asking For A Friend” (Fighters)
The 706 
Leave a comment