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R&B musician and actress Chloe Bailey, half of the Grammy-nominated duo Chloe x Halle, recently opened up about her attention-grabbing, grown-ish social media posts via Instagram Live. The 22-year-old says she’s received comments ranging from support regarding her “new image” to full-on slut-shaming for her confident dance videos.

“[Dance and music] is where I find my confidence,” she says in the video. “It really means a lot to me when I can finally get to a place where I [can] share who I really am.” Many detractors of her uploads have collectively failed to recognize that — despite coming into the public eye as a teenager — Bailey is now a woman in control, noticeable not just through her posts, but in her work. Chloe x Halle’s latest album Ungodly Hour was praised for exploring more adult themes, and in an interview with Billboard, Chloe notes that the project’s title represents “loving every layer of ourselves” — such as the “good side” and the “naughty side.”

Unfortunately, Black women are often seen as “doing too much” when the world is not comfortable bearing witness to their autonomous thoughts and presentation. Destructive stereotypes regarding Black feminine sexuality, demeanor, and agency have been propagated for centuries, and these harmful ideas continue to spread through inaccurate, narrow-minded thinking. But with Chloe x Halle’s music serving as a reflection of their growth, they join a long line of Black female musicians whose work captures their journey of self-acceptance.

Black female artists have expertly risen above pain with music about emotional and physical self-love — a radical act in and of itself. As new ways to consume popular music spread during the early 20th century, these musicians have used their careers to reclaim the attributes society has been conditioned to fear about them, such as inner pride, unapologetic sexual freedom, and awareness of uneven power structures. Black women in music being comfortable with the skin they’re in provides not only a therapeutic platform for them but also an enlightening, edifying one for fans who may feel similarly.

In the 1920s and ‘30s, “Mother of the Blues” Ma Rainey’s illustrious ownership of her Blackness, femininity, and queerness was as acclaimed as her catalog. During the Civil Rights era, Nina Simone’s 1965 album I Put A Spell On You introduced a lighthearted side to the radical artist, especially through the song “Feeling Good.” Her emotionally-emancipated performance amplifies the necessity of joy amidst adversity, which resonates strongly within the Black community.

Black female artists across genres in the ‘70s and ‘80s continued to release art pertaining to unapologetic self-love, such as Diana Ross’ “I’m Coming Out,” Patti LaBelle’s “New Attitude” and Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love Of All.” Then, in the late ‘80s and ‘90s with hip-hop and rap’s ascension, Black women’s overt reclamation of their sexual power brought self-love to new heights.

Queen Latifah, Salt N’ Pepa, and TLC widened the cultural lens of the genre’s notoriously misogynistic purview with “Ladies First,” “None Of Your Business,” and “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg”; all songs kept it real about independence, strength, and desire. The late ‘90s also provided a balanced look at the nuanced layers of Black female sexuality. Where Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliott created work regarding love, power, and sex without showing skin, Lil Kim and Foxy Brown released similar content while dressing provocatively. Both approaches show that Black women have the agency to decide how they want to portray self-love and confidence, with neither negating the way she views herself as a whole.

Black female self-acceptance in the 21st century is a combination of mental fortitude, emotional assurance, and physical pride. In the 2000s, India.Arie let us know she loves herself — flaws and all — with “Video,” and Alicia Keys and Jill Scott similarly released content with straightforward honesty, like “Superwoman” and “Golden.” When “Black Girl Magic” was brought into the lexicon during the 2010s, Janelle Monáe, Solange and Lizzo purveyed these ideas with fearless tracks such as “Q.U.E.E.N,” “Don’t Touch My Hair,” and “Good As Hell.” Beyoncé continues to release work regarding Black beauty and confidence with culture-shifting songs and projects like “***Flawless,” Lemonade, and Black Is King. As with women rappers, some of these musicians wear revealing outfits or perform in a sexual manner — and still make their points.

Through the examples of Black female musicians — in addition to those of strong women in their own lives — one can hope that more Black women will find the confidence to be themselves unapologetically. Regardless of society’s damaging generalizations, it’s integral for Black women to relish in their power on all fronts, not only to prove something to themselves but to inspire others and shift the way the world views Black women in general.

“For every woman out there, don’t change who you are to make society feel comfortable,” Chloe Bailey tearfully, joyfully, resiliently concludes in her Instagram Live session. “I really love who I am. I’m not going to change who I am.”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

If you’re even on the fringes of NBA Twitter you might see people lament being “in line” behind thousands of others on some nights. Eventually, you might see them express frustration that whatever they’re in line for is out of stock. And unless they’re getting vaccinated en masse, they’re probably hoping to snag the latest packs of NBA Top Shot.

You’ve probably seen people talking about Top Shot, or even reveling in the big purchase they made of a “moment” from their favorite player. There might be talk of rarity, new pack releases, and challenges they need to complete in order to acquire even more moments. It all sounds vaguely like trading card collecting, or maybe stock day trading. That’s because it’s kind of both. Top Shot has seen a huge leap in popularity in an extremely small amount of time, especially in recent weeks. The company literally can’t keep its product in stock, and in a world where a bunch of people on Reddit can band together to cause chaos on the stock market, there’s a lot of talk about NBA Top Shot as a commodity in and of itself.

But if you’re still confused about what Top Shot even is, we’ve got you covered.

What Is Top Shot?

NBA Top Shot was announced in the summer of 2019 as a partnership between the Association and Dapper Labs, which maintains the technology behind the blockchain-based platform where people can buy, sell, and trade numbered versions of officially-licensed video highlights from NBA games. There’s a lot more to it than that, but it’s the simplest way to describe what Top Shot is: video highlights from games, packaged in various forms and bought and sold by people who want them.

