The 1990s album Taylor Hawkins called a “masterpiece”
The 1990s marked the moment rock went through a major renaissance. By the time that the clock struck midnight on January 1st, 1990, it felt like a future classic was coming out every other month, either taking music in a different direction or building off the legends that had come before. Although Taylor Hawkins could have claimed to have been a part of many future classics during the decade, he thought that Jeff Buckley’s only album to the world was a work of musical genius.
When Hawkins was first learning music, he had always been drawn to the heavier side of rock and roll. Even though he was a sucker for melody, half of the bands that he idolised as a kid had a certain edge to them, whether it was Joe Walsh’s early years playing in The James Gang or the Beatles-with-attitude sensibilities coming from Cheap Trick.
Although Hawkins loved any kind of heavy music that came his way, rock had gone in a different direction by the time he got his first big break. After the everglow of grunge started to fade in 1994, Hawkins was starting to cut his teeth playing with Alanis Morissette, who was quickly becoming one of the biggest artists in the world of the success of Jagged Little Pill.
While it’s commonly a good idea not to piss off the person who gave you your first gig, Hawkins would only stick around for a few more years with Morissette before being offered the gig in Foo Fighters. For all of the great opportunities he had with Morissette, he knew that his time would be better served as the drummer behind Dave Grohl, practically getting an education from the former Nirvana drummer.
As the band were honing their craft on the album The Colour and the Shape, Buckley was already starting to emerge as one of the greatest voices of his generation. Although his studio output was confined to the album Grace, Buckley’s knowledge of different jazz harmony and his stunning set of pipes made him feel like an answer to artists like Robert Plant, all while being to shred a Fender Telecaster on songs like ‘Dream Brother’.
Despite looking like one of the greatest talents to come out of the 1990s, Buckley’s story would have a tragic end when he passed away due to an accidental drowning in 1997. While Hawkins was still touring the world with Foo Fighters when hearing about Buckley’s death, he stood by the album as being one of the greatest of all time.
When talking to Rolling Stone about his favourite songs, Hawkins said that Grace was one of the greatest strokes of genius of the decade, saying, “That Grace record is just a masterpiece. That’s one of the 10 best records ever, up there with OK Computer and Nevermind and Ritual de lo Habitual. That’s one of the 10 greatest records of the 1990s”.
Even though Hawkins would continue to be the driving force behind Foo Fighters until his death in 2022, he knew that no other musician could come close to what Buckley had done. Most musicians might be able to sing a song and hold the audience’s attention just fine, but there’s a spectral quality to Buckley’s music unlike anything else coming out of the 1990s, or any other decade for that matter.
