In Your Honor: An Album Review 

By: Emily Eade

In Your Honor by Foo Fighters is the band's fifth studio album. This album created and developed what will be the band's signature sound. The album was made to make two great records stand on their own. On this album, there's a variety of songs from the legendary hit “Best of You'' to the heartfelt song, “On the Mend,” which came from inspirations from events that happened prior. This album will create imagery of love, heartbreak, and hope; in the end, this album will be one that will influence your love for music. 

Disc one, Rock Anthems:

“In Your Honor" is the first track off of disc one of the album. On this track, the band creates a perfect start to the album, by creating a flawless combination of their loud, moving, melodic anthemic sounds all into one. The lyrics “Mine is yours and yours is mine there is no divide,” are their way to show that in a community there should never be anything that’s just “mine” or “yours,” it’s for everyone there should be no divide between us all. Throughout the song, the fast-paced, simplistic beat combined with Grohl’s echoed voice creates a chilling emotion felt throughout the song onto the next. 

“Best of You" is the third track of this album, which ended up being one of Foo Fighters most known songs if not the most known. The song created the image of being used and getting hurt by others and can be seen as a call to show people not to be afraid of reaching out to others. You’ll never be able to overcome your problems until you learn to talk about and face your struggles. The lyrics, “I've got another confession, my friend I'm no fool. I'm getting tired of starting again somewhere new. Were you born to resist or be abused?” These lyrics were created to create a message to the band's listeners as a way not to be afraid to open up to others because of whatever others may have done to betray your trust in the past it’s not good to bottle up your feelings of despair or being abused. 

The fourth track of this album is “DOA.” On this track, the band is creating an image of how in the end a relationship usually ends in heartbreak even when it’s been broken for a long time. The lyrics, “It’s a shame we have to die my dear. No one’s getting out of here alive, this time” creates the imagery that Grohl and love are going down as they are “dead on arrival.” Throughout the song, there's a fast-paced beat that creates a rush feeling that combines well with the lyrics.

Disc two, Acoustic:

“Friend of a Friend,” is the fifth track on disc two of the album, which was originally written by Grohl himself when he was the drummer of Nirvana. This song is a brief description of the three members of Nirvana: Dave Grohl, Kurt Cobain, and Krist Novoselic. This acoustic song shows the feelings of pain and sorrow that were felt throughout a dark time of Nirvana's history. As seen through the lyrics, “He thinks he drinks too much. 'Cause when he tells his two best friends "I think I drink too much." No one speaks, no one speaks, no one speaks," Grohl is referring to himself and Novoselic as Kurts (he) two best friends and Kurt thinks he drinks too much, but Grohl and Novoselic don’t say anything about it. This song honestly is one of two heartfelt, emotional songs on the album. 

“On the Mend,” is the seventh song off of the acoustic side of the album. This is probably if not the most emotional song off the album, being written about Grohl’s (now) late best friend Taylor Hawkins when he was in a coma from his heroin overdose in 2001. This song showed how Grohl felt about Hawkins by using the lyrics, “One more day that I’ve survived another night alone. Pay no mind I’m doing fine, I’m breathing on my own,” creating an image of how painful it can get day to day on this journey of losing someone so close to you. Grohl sat by Hawkins side the whole coma. It was clear he just wanted to be left alone with his sorrow of this traumatic experience. Throughout the song, you can hear and feel the pain felt throughout Grohl’s body when he felt he was losing another person he held so dearly. 

The eleventh song on this disc is, “Cold Day in the Sun.” On this track, there is this Californian surf feel to the song, sung and written by Taylor Hawkins himself. The surf rock sound with the lyrics has an uplifting, sorrowful feeling which oddly makes perfect sense throughout the song. The lyrics, “It’s your cold day in the sun. Looks like your bleeding heart has already won,” creates the image that one can let their emotions take control and slip away, which more likely causes someone to feel empty or drained. The last song of the album is “Razor.” On this track, the combination of Grohl singing slowly with the fast-paced tempo creates an image of hurting yet rushing away from what is pulling him back. 

In Your Honor showed fans that musicians also go through what normal people go through. The feeling of love, hope, heartbreak, and loss creates a way for the band to be able to get their emotions out and grieve the way they need to. The album filled with rock anthems and acoustic songs created the sound that Foo Fighters needed to show who they were.