It’s part digital sports trading card, part highlight, and part commodity. It debuted in the fall of 2019, and in just over a year, it’s become a phenomena all its own. But it’s a phenomena that absolutely requires explaining, as it sits at the intersection of our present moment’s commodification of virality, obsession with collectability, and evolving understanding of blockchain technology. Tech nerds, NBA fans, and people looking for the next big collectable all seem hooked by Top Shot for one reason or another.

What’s The Blockchain?

OK, I am definitely NOT the person to explain that. But what you need to know is that it’s a secure list of records linked together by cryptography that’s used to keep things safe and secure. It’s why tech people are so excited about cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, and it’s used to keep Top Shot secure.

If that sounds confusing, that’s reasonable. So let’s try to answer a few more questions and I’ll try not to use the word “blockchain” again.

What’s A Moment?

NBA Top Shot is, absolutely, having a moment. But it’s also made of Moments, or video highlights from a particular player. There are dunks, passes, blocks, and even lay-ups all available for sale from some of the NBA’s biggest stars. And some Moments are rarer and more valuable than others. While common packs of moments start at $9, more rare packs cost $999 for 10 random Moments. The most rare Moments have routinely topped six figures on the resale market, and people expect them to eventually sell for much more than that.

Moments can be sold off right away, but Top Shot has a reward system for collecting certain Moments, which unlock exclusive reward Moments that also have value in their own right. It’s a game, kind of, and one that can get expensive if you want certain moments added to your collection.

Why Does This Sound Familiar?

Well, it’s something that’s sort of been done before online in various forms. Cartoon Network and Turner once had a website in the early 2000s called Cartoon Orbit that had hundreds of thousands of kids acquiring tradeable images from cartoons, usually animation cells from shows. You could buy them using virtual currency you earned, and even auction them off for huge windfalls if they were particularly rare. There were challenges to unlock others, and there was apparently even a plan to turn the currency into real money. Which, in a way, is exactly what NBA Top Shot is now, just with basketball highlights instead of images from Dexter’s Laboratory.

But Isn’t It Just A Bunch Of GIFs?

Well, kind of! The actual video contained in a Moment is probably available elsewhere, including on team Twitter accounts and YouTube and basically every sports channel if the highlight is cool enough. But avid Top Shot collectors insist there’s more to it than just seeing a clip online. There’s an ownership element with Top Shot that those who’ve bought in rave about. Here’s how Mavericks owner Mark Cuban explained away the difference in a recent blog post about collecting and Top Shot in particular:

I get to enjoy knowing I own my Maxi Kleber dunk Moment, along with knowing the serial number and much more. Some people might complain that I can get the same video on the internet anywhere any time and watch it. Well guess what, I can get the same picture on any traditional, physical card on the internet and print it out, and that doesn’t change the value of the card.

You’ll find this comparison made in a lot of places: sports trading cards are often created from images you can find elsewhere, printed on cardboard in varying quantities to create their own value. For NBA Top Shot, the value theoretically comes from the quality of the video, the digital packaging Top Shot creates with additional stats and info, and the scarcity attached — not to mention the security of the blockchain. (whoops) For many, it’s a commodity as much as it is memorabilia, one that’s just starting to build its value as interest increases and the number of moments remains tightly controlled.

How Is Scarcity Controlled?

There’s a whole other guide to that, which sort of speaks to how complex that whole formula may be. There are generally two different kinds of Moment: Limited Edition (LE), which have a finite number of versions created and are generally more valuable, and Circulating Count (CC), which has an amount that may change as more packs are released.

Right now I can tell you there are zero new packs available at all, and a lot of different Moments available on the secondary market. That peer-to-peer marketplace has its own spikes in popularity, price, and scarcity that’s driven by what people want to buy and sell, along with what Top Shot makes available. It’s all pretty interesting to watch, and unlike the stock market, the people in charge of the market are pretty transparent about how things are going (for now).

As much as NBA Top Shot is a sports phenomenon, it’s not. It’s a tech product, still technically in beta, and there seem to be changes constantly happening. Releases don’t always go smoothly, things break, and others get fixed as the product itself evolves in real time. What’s refreshing here, though, is that the company seems to be pretty forthright about, both good and bad.

Should I Start A Top Shot Collection?

Listen, friend, I am far from a financial expert here. I’m just reading the news, so to speak. But it’s absolutely interesting to watch, and there’s a considerable sense of FOMO that happens when new packs hit the market and people share their successes and failures.

The secondary market sells individual clips starting at $2 each, so even with demand causing thousands of people to miss out on new packs, it’s a pretty cheap entry point into the Top Shot game. But know that, like all collectable items with gambling-adjacent odds and emotions, it’s a slippery slope with a costly mountain of rarity and exclusivity waiting on the other side. And until further notice, you’ll see considerable competition, which means it will be tough to find any easy deals.

There is plenty of information and data available, though: The folks running things at Dapper consistently update people on what’s going on with Top Shot, including tweaks and what’s essentially a video game roadmap-style update on what’s next. Top Shot is very good at sharing detailed breakdowns of just what you’re buying, and their Discord also shares updates on just who managed to snag packs and how they’re battling users taking advantage of the system to score large amounts of packs. It’s a nice change from commodities where ordinary people are woefully unprepared to battle the big guys.

But it’s far from perfect. Saturday’s release of $999 legendary packs of 10 Moments, for example, saw a glitch let people buy packs without waiting in the queue if they joined at just the right time — a frustration for some trying to get one of the 2,331 packs made available, to say the least. But the release did have one bright spot: Each pack went to a different collector, according to Dapper’s data, which means the rare stuff went out to lots of different people, an improvement over an earlier common release pack from earlier in the week.

Dapper says they want to keep Base Set packs available at all times but are struggling to keep up with demand, and they’re selling out in minutes, just like the rarest of packs with the highest-value cards. But that means there are plenty available on the secondary market, and there are lots of more-common moments available to buy right now if you’re willing to pay a bit of a premium. And if you’re a fan of a less popular players, there’s a bevy of good highlights for you to acquire.

