The Colour and the Shape Tracklist
The Colour and the Shape is the second studio album by the American rock band Foo Fighters. Produced by Gil Norton, it was released through Capitol Records and the group’s own Roswell Records on May 20, 1997. The record is the debut of the Foo Fighters as a group, as the band’s previous record, Foo Fighters (1995), was primarily recorded by frontman Dave Grohl and friend Barrett Jones as a demo.
After the project ballooned and became an international success, the group convened for pre-production in the fall of 1996 and brought in producer Norton to establish a pop sensibility for the tracks. The band strived to create a full-fledged rock record, although the music press predicted another grunge offshoot.
In 2007, the Foos released a 10th Anniversary edition featuring tracks 14-19 (some covers and b-sides).
“The Colour and the Shape” Q&A
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What does the album title mean?
The album title came from an inside joke inspired by the curious shopping habits of the band’s tour manager while on the road. According to Dave Grohl in 1997:
When we were on tour, our tour manager was always out shopping every day before the show and buying really weird stuff. He’d come back with these really huge candles from 1947 and the next day he came back with a lamp with Jesus on it. […] So one day he comes into the dressing room with this bowling pin, a red one with white stripes, and he said, “Look what I bought today.” I said, “‘What the fuck are you doing? Why would you buy a bowling pin?’ ‘Because I like the color and I like the shape.’” […] It has absolutely nothing to do with anything. Because if we wanted to give the album a name that referred to the mood or the attitude of the record, then it would be called My Therapist’s Couch or something.
The band used the term as the title for a song that would end up as a b-side before choosing it as the album title as well. The title would also find a new meaning when the band did interviews to promote it in Japan.
We were in Japan doing interviews, and when you go down there to do interviews, they have their own interpretation of lyrics and things like that. So they thought the album was called The Colour and the Shape because it’s a lot more colorful, and it shows more of the band’s personality. And since it’s the first time we’ve all recorded together, it’s sort of the color and the shape of the Foo Fighters. So we said, “OK, that works. It’s better than the stupid tour anecdote joke.”
