but Foo Fighters are mediocre and have persevered by merely writing decent, inoffensive, middle-of-the-road rock in an era when nobody seems to know how to do that any more. In any other time in the history of hard rock, they'd be also-rans at best. During the heyday of grunge and alt rock they would have been also-rans - I don't think they compare favorably at all to Soundgarden, Nirvana, Mudhoney (underappreciated band), Afghan Whigs, or even Pearl Jam (who I'm not that fond of).

Legendary? No. Way.

For superior rockers that are of roughly the same vintage and still going, I'd take Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse), Jack White (and I'm not really even a big fan, to be honest), Wayne Coyne (the Lips' three best albums since 1999 alone absolutely smoke the Foo Fighters' whole output), and the Radiohead collective (if we're counting them as rock still).

For me, Grohl's best post-Nirvana work has been popping up in odd session man type roles. He drummed on Killing Joke's self-titled CD in 2003 and it was monstrous. Probot was also a fun album though it didn't stick to my ribs as a Serious Metal Fan (tm).