Get-rich quick commodities seem all the rage online these days — especially when the blockchain is involved — which is certainly part of the appeal of Top Shot for some speculators. Telling financially-strapped people to pay for anything right now is certainly a tough ask, but we live in a world where gamers sink millions of dollars into virtual currency to bulk up create-a-players and packs of virtual soccer stars in sports sims they may play for less than a year before upgrading. With NBA Top Shot, at least in theory, these packs will have some actual value. That value may only exist when a video is sold, but believers in the market hope Moments become a collectable on par with trading cards, sports memorabilia, and player autographs.

If not, at least they’ll have quite an impressive highlight reel to watch.

The friendship between Grimes and Lil Uzi Vert has come a long way. In 2019, Grimes revealed that Uzi once asked to collaborate and then ghosted her. They’ve become friends over Twitter in more recent times, though, and now they’re apparently “making hits” together. Now it looks like they plan on taking thing even further than that, as they seem to be making plans to get “brain chips” together.

Over the weekend, Uzi tweeted, “NEURALINK,” the name of Elon Musk’s startup that says of itself on its website, “We are creating the future of brain interfaces: building devices now that will help people with paralysis and inventing new technologies that will expand our abilities, our community, and our world.”

These “brain interfaces” would likely involve some sort of implant, so Grimes responded to Uzi’s tweet, “Let’s get brain chips.” Uzi seems serious about going through with this, as he replied, “I’m ready when we doing it ?” Grimes responded, “Let’s aim for chips by 2022. it’s experimental surgery but if it succeeds we’ll have the knowledge of the Gods haha.” Uzi then wrapped up the online part of the conversation, “Okay !!! I will call u for more detail.”

All in all, it’s not entirely surprising to see that Uzi has an interest in this sort of body modification considering he just had a pink diamond embedded into his forehead.

Check out the tweets below.

Every actor should get to play John Wick at some point — it’s now Bob Odenkirk’s turn. In Nobody, the Better Call Saul star plays a suburban husband and father who’s as adept at making lasagna for his loving family as he is shooting bad guys. And building nail bombs. And screaming things like “GIVE ME THE KITTY CAT BRACELET.” Also, Odenkirk’s character is named Hutch Mansell. I need to see this movie immediately.

“I get the sh*t kicked out of me in this movie,” Odenkirk told EW about Nobody. “I really wanted to go way far outside, like 180 degrees outside my comfort zone. Just commit to this guy, commit to his rage, and commit to his commitment to what he’s doing.” Once you drink your own pee in the New Mexico desert, you fear nothing. You also get hot:

Here’s more:

When two thieves break into his suburban home one night, Hutch declines to defend himself or his family, hoping to prevent serious violence. His teenage son is disappointed in him and his wife seems to pull only further away. The aftermath of the incident strikes a match to Hutch’s long-simmering rage, triggering dormant instincts and propelling him on a brutal path that will surface dark secrets and lethal skills. In a barrage of fists, gunfire, and squealing tires, Hutch must save his family from an adversary — and ensure that he will never be underestimated as a nobody again.

Nobody, which is directed by Ilya Naishuller (Hardcore Henry) and written by John Wick scribe Derek Kolstad, comes out on April 2.

Back in June of 2018, Fear the Walking Dead killed off Madison Clarke, a decision I begrudgingly agreed with at the time. Ever since that episode, however, it feels like fans of Fear the Walking Dead have been fueling rumors of her return nonstop. In fact, as recently as two months ago, showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg were fueling those rumors themselves, acknowledging that Madison’s return was a possibility and even going so far as to cite scheduling concerns/possibilities.

Those rumors picked up steam this week when it revealed that Fear the Walking Dead would be shooting in Round Rock, Texas. Fear the Walking Dead fans know that Dell Diamond Stadium is located in Round Rock, and Dell Diamond stadium is where Madison Clarke died… or did she? We never saw her body, and so it stands to reason that she could have survived (Daniel, after all, once survived being shot in the face).

Meanwhile, we learned from Colman Domingo that shooting on Season 7 of Fear the Walking Dead begins in two months, which means that the work being done now in Round Rock is still part of Season 6B. For those who believe shooting near Dell Diamond stadium suggests that Madison will return, it stands to reason that Madison could return as soon as Season 6B (instead of Season 7).

Of course, there’s been no confirmation that Kim Dickens would return. In fact, those who sought out the shooting location saw only the actors who play Daniel, Luciana, and Wes in attendance. Moreover, Alycia Debnam Carey — who plays Madison’s daughter — has been back in Australia for several weeks, and it would be strange to bring back Madison without immediately reuniting her with Alicia.

On the other hand, of all the places in Texas, why return to the site of Madison’s “death”? What if Madison is still alive, and Daniel, Luciana, and Wes discover her in the final seconds of the sixth season finale as a sort of cliffhanger?

For what it is worth, I should also note that the original plan of Dave Erickson — the first showrunner on Fear the Walking Dead — was to turn Madison into a villain in the seventh season. I suppose, for now, we can keep that in the realm of possibility.

Fear the Walking Dead will return on April 11th. The Walking Dead, meanwhile, returns later this month, on February 28th.

There isn’t a consensus best commercial from Super Bowl LV, but “Whip It Out” might be the worst. You may have missed the cringe when it aired before halftime as you were getting ready for “ladies and gentlemen… the Weeknd,” but the 30-second ad for CURE Auto Insurance is being criticized for making light of workplace sexual harassment.

