"Everlong"

Foo Fighters
(Roswell/Capitol, 1997)

Dave Grohl thinks like a drummer when he writes songs, and the real star of "Everlong" is his drumming: propelling its droning chords with a high-speed pitty-pat, springing every section out with a flourish, playing give-and-take with the chorus the way you'd expect a lead guitar to. The words are a straightforward declaration of vertiginous passion (and the "breathe out so I can breathe you in" line comes from Def Leppard), but the relentless build-ups and little explosions of the music make it molten-hot.

-- Douglas Wolk