Bittersweet

Bittersweet:

by Jacques

• Adjective
• Definition: Pleasure tinged with sadness or pain.

The 19th of April 2023  was a day definied by “bittersweet” for me… I went about my day as one would, 16 cups of coffee, ignoring emails and responsibilities… nothing out of the ordinary!

And then at 15H40 (yup, for some reason it’s time stamped in my mind) I saw it!

The Sweet:

• The Foo Fighters, one of modern rocks greatest heroes, had JUST released a new song, “Rescued!”

The Bitter:

• It was done without Taylor Hawkins, their drummer who had passed away on March 25th, 2022.

How do you celebrate and enjoy music, when a core member of the band making that music, has passed away?

Is the guilt you feel, for liking something they weren’t part of, normal?

And with Taylor gone, who the heck played drums on this song!?

Irony

• Noun
• Definition: a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result.

The sad irony is, Foo Fighters was Dave’s coping mechanism for the loss of another friend in music… Kurt Cobain. And now, he lost part of his coping mechanism…

But the song, as I see it, isn’t about the loss of Taylor…

It’s about another coping mechanism FOR the loss of Taylor…

The fans.

As Foo Fighters themselves put it… Its “the first chapter of the band’s new life,” after a process that “was as therapeutic as it was about a continuation of life.”

Catharsis

• Noun
• Definition: The process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.

Dave and the rest of the guys in Foo Fighters aren’t gonna wake up tomorrow and everything is going to magically be alright.

Music can make things better for sure, but sadly, it can’t  immediately change the world, no matter WHAT (insert disney channel pop star here) has told you…

But it can be a step in the right direction! And this was step 1 for Dave and the boys…

If you haven’t heard the new song, here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3S8wdJhgac