Two co-workers, one male and one female, march into their boss’ office, where the female employee says, “Tommy just brought me into his office and whipped out his opinion.” Tommy claims he “didn’t just whip it out. She was into it. Plus, I have a pretty big opinion,” to which his co-worker responds, “Oh please, it’s not that big.” The boss interjects, “Tommy, not everyone in this office wants your opinion,” but Tommy mentions last week’s happy hour “when you begged me for my opinion?” You get the idea. What does this have to do with car insurance? “We can’t protect your opinion, but we can protect your car,” a voiceover informs the approximately 100 million people watching at home, most of whom aren’t going to remember to switch to a new car insurance. But they will remember the uncomfortable jokes about sexual harassment in the workplace.

This is what we get for thinking the fancy nut dying was as “yikes!” as Super Bowl commercials could go.

The Weeknd performed at the halftime of the Super Bowl last night and his show went off without a hitch. His performance seemed to be without flaw, there were no technical issues, the choreography was on point, and so on. Maybe that’s thanks in part to the help that The Weeknd got from James Corden.

On the episode of The Late Late Show that aired ahead of the big game, The Weeknd joined Corden for a sketch in which the host tries to “save” The Weeknd’s performance. Corden’s advice didn’t make it into the halftime show, as The Weeknd wrapped the sketch by announcing to his crew, “OK, forget everything we just did, never let that man in this building again.”

Ahead of the performance, The Weeknd explained why it didn’t have any guest stars, saying, “I’ve been reading a lot of rumors. I wouldn’t bet on it. There wasn’t any room to fit it in the narrative, in the story I was telling in the performance. So yeah, there’s no special guests.” He also explained how the show fit in with the After Hours narrative: “I definitely want to be respectful to the viewers at home. I will still incorporate some of the storyline. It’s a very cohesive story I’ve been telling throughout this era and throughout this year. So the story will continue, but definitely we’ll keep it PG for the families. I’ll try my best.”

Check out the sketch above.

Disney+’s WandaVision is currently exceeding fan expectations while pushing the MCU into wild and wacky new territory, and it sure looks like the high-octane The Falcon and the Winter Soldier trailer (which dropped during the Super Bowl) promises to keep up the action-end of Phase Four, probably with a few surprises along the way. The trailer revealed the return of not only Daniel Brühl’s Baron Helmut Zemo but also (to much applause) the return of (the kickass and confrontational) Sharon Carter, who may have been in the wind since Captain America: Civil War. What will Steve’s one-time love interest have to say about Steve Rogers deciding to travel back in time to be with her aunt Peggy? God only knows, but a more pressing question for the future of the MCU would be this: who gets to be the new Captain America?

Fans will remember that Steve officially handed the shield to Sam Wilson/Falcon at the end of Avengers: Endgame, but nerds also know that, in the comics, both Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier and Sam took up the shield at various points. So, there’s bound to be a little friction there. Bucky quietly signaled his approval to Sam taking the shield in Endgame, but he also looked a little sad. Whatever the case, though, the new Disney+ trailer is teasing us and refusing to hand out a real clue on which member of this buddy comedy will emerge with the shield. In fact, this moment around 0:45 follows up a peek at Steve Rogers’ memorial with Sam and Bucky apparently training with the shield.

In short, this trailer tells us very little except that it’s sure not set in stone that Sam Wilson will be the MCU’s next Captain America. In fact, since Bucky’s catching the darn thing, that might lend hope that he’s the one who ultimately ends up doing the honors. Are they competing in this scene, or are they simply practicing? Could they possibly even share duties with the shield? I don’t freaking know, but from the way that Bucky catches that hunk of vibranium, I can’t help but think of a certain moment in Captain America: The Winter Soldier when a then-unidentified Bucky momentarily snagged the shield from Steve. This was a dramatic moment that many saw as foreshadowing.

Several movies later, Bucky arguably got the shaft after he and Steve vowed to be together “until the end of the line.” That’s bittersweet, but also Bucky is not of completely sound mind after everything that he’s been through. Still, Anthony Mackie recently threw out signals that Bucky may very well have a shot; yep, and Mackie got very cryptic while pointing out to Collider that Sam never agreed to be the new Cap:

“We don’t know that yet. The show, the idea of the show is basically, you know, and at the end of Endgame, Cap decided he was going into retirement and he asked me if I would take up the shield, but at no point in time did I agree to or say that I would be Captain America. So, the show walks the line of who is going to take up the shield and who’s going to be Captain America if Steve isn’t coming back.”

It would actually be quite funny if we found out that Sam didn’t wanna be Cap but didn’t want to hurt Steve’s feelings by articulating that sentiment. In any event, get ready for some mega-drama with the shield, y’all.

Elsewhere in the trailer, I sure enjoyed the whole play on “couple’s therapy” with Bucky being asked, “Why does Sam aggravate you?” The answer to that question (from Captain America: Civil War) will never get old: leg room! Oh, here’s a poster.

Disney+’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will premiere on March 19.

The Foo Fighters released their 10th album last week. It’s called Medicine At Midnight. As a person professionally obligated to listen to every new Foo Fighters LP, I am sad to report that it is not very good, just as the previous two Foo Fighters albums aren’t very good.

However, this band does have some songs that are, in fact, good.

After revisiting the band’s catalogue in recent weeks, I have deduced that there are exactly 30 good Foo Fighters songs. I have listed them here in order of personal preference, along with detailed explanations about how this band, one of the most popular mainstream rock acts of the last 25 years, got to where they are.

What have we done with innocence? Let’s find out now, together.

