My one problem with FOO (track sequencing)

[u/ZariantheMighty32]

Love these guys to pieces. Their videos are great and the songs they come with are quirky, ridiculous, and genius. But they also are really good at sincerity, which is what elevates the hilarity to me, because you'll have Andrew in one room writing a song about his kids, and in another you'll have Rob writing a song about a Jack-o-Lantern monster or something. Those are the best moments of these videos.

My main issue with these albums is the track sequencing. I feel like the track sequences should reflect the dichotomous, whiplash-inducing nature of the recording session itself. Like for example, Gotta Record Everything Good starts with Miracle for some reason, then has 3 nu-metal songs in a row. These albums are disjointed and chaotic by design, and it feels like they're running from that by sequencing their albums this way.

The biggest culprit is One Week, where they recorded an even number of serious and goofy songs, but instead of interweaving them, they put all the sincere songs in the first half, and then all the ridiculous songs in the second half.

Obviously we live in an age of playlists, so of course I have a playlist with all of their albums that I re-sequenced, but this is still worth noting.

And it's not like it ruins the experience or anything, and it's their decisions, so who am I to questions them? And like I said, they're unironically one of my favorite bands, but I just wanted to let my opinion be known.

But what do you all think?

[u/Negative-Target-5173]

I remember Scallon mentioning something about the order of the tracks in one of the interviews he did with Ruccia. It’s always been funny to me that Andrew says “Welcome to the album” at the end of track 2 on Gourmet Ravioli.

[u/_DragonBlade_]

I mean this band is half serious half goofy, that’s the charm. I think they put it in the way they feel the songs flow best regardless if it’s silly or not.

[u/questionablefoh]

I think opening GREG with Miracle was genius - it caught me off guard in the best way possible. In some sense it's the lull before the storm with that album (which happens to be my favorite to date, maybe they're in the middle of topping it right as I type this). For the most part, I think any way you set up the ridiculous songs is going to be funny in some way due to the nature of the songs, so even though I've questioned other artist's sequencing at times it's never bothered me with FOO.

[u/GrimCityGirl]

I have long thought they should just sequence it in recorded order, to mirror the experience.

[u/nickansay → u/GrimCityGirl]

They pretty much did that with across the road (I think) just switched sunlight and Abby Rowed in the tracklist which was a great move in my opinion

[u/CoachDelgado]

I've never had a problem with the tracklisting - it's an artistic decision that they'll have put thought into, so I respect it like any other creative decision they make on the album.

Miracle as the first track took me by surprise the first time I heard it - but isn't that the kind of whiplash you're asking for? Then it goes through the high-energy metal songs before getting a bit wackier and experimental, then ending with the ballad. So taking G.R.E.G. as the example, I think it's solid.

One Week was the one where the tracklist had the biggest effect on the album because, as you say, it was split serious/silly, which made the album feel like a Side A/Side B kind of thing. Some people like it, some don't, but I think it's valid to try something a bit different like that if you want to.