Foo Fighters & Violet Grohl's Albums

Rock is having big viral moments, including a father and daughter releasing albums spring 2026. Foo Fighters put out their 12th album Your Favorite Toy, and Violet Grohl (eldest daughter of frontman Dave Grohl) reawakens '90s punk/grunge in Be Sweet to Me. I review both albums, tying personal effects curating the new songs. 

Your Favorite Toy's YouTube playlist

The Hannukah Sessions (2020-2022)
Violet Grohl solos: "Take The Box" (2021), "At Seventeen" (2022)

Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert:
"Hallelujah" - Violet Grohl
Oliver Shane Hawkins drums "My Hero"

Violet on Foo Fighters' songs: "Making A Fire", "Show Me How" (2023)

Nirvana reunion & Violet: "All Apolgies" feat. Kim Gordon @ FireAid (2025)

Taylor Hawkins & Dave Grohl induct Queen to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2001)
Paul McCartney inducts Foo Fighters into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2021)

Gary Numan's "Cars" (1979, 1980)

Nirvana

Be Sweet to Me's YouTube playlist

Jess recommends:
Music Notes with Jess episodes: Taylor Hawkins Tribute Interview, Foo Fighters' "Rescued"
Music Media Review episodes: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Noah Kahan's "The Great Divide"/ album

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Theme Song: "Gym Track (2026 Remix)", composed by Jessica Ann Catena