30. “Good Grief”

My favorite Foo Fighters album is the self-titled 1995 debut, which I feel like used to be the consensus choice for the band’s best record but now seems largely forgotten. When I saw the Foo Fighters perform in 2018, I was disappointed that they didn’t play a single song from the first record. It’s not as if the setlist didn’t have room for it — as it was, the show was larded with a drum solo and a guitar solo, as well as numerous classic rock covers. I suspect Foo Fighters has been memory-holed because it’s not a band record, but rather a glorified demo made almost entirely by Grohl. (It’s his version of Paul McCartney’s first post-Beatles solo record.) That homemade quality is what I love about it, along with the quality of the songs, many of which you’ll see later on this list. This is also the only Foo Fighters album that would describe as genuinely heroic, even more than the LP that literally has “My Hero” on it. The Foo Fighters are now looked at not only as the epitome of a middle-of-the-road mainstream rock band, but also as an inevitable band, the sort of act that we are destined to see play award shows and presidential inaugurations and all other public fetes from now until the end of time. But when this album dropped in 1995, it was genuinely shocking that the drummer from Nirvana put out a record and it included so many immediate and catchy songs like “Good Grief” on it. Do you remember Sweet 75, the band that Krist Novoselic started after Nirvana ended? Of course not. And there was good reason to assume that nobody would remember the Foo Fighters beyond the mid-’90s, either. And yet.

29. “Marigold”

Technically a Nirvana song — it was the B-side of “Heart Shaped Box” — though I’m counting it here because it was included on the live album Skin And Bones. It also feels more like a Foo Fighters song than a Nirvana song, in that it’s presented openly and without apology as a pop song. “Marigold” ultimately signifies exactly how marginal Dave Grohl was as a songwriter at the beginning of the Foo Fighters. During the band’s first tour, which took place before the debut came out, fans constantly requested this song because it was the only Grohl composition they were familiar with.

28. “I Should Have Known”

In the underrated and surprisingly candid 2011 band documentary Foo Fighters: Back And Forth, Grohl speaks with still-apparent resentment about how during the first few years of the band, everything he did was filtered by the media through the lens of Kurt Cobain and his suicide. This ranged from the first album’s cover (an otherwise harmless photo of a vintage toy gun) to the lyrics, which Grohl (somewhat perversely) took pains to explain meant absolutely nothing. Almost two decades later, Grohl’s view on leveraging Cobain to promote his band evolved somewhat — in the documentary, it is implied (though not explicitly confirmed) that one of the big ballads from Wasting Light, “I Should Have Known,” was inspired by Grohl’s late, great former bandmate. This is underlined by the inclusion of Krist Novoselic on bass, the only time two-thirds of Nirvana have ever reunited on a Foo Fighters record. It’s also possible that Grohl was just looking for an excuse to learn more about Gary Johnson.

27. “Rope”

By the time Wasting Light was released, the Foo Fighters had long since stepped out of Nirvana’s shadow, which no doubt made Grohl less touchy about evoking his old band. In the early days of Grohl’s new band, it seemed as though he was consciously following in Cobain’s footsteps — their first tour was an opening slot for Mike Watt of the Minutemen. In a 1995 Rolling Stone interview, Grohl talked about limiting the Foo Fighters’ media exposure. (“We don’t want to spend too much time whoring ourselves around.”) But what made the Foo Fighters ultimately successful was Grohl remaking them as Nirvana’s antithesis — their brand is consistently turning out songs like “Rope” that work extremely well on rock radio and on stage in arenas. If you look at it up close, “Rope” makes no sense whatsoever. But it’s not designed for close examination. Like so many popular Foo Fighters songs, “Rope” is all about making a statement in the chorus — “Give me some rope, I’m coming loose” — that makes emotional sense, particularly when set to football highlights or a movie montage of guys being dudes.

26. “Skin And Bones”

Spoiler alert: There are no songs on this list released after Wasting Light. The three Foo Fighters albums since then, including the new one, are stuffed with awkward experiments that gamely (but unsuccessfully) attempt to expand their sonic terrain. Tempos lurch along with pointlessly complicated time signatures, gestures toward vaguely funky grooves fall flat, and Grohl does his hopped-up “Lemmy with the disposition of Paul Stanley” holler to no avail. This is a band with precious few deep cuts or interesting stylistic diversions — the most popular Foo Fighters songs are almost always the best Foo Fighters songs. Having said that, I am sort of fascinated by Grohl’s detour into thinking-bro’s folk-rock in the mid-aughts, when he picked up an acoustic guitar, expanded his band to include the keyboardist from The Wallflowers, and flirted with becoming the Gen-X Tom Petty. The folkiest tracks on albums like In Your Honor and Skin And Bones sound more like Bon Jovi’s country era than Wildflowers, though the title track from Skin And Bones is a keeper from this period.

25. “Have It All”

The most honest part of Back And Forth is how open all the other guys in the band are about how lucky they feel to be in Dave Grohl’s orbit. Grohl has a habit of hiring musicians whose previous bands — The Germs, Sunny Day Real Estate, No Use For A Name — either imploded or never made it past the “low level” grinding stage. This could be contextualized as part of Grohl’s good-guy image (he’s keeping middle-aged punks employed!) or, perhaps, taken as evidence that he likes to surround himself with people who will feel indebted to him. Either way, it has unquestionably shaped the Foo Fighters. The period when Grohl seemed less in control of the band was also their least stable — after The Colour And The Shape in 1997, drummer William Goldsmith and guitarist Pat Smear exited, and then Smear’s replacement Franz Stahl (from Grohl’s pre-Nirvana band, Scream) was fired within a few years of being hired. The band almost broke up for good during the making of 2002’s One By One, which coincided with Grohl’s instantly iconic dalliance as the drummer for Queens Of The Stone Age. You can hear the QOTSA influence on songs like “Have It All,” which has a very Songs For The Deaf-style battering-ram guitar lick. In retrospect, it seems ridiculous to think that Grohl would stop being the frontman of a successful rock band in order to be the drummer of a less successful rock band. But that apparently was a legitimate fear inside the Foo Fighters camp at the time. After One By One, Grohl more or less asserted himself as the benevolent dictator of the Foo Fighters, and they’ve been more or less steady ever since.

