We went through our usual choices for them, like 60s folk and soul music, but eventually ran out of choices and just searched for a "Family Thanksgiving" playlist on Spotify. Unsurprisingly, a few came up right away and were basically exactly what we were looking for, giving a mix of gentle 70s and 80 pop and soul stuff that is more or less amenable to everyone. White middle class people are nothing if not predictable.
One of the songs that was deep in the playlist, past when everyone was paying attention to what was being played, was a cover of the Foo Fighters' "Everlong" by Mac DeMarco, which I enjoyed and made me reflect on the song. I loved the Foos when I was just getting into rock music as a preteen, but mostly fell out with them as I got more streamlined in my punk taste. I kind of hate their current status as the last big rock band and the more gimmicky stuff they do (like Dave Grohl playing on a throne) doesn't do anything for me. Really, I guess this dislike is also around Grohl being worshipped as this rock god by their fans. It's weird?
Anyways, amidst all this I've still really liked "Everlong". It's basically a perfect rock song. It's got a bit of a second-wave emo vibe to it and I think it's the only song of theirs that reflects the fact that two of the members came from Sunny Day Real Estate. My friends and I were introduced to the band through their "All My Life" video being in rotation on muchmusic, so "Everlong" was this really cool older song that was fun to discover after the fact. And the video! It's probably one of my favourite music videos and is the perfect compliment to the song, even if I don't really know why.
Since I apparently have this long relationship with "Everlong" by the Foo Fighters, here are three episodes in that story:
One of the highlights of my teenage years was Cardinal Newman High School's yearly Talent Night, when pretty much every person I knew would group themselves into bands so that they could play two or three covers at the show. One of the most fun bands every year was (Party) Pat, one of my very best friends, playing with Nick, Dave, and James.* This group covered "Everlong" at the show, with Nick singing, and it kind of became his thing, so much so that when we were at a Supernova show to see our friends and saw one of the other bands cover the song, we were all like "You guys are biting Nick's style!"
*I think their band name was Captain Destruction and the Bunsen Burners? If not, that pretty close.
I met my friend Brian during my first week at Guelph and we instantly bonded over our interest in music. The vast majority of our nights in residence involved the two of us hanging out in his room listening to and sharing music and those are memories that I really value. His favourite band at the time (maybe still) was the Foo Fighters and he was on a quest all year to track down every song, b-side, and rarity that he could on blogs. "Everlong" was his favourite song and whenever anyone had a guitar at a party, he would immediately say "Play 'Everlong'." The Foo Fighters toured Canada during the spring we were at school and a group of guys all went to Brian's hometown of London to watch them play and stay at his house.
During the summer of 2017, one of Rebecca's friends got married in Italy, so we organized a trip to Europe for the two of us around the wedding. Surprisingly, probably the most fun part of the trip was spending time in the small-er Italian city the wedding was taking place in, Pescara, and seeing a very non-touristy part of the country. One night, we discovered a punk bar called POST and had a great time hanging out there. It felt comforting to spend time somewhere that equally reminded you of the parts of home you're familiar with, but also is different enough to be a new experience.
The bartender, who I assume was also one of the owners, was playing music that night by putting on Youtube videos on the bar's TVs and one of them was a 1997 live performance of "Everlong" on Letterman. When the owner overheard me doing my white male duty and talking about how the original Foo rhythm section came from Sunny Day Real Estate, he came over and gave us a free round of shots. Never underestimate the value of obscure emo knowledge. I think about this night all the time, especially because after "Everlong" he pivoted to a full-album video of Sixteen Stone by Bush (Bush X if you're nasty) and when I saw a METZ sticker on the bar and tried to engage with him about how they were from Toronto, he said their new album sucked. Basically everything I could ask for from a European exprience.
Man, it's pretty crazy how good of a performance that is, eh? The drumming! The back-up vocals! Them not being a stadium rock band!
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