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Welcome to Music Media Review, a weekly podcast critiquing modern music and media headlines. I'm Jeff. Rock fans are gonna be very pleased with this episode. First set of news: Rock had an all-time high over 2026's first quarter. Billboard has reported the genres continuously viral thanks to festivals, radio, social media, and songs shared across posts. Among the mainstream rock decks are Somber, Olivia Rodrigo, Posier, Zach Bryan, Noah Khan, Modern Rockers, and Classic Rockers recording new music. Segwating to my double-famed topic, Food Fighters front band Dave Grolls promoting a new album with his band, and his oldest daughter Violet just put out her first solo record. Not only are both works simultaneous in modern rock, they're also experimenting heavier styles separately from each other. I should have waited launching this episode for Father's Day weekend, but I've got another interesting album critique scheduled for then. For this episode, I'm gonna review Foo Fighter's 12th album, Your Favorite Toy, and Violet Grohl's Be Sweet to Me. Pull your double devil horns up and let's rock out on Music Media Review. So much changed since 2023's Grammy nominated But Here We Are personally and musically. Historically, it was Foo Fighter's Return without drummer Taylor Hawkins, who tragically overdosed 2022 while touring in Columbia. Being one of the few 90s alternative grunge bands standing, the heartbreaking loss shattered fans and the lineup terribly. I linked a tribute interview I did with my friend Luke, who reminisced his fandom and memories at their concerts. Speaking of concerts, Food Fighters performed two Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts six months after Taylor's passing. By the time But Here We Are got recorded in the studio, Dave Grohl handled drums, lead guitar, and vocals. When it was time promoting the album live, Veep's live stream unveiled a mock audition intro to reveal who got behind the drums on tour. Drumming at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute concerts, session musician Josh Frees took the helm, cohesively playing with Dave, bassist Nate Mandel, keyboardist Rami Jaffee, guitarist Pat Smear, and Chris Schifflet. Earning three Grammy nominations and top charting rankings, things were progressing up to that point. Drastic measures shook up all that effort to Dave Grohl's personal life and a fourth change to Foo Fighters lineup. Tablights broadcasted Dave had a new daughter outside of his marriage to a younger woman. He openly admitted the affair, asking media to respect his family's privacy while also expressing the hard realities being talked out in long therapy sessions six times a week for 70 weeks to be precise. Cheating's advice Dave did with his first wife Jennifer Lee Youngblood, following former Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain's 1994 suicide, did the same to a girlfriend, but losing Taylor Hawkins and his mom back to back her too much. He told The Guardian in March, whether it's from my mother or my old friend Jimmy or Kurt or my father, in the dreams I know that I'm dreaming, but those people are here. And it's as if they've never left. From the loss of Kurt to the loss of Taylor, I was afraid to sit and actually let those things into my heart. Writing songs and writing lyrics about these things is sometimes enough. As far as having a deeper, longer conversation about them, I still do reserve a lot of this for my own personal life, as impersonal and public as it may seem. But I think that for many reasons, I wound up in a place that I needed to stop and sip with myself and reevaluate myself. It's an ongoing process. I wasn't sitting with myself and really letting feelings go from my head into my heart. Getting to the point where I was just like, I need to stop, turn everything off, and find my heart. I listened to Foo Fighter's complete discography prepping the Taylor Hawkins episode I did. By far, your favorite toy is the heaviest I've heard them. Usually their compositions have heavy metal screeches, loud fast tempos, occasionally switching off tender moments. There are songs you get either on your favorite toy. I can hear the rage Dave had to divulge out of his system, repeating certain stanzas resonated poetically and therapeutically. Track one caught in the echo screams, do I? Do I? Do I? Do I? Decide, decide, decide, decide. Some things you can't divide, some things you can't define. Who can save us now? The Guardian's article disclosed track twos of all people conversing encounter Dave Ranan to a heroin dealer he knew from the nineties, commenting the likeness addicts were surviving against the odds. Sympathetically, Jordan Bloom didn't file divorce seeing these breakthroughs and encouraged her husband to lean on the support he's got left. Infidelities rarely lead to second chances. I truly believe counseling fueled your favorite toys concept every lyric to song. Track three's window, Giltrip's facial reactions, low regret, keeping the arrangement rhythmic rather than headbanging symbolized the remorse to do better. I liked the juxtaposition, casually reserving the radio friendly sound Foo Fighters consists for its singles. Dave made sure to balance family time producing some tracks at his home studio 606 and invited middle daughter Harper on track four's title track. She chimed in the na na na's in the second half. Maybe another future girl musician in the works. Metaphorically, your favorite toy man-upped responsibility over habitual coping mechanisms. Track 5's If You Only Knew gently emphasizes the mental health process. Track 8's child actor adapts the perspective and pleads turn the cameras off. Track 9's Amen Caveman resorts losing everything in the wrong. Track 10's Asking for a Friend throws rhetorical questions. What is real? I'm asking for a friend. When you're alone, am I a part of you? Save all your promises, or is this the end? Track 6 Spit Shud goes insane. I love it. The ooze chanting is catchy, berserk sounding, cleansing Dave to move forward in his shrieking. Spit shine, work to the wise. Cash in the chips on your shoulder. The honeymoon is over. A personnel change occurred once again, handling the drummers. Mixed stories are divided why Josh Freeze's services weren't needed anymore, yet a convenient transition evened out the circumstance. Alon Rubin got recruited to replace Josh and swapped his duties where he departed, nine inch nails. Just happens that both men drummed for the band and could have smooth over this delicate situation. I immediately hear the difference. Can't argue the business decision executed with Dave Grohl and Vision. Let's not forget he was Foo Fighter's original drummer on 1995 self-titled debut album. William Goldsmith only did 1997's The Color and the Shape due to Dave's leadership tendencies for him to quit. Taylor Hawkins toured for Alanis Morris set, snagged Food Fighters' drumming position 22 years for the next eight albums. You can tell the parallels Paul McCartney closely has with Dave Grohl, strongly delegating as a band leader, mourning deceased members, and persevered through a second rock band. Paul preached the similarities inducting Foo Fighters to class of 