24. “Halo”

Since I’m already psychoanalyzing One By One era Dave Grohl to a possibly inappropriate degree, I might as well add that this song to me feels like a comment on Grohl’s own image as rock’s ultimate nice guy, and how that obscures the more calculating and ambitious guy underneath. Foo Fighters lyrics, again, are often meaningless by design, so I’m likely reading too much into this. But there is something intriguing about Grohl writing a song that at least hints at inner conflict: “Good and bad / I swear I’ve had them both, they’re overrated.”

23. “These Days”

The problem I have with writing about the Foo Fighters is that while I appreciate what they do and find Dave Grohl generally to be a very appealing personality, any words I actually type come out sounding more negative than I probably intend: For instance: This is a band that eventually learned to play ball without equivocation, no matter Grohl’s early comments about being averse to “whoring” himself. In a 2007 Spin profile, the Foo Fighters rationalize providing exclusives to Wal-Mart to coincide with a new album release. “Anything that has to do with promoting the music through a chain that will sell albums we kind of feel okay about,” Grohl says. And that mentality filters down to their songs, which sometimes sound like they were made with direct input from radio program directors in Cincinnati and Tulsa. Like the part in “These Days,” when Grohl barges into the minor-key bridge with, “Easy for you TO SAY!” You won’t find a more Foo Fighters-esque musical flourish than that. So … yeah, this all sounds critical, but in this case I’ll also add that “These Days” is a good corporate rock song.

22. “Gimme Stitches”

How about some straightforward, unambiguous Foo Fighters praise? One of their best albums is 1999’s There Is Nothing Left To Lose, recorded when the band was reduced to a trio composed of Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, and drummer Taylor Hawkins. Hawkins later said that he lobbied to keep them as a three-piece, and I kind of agree with him — There Is Nothing Left To Lose actually sounds like it has some space in the music. It also has an uncommonly deep bench of non-hits for a Foo Fighters album, including this very likable mid-tempo rocker about how Dave Grohl is really into sutures.

21. “Aurora”

There’s Nothing Left To Lose is also one of the mellower Foo Fighters albums, a result of listening “to too much mellow ’70s gold, Fleetwood Mac-type stuff while recording,” Grohl explained to Spin in 1999. But unlike their mid-aughts “acoustic” period, the gentleness of songs like “Aurora” don’t feel like a departure as much as a necessary tempering of the band’s increasingly hectoring style.

20. “Hey, Johnny Park!”

My second favorite Foo Fighters album is their second album, The Colour And The Shape, just as the first album is my No. 1 fave and their third and fourth albums, There Is Nothing Left To Lose and One By One, are my third and fourth faves. (This makes listening to the Foo Fighters discography in order easy in terms of ranking, and also very difficult once you get to the fifth album and beyond.) The Colour And The Shape is the one most likely to be cited by younger punk and emo bands as an influence, given that it’s the Foo Fighters record that most resembles Sunny Day Real Estate and Jimmy Eat World, particularly “Hey, Johnny Park,” which has a very eccentric title relative to the monosyllabic monikers that will be affixed to subsequent Foo Fighters radio jams.

19. “Wind Up”

The thing people always mention about The Colour And The Shape is that Grohl played all the drum parts, effectively erasing the band’s actual drummer, William Goldsmith. To his credit, Grohl lets Goldsmith (as well as the similarly disgruntled Franz Stahl) say their piece in Back And Forth, which in Goldsmith’s case is basically that Grohl re-recorded his parts behind his back and made him feel awful about his own playing. Most music documentaries white-wash any negativity in their history, so I genuinely respect Grohl for allowing Goldsmith to glower resentfully in the movie’s opening third. Of course, I suspect that Grohl also knows what is obvious to everyone who has heard The Colour And The Shape: Dave Grohl’s drums parts are sick on this record. Just listen to “Wind Up.” With all due respect to William Goldsmith, I am glad that Dave Grohl sabotaged his bandmate’s fragile confidence so I can feel this song pummel the hell out of me.

18. “Walk”

Another song perfectly suited for highlight reels on football pre-game shows, in which a key line in the chorus — “I’M LEARNIN’ TO WALK AGAIN!!” — works as an emotionally direct if intellectually vague sentiment that can work in any context requiring an inspirational rallying of the human spirit. “I’M LEARNIN’ TO WALK AGAIN!!” can apply to an athlete returning to the field after an injury (literal interpretation) or some other setback, like a sex scandal or a costly divorce (figurative interpretation).

17. “Breakout”

The Foo Fighters’ strategic shift from the low-key indie rock of the debut to a slicker and more commercial hard rock sound in the late ’90s coincided with the rise of American Pie rock, an extremely shiny brand of dude-centric guitar music that soundtracked the extremely shiny and dude-centric slob-comedy series. I mistakenly believed that “Breakout” was in either the first or second American Pie film, but it was actually featured in the 2000 Farrelly Brothers comedy Me, Myself and Irene, which actually makes it seem even more dated. (For the record, the Foo Fighters have a song, “Times Like These,” on the soundtrack to the third American Pie movie, American Wedding.)

16. “Big Me”

Grohl refused to make a video for the first Foo Fighters single, “This Is A Call,” but he relented for the second single, “I’ll Stick Around.” By the fourth single, “Big Me,” he decided to make a funny video, which would become a band trademark. I’ve often argued that Nirvana is a funnier band than it gets credit for — for instance, people in 2021 no longer realize that “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was a joke about an underarm deodorant that was advertised incessantly on MTV. The video for “Big Me” similarly spoofs a very ’90s ad campaign for Mentos candy, but even if you don’t get the reference, the Foos came off as very charming in both the video and the song, a simple and brisk homage to the mid-’60s power-pop Beatles.

15. “Oh, George”

The recent New York Times profile of the Foo Fighters describes Dave Grohl as an “everyman” who stands apart from the deity-like rock stars of the past. Of course, Grohl hangs out with many of those deities, including Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen. But it is true that he carries himself like journeyman, which carries over to the professional if unsexy image of his band. It makes sense then that the Beatle Grohl most identified with wasn’t Paul but George — he could have picked Ringo but Grohl clearly isn’t completely egoless. This song from the first Foo Fighters album is a musical tribute to Harrison, with a melody that recalls a grunged-up “Something” and a slide guitar solo that evokes George’s impeccable tone.

14. “All My Life”

If you’ve seen Grohl’s captivating 2014 HBO series Sonic Highways, you know that he has a thing for buildings where songs are recorded. The year before that series, he directed the film Sound City, about the famed L.A. recording studio. And he’s often made the location of the particular studio he’s using part of the narrative of his albums — Wasting Light was the “garage” record (though Dave’s garage is almost certainly nicer than your house and practically any professional recording studio) and There Is Nothing Left To Lose and One By One are both “basement” records (I haven’t seen those specific basements but I’m guessing I’d want to move my family inside of them). In Back And Forth, Grohl is especially proud that One By One‘s signature hit, “All My Life,” was recorded in a basement after he opted to not release a version made in a fancy million-dollar studio. For the listener, this undoubtedly means bupkis, as this enormous howler sounds like it was made in a basement built out of diamond-studded gold bricks.

13. “Monkey Wrench”

The first single from The Colour And The Shape created an entirely new template for the Foo Fighters moving forward. All of their big radio hits from here on out somehow touch on “Monkey Wrench” — that jackhammer riff, the carefully placed lyric that stands out amid a lot of nonsense (“What have we done with innocence?”) and that bridge where Grohl starts shouting and then really shouting and then just screaming incomprehensible grunts (the “one last thing before I quit” section). While the first album is strongly indebted to Nirvana, “Monkey Wrench” sounds like a full-fledged Foo Fighters song. Grohl found his blueprint and he was prepared to work it over. And over and over.

12. “Alone + Easy Target”

To be clear: I really like Grohl’s “sounds like Nirvana” era. During an era when so many alt-lite bands were trying to rip off Nirvana, Grohl did it the best, especially with this song. Even Kurt Cobain loved it when Grohl played him a demo version back in 1991, shortly after the release of Nevermind. “I’d told him I was recording and he said, ‘Oh, I wanna hear it, bring it by…,’” Grohl told Mojo in 2009. “He was sitting in the bath-tub with a Walkman on, listening to the song, and when the tape ended he took the headphones off and kissed me and said, ‘Oh, finally, now I don’t have to be the only songwriter in the band!’ I said, No, no, no, I think we’re doing just fine with your songs.”

11. “Stacked Actors”

As we’ve established, Foo Fighters songs are not celebrated for Elvis Costello levels of wordplay. Which is why it’s worth celebrating “Stacked Actors,” possibly the meanest song in the Foo Fighters catalogue. Grohl has long denied that it is about Courtney Love but it seems pretty obviously to be about Courtney Love. “Stacked dead actors / stacked to the rafters / line up you bastards all I want is the truth . . . They all dye blonde. . .” Added Taylor Hawkins in 2018: “Oh, there’s a sentence or two probably dedicated to her. Dave would never fully admit it to you, but I know.”

10. “The Pretender”

This is the last Foo Fighters song to enter the Billboard Top 40, peaking at No. 37. It seems incredible in retrospect that any Foo Fighters song would actually compete on the pop chart, though it speaks to how closely this band was aligned with the wants and needs of radio in the ’90s and aughts. (And also how mainstream rock stuck around in that realm longer than you might think.) Along with being a big hit, “The Pretender” might very well be the most mid-aughts mid-aughts rock song of all time. Nothing about the mix is subtle; it cuts through any room like a chainsaw through a cream pie. The chorus is classic Foos-ian hectoring — as I prepared to write this list, I had “What if I say I’m not like the others?!” echoing in my mind like a car alarm.

9. “Next Year”

I honestly dig big dumb radio rock like “The Pretender,” but I also wish Grohl had pursued more songs that are the complete opposite of “The Pretender,” like this wistful mid-tempo pop song from There’s Nothing Left To Lose. At some point, Grohl became so attuned to writing songs that would put the Foo Fighters in heavy rotation on every modern rock station in the country that he downplayed his more sensitive, Beatlesque side. Like “Big Me,” “Next Year” suggests that Grohl could’ve cultivated a Teenage Fanclub counterpoint in Foo Fighters to the more bombastic songs. Then again, in that scenario he might have ended up selling as many albums as Teenage Fanclub.

8. “Exhausted”

Another path that Grohl chose not to pursue further. Kurt Cobain unsurprisingly loved this demo as well, and you could almost imagine it on the follow-up to In Utero that Nirvana never got to make. Ultimately, a song as drone-y and, well, exhausted as this doesn’t really fit with the world-conquering vibe of subsequent Foo Fighters records. An incredible vibe nonetheless.

7. “Learn To Fly”

This once was the funniest Foo Fighters video, and now it’s the most problematic. Gay stereotypes, body shaming, Tenacious D — I’m sad to report that the “Learn To Fly” clip has not stood the test of time. (On the plus side, Taylor Hawkins remains a beautiful woman.) Nevertheless, this is one of the most purely enjoyable Foo Fighters songs, and a pretty good almost-repurposing of a Tom Petty song title.

6. “This Is A Call”

Grohl’s invitation to join Petty’s band, The Heartbreakers, shortly after the end of Nirvana in 1994 is another vital part of Foo Fighters mythology. Though unlike the trumped-up tale about the band’s supposed near-implosion after Grohl joined Queens Of The Stone Age, this actually seems pretty plausible. At the start of the Foo Fighters, Grohl really was known only as an incredible rock drummer. And Petty, along with Neil Young, was the most credible boomer-era rocker among Gen-Xers in the ’90s. Grohl’s lone appearance with Petty on Saturday Night Live remains one of that show’s great musical moments. Having him sit in with The Heartbreakers, even for one album, would have been incredible. But Grohl, to his credit, seemed to know what he had with that initial collection of songs, which kicks off with “This Is A Call,” one of the great side 1, track 1’s on a debut ever.