2021's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I also shared a video clip that Harper learned piano from Paul McCartney, told on the Kelly Clarkson show when Dave promoted his memoir in 2021. I'm placing your favorite toy, a favorite 2026 album so far, high on rock lists and Foo Fighters Career. Message was clear in 10 songs, 36 minutes, a moaning as it should. I rated a favorite next to 2021's Medicine at Midnight. Same for Germany and France. Asking for a friend and your favorite toy have topped hot rock songs. Caught in the echo hit number 88 in the UK, number 34 in New Zealand, number 15, Canada mainstream rock, of all people placed number 38 in New Zealand. Shifting a classic current rock fusion, time to discuss Violet Grohl's entrance. Violet May Grohl was born April 15, 2006 in Los Angeles, California. Tagging along Dave Sidgig since childbirth, determination laid the back in her mind pursuing an independent career someday. She liked experimenting with Pro Tools, vocal practice, and tested out five public appearances playing along her dad. Celebrating Hanukkah remotely, Dave Grohl uploaded videos recorded at Greg Kirsten Studio 2020 to 2021 singing popular songs sung by a Jewish artist. It was awesome. I checked in every day viewing the Hanukkah Sessions renditions. A live concert took place for 2022's eight performances, inviting other musicians to the microphone. Tenacious D. Violet Grohl covered Amy Winehouse's Take the Box during a 2021 Hanukkah session and Janicean's At 17, part of 2022's. At London and Los Angeles' Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert broadcasts, Violet opened with Leonard Cohen's holistic ballad, Hallelujah, played by Alan Johannes, who got his start teaching Red Hot Chili Pepper's founding members Anthony Keatis and Flea, Michael Balsari and Halil Slovak. I'd forgotten he was there until now. Recently spoke about them in episode 10 about Red Hot Chili Peppers Netflix documentary and Flea's Modern Jazz album. Surprising the tribute's crowds, Taylor Hawkins' 14-year-old son, Oliver Shane, sat in during Foo Fighter's My Hero performance, moving everyone. He's since then filled in his dad's side project, drumming for Chevy Metal. How special is that feeling to stay close to his father? And Violet invited him on Be Sweet to Me's final track, Plastic Couch. On Foo Fighter's 2023 album, But Here We Are, Violet chimes in, making a fire, and does a duet rock power with Dave on Show Me How. I had Show Me How on repeat the longest time. Simply fantastic ethereal alternative. It's a must listen if you're unfamiliar. January 2025's Fire Eight Livestream Concert, fundraised donations for residents who lost their homes in Southern California's wildfires. Nirvana's surviving members reunited on stage, closing the set with Violet duetting All Apologies with Sonic Youth's lead singer Kim Gordon. Applauded by audiences and viewers, Be Sweet to Me's album began piecing together from these experiences. Producer Justin Raisin worked with Kim Gordon and approached Violet to bounce ideas together months before. She signed with Republic Records August 2024 and didn't tell her father about it at all. While he was preoccupied, Violet moved into her late grandmother's home, storytelling in track three's Bug in the Cake, and ecstatically brainstormed demos to record at Justin's home studio. Be Sweet to Me just came out May 29, 2026, phrasing towards critics calling out nepotism and is afraid she jokes around to her best friend Persia Newman, Gary Newman's daughter, who backs up Bug in the Cake. Thumb, spelled without the B, was promoted early 2026, opening track one. I picked up on the 90s grunge production, rapid punk tempo, and very short length of 2 minutes 11 seconds. That's about the attention span of social media scrollers. I wonder if this would intrigue that demographic. So far, Thumb has charted number 38 Adult Alternative, Number 31 Alternative Airplay, and Number 7 Canada Alternative. My top pick is track 4's Last Day I Love You. Has a paramour vibe settling in a trance, heavy alternative pop lane. The unique thing Be Sweet to Me lays out is that Violin demonstrates various rock layers in its tracks. It's entertaining in a non-cohesive way, though some tracks end abruptly, like track 11's Plastic Couch produced in a mellow Vicoder. Contrast to Dave Grohl's preference recording authentically, Violet liked retouching the effects suiting the music she enjoys. Billie Eilish, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Cockatoo Twins, The Breeders, Pixies, and PJ Harvey. I'm interested in checking out these bands' catalogs now. Track two's 595 works off the $5.95 after dark phone numbers that advertise at late night. Track 6's Mobile Star and Track 10's Pool of My Dreams emulates Billie Eilish's low-range slow ambiance. She's had her moments rocking out like 2022's happier than ever. I was too young grasping the 90s rock scenes while it happened. My 30s are welcoming the re-exposure to learn. Violet Grohl's carving into modern punk grunge's resurgence at 20, differing from her peers aiming pop rock's relevance. I admired that. Her music video she's filmed for some of the songs filter dark, fuzzy cinematography, like retro 90s rock videos, ending the captions that they were filmed on Kodak Motion Film. Adding feminism focus, she told London's The 45 blog, I don't like male musicians my age. I don't care. They have attitude problems. They've been saying this about us for so fucking long. It's time that they sit down, be quiet, and play their music. The best advice I've been given is that it's okay to say no or that you don't want to do something. For a lot of women, it took them a really long time to accept and implement that into their lives. It's inspiring to be around the kinds of people who don't give a fuck and will say whatever they feel. Tracks 5, 7, and 9, Big Memory, Often Others, and Cool Buzz kinda nod Foo Fighters headbanging riffs. That's the closest affiliation you'd get. The rest goes to the band. Track 8's Applefish is a guitar-squealing backdrop to Violet's harmonized achy vocals. This is a clever strategy filling out what listeners were drawn to, basically providing examples where it leads to next for her. Not a bad way to start. I'm curious how Be Sweet to Me will chart and if your favorite toy will get Grammy nominations. I'll follow up on our social media pages with both. Revitalizing Nirvana's music, we could say Violet Girl Stardoms rightfully in bloom.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Thanks for listening to this double album review rock episode.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Let me know what you think by commenting on our social media pages Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Feel free to email Music Media Review Podcast at gmail.com. Please rate and review wherever you're streaming, and thank you to the five-star rating I just got on Apple Podcasts page. I'm Jess. Next episode, we'll review Toy Story 5's new movie theme, I Knew It, I Knew You by Taylor Swift. I'll recap the four previous songs written for Toy Stories franchise films, speak about I Knew It, I Knew You significances to Taylor, her music stats, and Disney's music history. Talk to you next week.