5. “Best Of You”

The one Foo Fighters song that can be semi-credibly considered a standard, though I might be overrating the importance of Prince performing it once at the Super Bowl. But if you want a big-sounding song about how something is the best, this is the best song about how something is the best. If it’s not the best, it’s certainly the most song about the best, in that it says “the best” (the best the best the best) more than any other song I can think of.

4. “I’ll Stick Around”

More than any other song on the first Foo Fighters record, this was the one most presumed to be about Kurt Cobain and definitely the track that sounds the most like Nirvana. The fact that “I’ll Stick Around” is among a small handful of tunes from that album written after Cobain died only added to that perception. Grohl ultimately denied this, claiming to Rolling Stone that “it would fucking break my heart to think that people are under that impression.” But regardless of whether “I’ll Stick Around” is literally about Cobain matters less than how this song evokes the anger and darkness of Cobain’s best songs. Grohl’s own insecurity and desire to prove himself at this juncture no doubt gives this song a lot of its power. Many of the most popular Foo Fighters songs have a He-Man quality, just brute displays of strength from an institution of unquestioned supremacy. But “I’ll Stick Around” derives from a time when Grohl really was kind of an underdog, and that scrappiness is what makes this song so appealing to me even after all this time.

3. “My Hero”

The best song from the “sports highlight reel” subgenre of Foo Fighters tunes. Dave Grohl somehow wrote this song for Varsity Blues a full 20 months before Varsity Blues was released.

2. “Times Like These”

Being a mainstream rock band requires being really obvious in a way that also satisfies the public’s craving for basic anthems without making them feel embarrassed about it. This song is the Foo Fighters’ greatest achievement in that regard. It’s the kind of song you turn to after being fired from a job or getting dumped by your romantic partner, and you’re devastated and in need of consolation and not presently equipped to deal with poetry or metaphor. You just want someone to lay on a chunky guitar riff like it’s an arm around your shoulder, and you want that person to say, “It’s times like these you learn to live again / It’s times like these you give and give again / It’s times like these you learn to love again / It’s times like these time and time again.” The next morning you might find this to be a little “too on the nose,” as music critics like to say on the internet. At the very least, you’ll wonder if he really had to say “times like these” so many times. But this won’t matter, because the Foo Fighters were there when you needed them.

1. “Everlong”

To the surprise of absolutely no one, we finally arrive at “Everlong.” If you make a list of Foo Fighters songs and don’t put “Everlong” at No. 1, you are trying too hard to be interesting. You are also the kind of person who believes he is a charming gadfly but in reality is a boor that people instinctively avoid at parties. It’s just the truth: The gap between “Everlong” and every other Foo Fighters song is wider than it is for any other major rock band with their best song vs. the rest of their catalogue. It’s not merely the best Foo Fighters song — it’s the best Foo Fighters song by a mile. I’ve seen people argue that “Everlong” is better than any Nirvana song, and while I think that’s untrue I would put “Everlong” among the Top 10 Nirvana songs if Dave had somehow dated Veruca Salt’s Louise Post five years earlier and broken up with her and felt inspired to write this song and convinced Kurt to put it on In Utero. This is the one Foo Fighters song that Bob Dylan loves — he was especially partial to the line “You’ve got to promise not to stop when I say when,” which really is killer — and it’s probably the one Foo Fighters song that Martin Scorsese has ever heard, which explains how it ended up in The Wolf Of Wall Street. The greatness of “Everlong” is just undeniable. The melody is fantastic, Grohl sings the hell out of it, the guitars consciously evoke Sonic Youth, and it’s the rare Foo Fighters song that sounds powerful without the band trying too hard. If only everything could ever be this real forever.

Disney+’s WandaVision began hitting its stride with last week’s episode causing Marvel fans to toss high praise to Kevin Feige for pulling off the previously unthinkable with the weirdest and wackiest MCU outing yet. With that collective declaration made, the time was more than right for the The Falcon and the Winter Soldier trailer to drop during the Super Bowl. This series, which will premiere on March 19, looks to bring the MCU into full-on, soaring action mode. It will also give fans the (begrudging) buddy comedy that they’ve been waiting for since for since Sam Wilson refused to move his car seat up for Bucky Barnes in Captain America: Civil War. Well, that very scene is called back in the trailer around the 1:00 mark when Guess Who shows up to confront those superheroes from the title, Falcon and Winter Soldier (before kicking bad-guy booty)?

Heck yeah. This kickass woman, of course, would be Sharon Carter, she who was previously known as Agent 13, and she who eventually became Steve Rogers’ love interest, even making out with him in front of Sam and Bucky in Civil War. Of course, things are probably incredibly awkward these days for Sharon, since Steve decided to travel back in time and live with, you know, Sharon’s aunt (Peggy Carter). Hopefully, this will be verbally addressed, at least in passing, but otherwise, yeah, Sharon did not look too impressed to see Sam and Bucky as their stories pick up after Avengers: Endgame.

The dudes will spend a good chunk of the season taking down Baron Helmut Zemo (the big bad portrayed by Daniel Brühl in Captain America: Civil War), but what of Sharon’s place on this show? She’s possibly no longer in good graces with her (ex-?) employer, and there are rumors of her status out there in the fandom. Marvel Studios has not confirmed said status, but this is definitely the first time we’ve seen her in several years, and oh boy, is she kicking some serious butt here. From the sounds of fan reactions on Twitter, the battle between who’s more badass — Sam or Bucky? — no longer matters, because it’s all about Sharon Carter “doing all the heavy lifting” and so much more.

You love to see it, as the nerds would say. Here’s a poster.

Disney+’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will premiere on March 19.